The attention of the Asari-Toru Local Government has been drawn to the discordant and incongruous stories making the rounds unfortunately peddled by some ‘mushroom’ political neophytes, alleging that the Council Chairman attempted to stifle and further sponsored thugs to throw dynamites at the gathering of persons who purportedly claim to be members of a political pressure group.
Without any ambiguous prevarication, the allegation, in its entirety, is founded on falsehood and deception primarily aimed at misleading unsuspecting members of the public.
Ordinarily, it would have been unnecessary to respond to this mendacious and misleading narrative owing that the Council as the third tier of Government under the purposeful leadership of Hon. Onengiyeofori George , DSSRS is duty bound to protect lives and property in the LGA, hence cannot be involved in any act inimical to the dispensation of equity, fairness and justice.
Consequently, it has become unavoidably imperative to make the following informed and verifiable clarifications on the said vexatious and unfounded allegations for the benefit of all Asalgans and members of the public:
1. Asari-Toru Local Government under the leadership of the Executive Chairman, Hon. Onengiyeofori George, is poised to protecting the lives and properties of all Asalgans irrespective of political and, or religious affiliations.
2. Asari-Toru Local Government in responding to its constitutional duty of maintaining law and order in the LGA will not rest on its oars, should there be any attempt to disrupt the peaceful ambience as it is currently enjoyed in the LGA.
3. We are truly amazed and wondered at the sheer desperation with which some online rumour mongers, ‘social media politicians’ and indeed those who are sponsoring them, have been attempting with obvious futility, to deny the truth about what transpired on the 4th of January, 2024 in Buguma City, headquarters of the Asari-Toru Local Government Area.
4. We wish to state emphatically, that the allegation is false, baseless and ludicrous as the ASALGA Council Boss, Hon. Onengiyeofori George did not and can never sponsor any thug(s) to cause mayhem on any resident of ASALGA whom he took an oath to protect.
5. Due to security concerns, the order on public gathering has been operational in Asari-Toru LGA even before the emergence of the current administration. What the Council did recently was to re-echo the ban on public gathering and expressly notified the public on the caveat: “permission must be sought and obtained from the Council via the Security Agencies at least 24 hours before the event.”
6. This has been the norm of public gathering known to all Asalgans and no individual, activist or politician would feign ignorance to this practice in the LGA.
7. The fact of the matter is that, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), having noticed preparatory activities to a large gathering at Horsfall’s Compound in Buguma City, invited the organizers of the event to his office for gross negligence of the status quo.
8. The organizers who pleaded for leniency at the office of the DPO tagging the event as IMPROMPTU were allowed to go ahead with necessary security caution.
9. At no time did the Council Chairman attempt to stop the organizers of the event, and this is for a fact.
10. Events of the last couple of days had shown that there were premeditated plans by the organizers to use the event to launch a campaign of calumny and mudslinging against the Executive Chairman, hence they detonated a dynamite at the venue of the event, primarily to discredit the good intentions and simplicity of the ASALGA Council Boss, Hon. Onengiyeofori George, DSSRS, whose intentional efforts have brought about nearly three years of peace across the LGA never seen before over a decade prior to his emergence as Executive Chairman.
11. All this is just a pointer to one thing, and, that is, those who vehemently were opposed to the Candidature of Sir Siminilayi Fubara as Governor of Rivers State and some who could not give him a single vote for his victory at the polls, are now masquerading at the ‘market square’, campaigning where there are no elections, fermenting troubles everywhere to impress a man they never loved.
12. It is on record that the ASALGA Council Chairman who was the 2023 PDP Campaign Coordinator in the LGA staged a robust campaign master plan, which brought onboard NGOs and other pressure groups including The IJAW WARI, headed by one Somina Wokoma, and particularly sponsored the group for a door-to-door campaign in Buguma but could not gather up to 20 voters in all the 13 Wards in ASALGA for the same Gov. Fubara they all claim to love more.
13. Unfortunately, the likes of these political ‘mushrooms’ parading as pressure groups and those political failures who do not have the balls for winning elections in ASALGA, are now on rampage again. As always, this too shall pass away!
14. The peace currently enjoyed in ASALGA is largely as a result of a coordinated security architecture through the checks, monitoring and profiling of public gathering in the area, which also was the panacea for peaceful atmosphere before, during and after the final burial rites of the late Amanyanabo of Kalabari kingdom and the recent Yuletide and New Year festivities.
15. FOR THE RECORD: there is no outright ban on public gatherings in ASALGA. The press statement to this regard reveals that permission must be sought and obtained for security profiling. Any individual or group of persons who are opposed to submitting themselves for security profiling for their events are indeed the enemies of the LGA.
16. The Asalga-First Administration of Hon. Onengiyeofori George is focused on delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of the LGA, which informed his massive investment in quality infrastructures across Communities in Asari-Toru Local Government Area.
17. The desire of the Hon. Onengiyeofori George-led administration is to make ASALGA a safe haven for its people and a destination of choice in the Riverine Area through effective, efficient and economical application of public resources.
18. The essence, however, is to provide an all-inclusive, responsive and responsible governance system that places ASALGA first and improves the well-being of its citizenry.
Men of goodwill and conscience, lovers of peace and indeed members of the general public are therefore enjoined to disregard the falsehood peddled by these faceless individuals who probably were sponsored by enemies and detractors of the ASALGA-FIRST government of Hon. Onengiyeofori George, DSSRS.
Signed:
John Paul Braide
Honourable Supervisor for Information and Communications,
Asari-Toru LGA.
January 10, 2024.
