Dont Play National Politics With Rivers Money – Akpobari warns Fubara

A leading civil society activist, Mr. Celestine Akpobari, has urged Governor Siminalayi Fubara to resist pressure to divert Rivers State’s resources into national politics.
Akpobari said the governor should take advantage of his current popularity to deliver good governance, industrial growth, and urban expansion beyond Port Harcourt.
He warned that the state had suffered enough under leaders who “played national politics with Rivers money,” adding that Fubara could “turn Rivers into a new Dubai or Kigali” if he focused squarely on development.
Akpobari, who spoke following the governor’s return from a six-month political standoff, urged him to channel the goodwill he currently enjoys among Rivers people into delivering good governance and sustainable development.
He said Rivers State has the human and material resources to rival Lagos and other major African economies if its leaders remain focused on development rather than political distractions.
“Rivers State was once ahead of Lagos in terms of economic development,” Akpobari said. “We were developing faster than Lagos. But today, Lagos is the fourth-largest economy in Africa, and Rivers can no longer even see its brake lights.”
According to him, successive administrations in the state have wasted enormous resources on national politics instead of consolidating internal growth.
“Lagos does not play that kind of politics with its state money. Governors Peter Odili, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nyesom Wike all played national politics with our resources. Governor Fubara should not be cajoled into doing the same if he truly wants to write his name in gold,” he said.
Akpobari, who is the Executive Director of Mideekor Organisation, said that with visionary leadership and prudent management, Governor Fubara could transform Rivers State into a model of progress and innovation.
“If the governor is serious, he will not only give us a Dubai; he will give us a Kigali, a new Rivers where Lagos will have to look up to us,” he said.
The rights activist advised the governor to end what he called the “one-city-state syndrome” by developing other urban centres outside Port Harcourt.
He also urged the government to harness the tourism potential across the state, especially in the Rivers South-East Senatorial District, which boasts some of the most notable sites in the Niger Delta.
Among the attractions he listed were the Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Park in Khana, the King Jaja Museum in Opobo, the expansive beaches in Andoni, and the lush mangrove forests that form a natural green belt.
“Once people hear about a ‘Green City’ rising from the Niger Delta that the world had written off, the benefits and international recognition will be unimaginable. Rivers State won’t have to wait for federal allocations,” Akpobari noted.
He concluded by appealing to the governor to focus on governance and resist the pressure to engage in costly national political ventures.
“National politics has been a conduit pipe through which Rivers State’s resources were frittered away in the past. Governor Fubara must not fall into that trap,” he warned.