OPINION

Press Brief – My Relationship With ACN

By Odimegwu Onwumere

In my media practice of over a decade I have said to myself time without number that things that matter least will never distract me from the things that matter most. But I have seen that it takes good men to keep quiet for evil to take taproot in a society.

It is a scorching allegation hearing from some friends in the Rivers State Government saying that as the Coordinating Head of Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV) that it is a FACT on their hands that the group is being sponsored by the Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), or better put, that I am working for the party, to EMBARRASS the government of Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

I would have left this issue unattended to but I would not like a situation where any person or group is playing sycophantic game with my name to score cheap publicity or to gain (unmerited) favours from the Governor Chibuike Amaechi-led government of Rivers State to my detriment. Labeling me an ACN's surrogate or stooge came up last time (in 2011) from one man who is good at spreading falsehood and mischief about me. He said that I am in the OPPOSITION against Amaechi. He said that the CAN (Iam working for) should have taken me to the next level for the GOOD job that I have been doing for them, but he was surprise that I was not owning a Jeep.

While he made this statement on my face, I didn't take it so cheap either, knowing the miles this man can go in spreading RUMOURS to gain favour from Amaechi, because this man hardly wants anybody around him to SUCCEED. I corrected his negative mindset against me by sending out a pressbrief on the matter last year. In that brief which is titled “Amaechi's True Enemies”, I made my point very clear that I am not an OPPOSITION to Amaechi, but a CRITIC. I spelt out the meaning of who is an OPPOSITION clearly from who is a CRITIC, but I am surprised that perhaps he didn't check his Dictionary very well to differentiate between an OPPOSITION and a CRITIC, as he continues to spread falsehood about me before the government of Amaechi, saying that I am working for ACN to oust Amaechi.

Much as I am not against any political party in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world, I stand bold to say that I am not working for the ACN or any political party in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world at present and have not worked for any in the past. I can say that my link with the ACN was when Prince Tonye Princewill headed the party in the state before he pitched tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sometime in 2010. I worked for Princewill as a media aide, and not as a media aide to ACN. I also assisted the chairman of the party in the state then, Mr. Suage Badey, with his media briefs, and not ACN's media briefs. I would also say that CONIRIV is not affiliated with any group. CONIRIV is purely on assisting the government of Rivers State, and by extension, Nigeria, with policies, not politics.

Conversely, I know that in politics, some people feel that the best way they can be engaged in any ruling government is by spreading mischief against individuals or opponents, but this type of practice in politics is out of contest in any civilized society, and doesn't pay. Anybody who feels that the best way to be recognized by the Amaechi-led government is by using my name negatively for lucre (that doesn't last) should tow the part of righteousness. I am a pressman, not a politician. I have not worked for ACN before in the capacity of a party stalwart; I have only worked for the party's stalwart (Princewill) as his media aide. ACN or any political party or group does not sponsor CONIRIV or me, but this does not mean that we will turn down any offer by any person or group that wants to appreciate the good works we have been helping the Government of Rivers State do with our policies. Laughable, the present dispensation of CAN in Rivers State that I was being accused of sponsorship has been criticized by us. I ask traducers and detractors to Google the article, “Rivers ACN and the moral Question.”###