Rivers 2023: OUR PEOPLE’LL LEARN TO ATTRACT, MULTIPLY WEALTH, CREATE TRANS-GENERATIONAL PROSPERITY; DUMO LULU-BRIGGS PLEDGES, IN ASARI-TORU LGA

Thursday, February 9, 2023 was another exciting day for Accord, Rivers State chapter, as the DLB Guber Roadshow strutted the streets of Asari Toru LGA and Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, the Rivers Accord Governorship candidate for the 2023 election, took the message of people-centric governance to the people of his maternal home.

In bright yellow and dark green attires depicting the colors of Accord, and crowded streets, the people of Asari Toru trooped out en-masse to welcome the Accord Campaign Train and at the same time, the party’s governorship candidate, Dumo Lulu-Briggs who represents many things to common Rivers people yearning for good governance, and to the people of Asari Toru, their grandchild who has in many ways continued to make them proud through his unswerving commitment to just causes and pursuits.

Evangelising to the people of Asari-Toru about the Accord mandate and taking them on a mental walk through the manifesto and minifestoes of the party was akin to preaching to the choir. Even before the arrival of the candidate in the LGA today, the people have already started resonating with Accord and with deep-seated excitement demonstrated their support for DLB who also underpinned the grassroots presence of Accord in the LGA with the commissioning of the party’s secretariat in Buguma.

Asari Toru beyond being DLB’s maternal home, is also home to the good people of the Kalabari nation. Yesterday, the campaign train was in Eleme; sometime last week, it was Ikwerre and Obio-Akpor LGAs respectively.

These tours have not only highlighted the cultural diversity of Rivers State and the rich cultures of its varying ethnic blocs, they have also further revealed by deep margins, the economic potentials of each segment of the state based on their geographical disparities. Our dear Rivers State is a melting pot of the hinterlands and the uplands. Sadly, these tours have also revealed the disparaging gap between the glorious potentials of Rivers State and its inglorious reality – a problem Accord has come to fix.

According to DLB, Rivers State is a home of diverse cultures, people and experiences united by the common thread of prosperity. It was prosperity that brought the people of Rivers State together and during our days of flourishing, nobody bothered themselves about who was from Ikwerre, or who was from Kalabari or who was from Okrika or who was not. Rivers people were all one.

The plunge from prosperity into poverty and yet greater levels of poverty as evidenced by the state’s 42% unemployment rate, 19% underemployment rate and the state’s uncomfortably top ranking as one of the states with the highest numbe of out of school children in Nigeria, not only explain the reason behind the widespread organic acceptance of Accord, but also highlights the immediacy with which we must attend to these divisive elements by voting rightly for Accord in the March 11 governorship elections – since Rivers State plunged from prosperity into poverty, its people have retired into their small cleavages and are now first Ikwerre, Etche, Okrika, Kalabari or Ogoni men and women before identifying as Rivers men and women. This should not be.

As customary with the campaign train and in spirited reverence of the traditional institution, the train made a detour to Akpor where DLB and his team were blessed by the elders who also reposed their confidence in his ability to Do More.

While addressing the elders, DLB spoke about the preparedness of Accord to form the next government and walked the chiefs and their people through the party’s manifesto in general and minifesto tailored specifically to address the needs of the people of Asari-Toru LGA.

He also pledged to donate his monthly salary as a governor to women of the different LGAs in Rivers, women of each LGA for each month.

This is the umpteenth time DLB is emphasizing on this pledge and this speaks to the consistency of his messaging and the sincerity of his purpose.

At the top of Accord’s priority is the desire to create jobs for the teeming youths of Rivers State, and this priority is why the youths of Asari-Toru – like the youths of everyother LGA Accord has visited – came out in their numbers to identify with the man whom the hour has found.

“We shall move our annual GDP from a paltry sum of $20billion to $300billion in the next 12 years. 12 years if the next government that will succeed us works hard enough or 16 years if they are unable to match our zest. But by the time we are done, Rivers State would have been too big to fail.

“By the time we are done, we shall not be judged by the number of bricks and mortars we have built, but by the number of households we’ve lifted from poverty to prosperity and from prosperity to yet a greater prosperity,” DLB added.

Accord is the first party on the ballot represented by letter “A” with the thumbs up insignia.