A leading voice in the Rivers Elders Forum, Ann-Kio Briggs, has openly accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of betraying the trust of Rivers people after decades of loyalty.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Briggs lamented that despite the unbroken support of Rivers people for the PDP since 1999, the party failed to rise to the occasion during the state’s prolonged political crises.
“I definitely feel, as a stakeholder and elder, let down by the PDP political party because, since 1999, we have always voted, including me, for the PDP,” she said.
Briggs argued that the PDP’s failure to act decisively worsened tensions in Rivers, leaving the state to suffer damages that could have been avoided.
PDP’s Internal Divisions
According to her, the party allowed power struggles and internal divisions to weaken its influence. She added that the PDP, once a stronghold in the Niger Delta, has now lost credibility by neglecting the people when it mattered most.
“If they had stepped in and done what they should have done from the beginning… the PDP would not find itself where it is today,” Briggs declared.
Tinubu’s Role in the Crisis
On Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s open gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for brokering peace in Rivers, Briggs distanced herself.
“Definitely not… not everybody in Rivers State is going to be eternally grateful to him or to even the minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, and all the politicians.”
Briggs stressed that both APC and PDP contributed to deepening the political turmoil.
Rivers People Have Learned Their Lesson
The elder concluded that the true lesson from the crisis was not for politicians, but for the electorate:
“The biggest lesson has been learned by the people of Rivers State, the electorate — to know that we have rights much bigger and more profound than the rights the politicians believe they have. They won’t be where they are without the people of Rivers State.”
Her remarks have sparked heated conversations across the Niger Delta, as many begin to question the future of PDP in Rivers and the wider South-South region.
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