The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Rivers State Chapter receives the information of Gov. Amaechi’s readiness to be engaged in public debate with pleasure.
“we feel delighted that the Rivers State Governor, RT. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has at last accepted to be joined in a public debate, a forum we have over the years advocated without being considered necessary by the Governor,” ACN in a press statement issued in Port Harcourt by its Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam said.
While commending the Governor for taking, even though that long, the bold step in offering himself ready for the public debate, the party wonders why officials of the ruling party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, shy away from engaging in such forum, which gives the impression that there are some skeletons in their cupboards.
For us, the beauty of Democracy is about the availability of the leaders to the people and the people always having access to their leaders and resources in terms of knowledge and making decision on the utilization of those resources. The leaders therefore, in the light of this, function as custodians and managers of the peoples resources, and are bound to at all times report and give explanations of their activities to the people.
So, public debate in our view is one of such fora that offer the opportunity for better understating between the leaders and the governed. A good leader would therefore take advantage of such opportunity.
As we look forward to a no distance date for the schedule of the public debate by the Governor, we would further request that key stakeholders and responsible professional bodies be allowed to organize and moderate the proceedings of the session to demonstrate the seriousness on the part of the participants.
Particularly, credible bodies like the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, and the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, should be engaged to set the agenda for the debate without any restriction on participants.
ACN hopes that the Governor will not rescind his earlier resolve to participate in the event as previously has been the case.
Jerry Needam, JP
Publicity Secretary
Action Congress of Nigeria
Rivers State.
