Rivers elder Ann-Kio Briggs has publicly accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of betraying the people of Rivers State, saying the party let them down.
She made these comments during an appearance on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme. Briggs, who is a member of the Rivers Elders Forum, insisted that the PDP’s failure to act decisively left residents to suffer through a prolonged political crisis.
She lamented that despite the state’s loyalty to the PDP since 1999, the party failed to do the right thing when it mattered most. Briggs argued that internal divisions and power struggles weakened the PDP, and its negligence made the political situation in Rivers much worse.
Her criticism comes despite the state’s governor, Siminalayi Fubara, openly thanking President Bola Tinubu for brokering a peace deal. Briggs directly distanced herself from the governor’s view, stating she is not grateful to the APC-led government.
“Definitely not,” she said on the programme, broadcast on Sunday. “Even the President himself will be aware that not everybody in Rivers State is going to be eternally grateful to him.”
Briggs insisted that the most profound lesson from the crisis has been for the electorate, not the politicians.
She concluded that the people of Rivers State now understand their rights are far greater than those claimed by the politicians who would be nowhere without their votes.
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