First Lady sues for peace in Rivers State

Worried by the crisis in Rivers State, First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan yesterday called on all actors in the crisis to sheath their swords in the interest of the innocent citizens in the state.

 In a statement issued by her Special Assistant on Media, Ayo Osinlu, the First Lady noted that the poor including women and children always bear the consequences of such impasse. She also warned the political heavyweights in the state not to allow the crisis to be hijacked by miscreants and hoodlums.

The statement reads: “This office wishes to call on all feuding parties in Rivers State to spare a thought for the social, political and economic costs of the crisis, and consider an urgent way to resolve all political differences.”

“It is our position that the greater consequences of the impasse is, as usual, reserved for the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, especially women and children, who are usually innocent bystanders in all these.” “This derives naturally from the saying that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

She went on: “On a larger scale, we subscribe to the fact that conflicts and violence are the most lethal threats to peace, which itself is the irreducible minimum condition for development.”

 “The situation must therefore not be allowed to degenerate to a level that can be hijacked by miscreants and hoodlums, thus exposing everyone to insecurity from which there may be no easy escape.”