2019: Investigate statement credited to James Manager, Begho tasks NSA, DSS DG

Delta South Senatorial aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, Barr. Irone Rita Begho, has called on the Director-General, Department of State Services, DSS, Matthew Seiyefa and the National Security Adviser, NSA, Babagana Monguno to investigate the recent statement credited to the lawmaker representing Delta South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator James Manager, wherein he reportedly vowed according to Saharareporters that he would rather die, than allow an Itsekiri person to succeed him as senator.

Barr. Begho in the swift petition addressed to the NSA and DSS DG, noted, “My immediate reaction to this was that the Distinguished Senator as a lawyer and long serving member of the highest law making organ in Nigeria, may not have said so but given the credibility of some of the media that reported it, I consider it imperative not to wave it aside”.

She argued that it is important for Senator James Manager to immediately and overtly refute the statement if he never said so, stressing that such clannish and un-statemanly comment is capable of causing disaffection amongst the constituents.

“By the end of his tenure in 2019, Senator James Manager would have spent 16 years in the Senate and this is unprecedented in Delta State and many other states of the federation. With or without any debate as to how he has performed, it is only fair for him to step aside, especially as there are persons of other ethnic nationalities and persons of different sexes in the Senatorial District. The average man of today would hardly live beyond 100 years and if 16 out of the 100 years, he has enjoyed the privileges of occupying such a position, then he must consider himself extremely lucky and part of the gratitude he can show to God and humanity is to step aside and not to ascribe to himself the role of God” She contended.

The Senatorial hopeful posited that for a state as volatile as Delta, such statements will always be counter-productive. “As a lawyer of over 32 years post call experience, I cannot allow comments like these to go unattended to, because of their potentiality for crisis especially as it affects elections. We need all the ethnic groups in the Senatorial District to take it to the Promised Land; inclusiveness is the way to go” She submitted.

Barr. Begho who has already commenced her consultations with the constituents of the Senatorial District, is a direct child of Late Chief E.NA. Begho, the then Iserigho of Warri Kingdom and a renowned nationalist leader.     

She added, “as a people, Delta South Senatorial District is viewed as educationally advantaged, we should be seen as encouraging gender participation in governance by at least once in a while supporting women. There is no better time to ask for a woman Senator than after more than sixteen years of uninterrupted male domination in the Senatorial District. I am not presenting myself to you simply because I am a woman, but because the job at hand is one that requires good knowledge of lawmaking processes, solid educational exposure, vast national and International contacts and above all, the deep love and loyalty to the people, all of which I believe I have in abundance”.

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