Kalabari Civic Reception For Gov Wike And Doris Cowan’s Outrage – SotonyeIjuye-Dagogo

…“Hell Has No Fury Like A Woman Scorned”

Dr. Doris Amachree-Cowan’s attack on Kalabari leaders following the civic reception organized in honour of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike in Abalama, Asari Toru Local Government Area on Saturday, February 5, 2022 has elicited reactions from a cross section of Kalabari people.

Prominent media personality and public affairs analyst, SotonyeIjuye-Dagogo in his reaction, said there is more to Doris Cowan’s fiery vituperationsspewed against the organizers of the civic reception, against Kalabari people and against Rivers people than meets the eye.

Ijuye-Dagogo said the former Commissioner for Water Resources and Community Development was making up excuses to protect her senatorial ambitions come 2023, and feared that a Kalabari governor would scuttle her chances of making it to the Senate.

Full extract of his write up reads:

“I am compelled to react to Dr. Doris Cowan’s acidic squitter lest the stench persists in the air. This will certainly distract me from my decision to concentrate more on Rivers issues than ethnic matters. But how can I keep silence when someone within is deliberately setting my roof on fire?

“On Tuesday February 3, 2022, she wrote that “As long as a king is involved in the process of recognition and honoring of a non Kalabari, the process is Kosher, Bona fide and cultural”. She was reacting to insinuations in some quarters that the proposed civic reception for Governor Wike was not Pan-Kalabari.

“On Saturday February 5, 2022, she dressed in the best of Kalabari women attire, drove to Abalama, venue of the grand civic reception. She got a VIP seat but against her burning desire, she wasn’t called to make a speech.

“To make matters worse, she was asked to step forward by one of the organizers but instead of calling her to deliver a speech, the MC called for a long musical interlude. Doris Cowan was left standing in the hot sun, embarrassed. She felt disregarded and left the venue in anger.

“On Tuesday February 8, 2022, angry Doris Cowan wrote that “The ‘Kalabaris’ held a Reception for Wike in Abalama. It was anything but Kalabari”.

“She tagged the Kalabari civic reception “a major scam”. She said that “Kalabari Chieftaincies are never conferred on non Kalabaris”. She accused the organizers “of changing an age-old tradition to confer a “Chieftaincy title” on Wike. She was very angry.

“She called the organizers “juvenile”, “neophytes” “clowns”. She called their actions “shameful”. She cursed them: “Governorship will forever elude them”.

“Doris Cowan demeaned Abonnema town, the people and their king. She said that “In AMACHREE’S absence Abonnema dares to pull off this stunt. What cowardice! What audacity!” She extended her insults to Rivers people, calling them “weak, lazy and inept” for supporting zoning.

 

‘MY RESPONSE TO DORIS COWAN’

“Nothing can better describe Doris Cowan’s fiery vituperation spewed against the organizers of the civic reception, against Kalabari people and against Rivers people than the lines “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.

“She loves Kalabari only for what Kalabari can do for her in achieving and sustaining her status in society. Once this is threatened, Kalabari can go to hell and with it the entire Rivers State. Nothing matters to her anymore. But she failed woefully in her goal to pull back the hands of the clock. The train left the station whilst she battles with her ego.

“She feels scorned that the organizers of the Kalabari civic reception “disregard other major stakeholders” like herself. She moans that “they sidelined more astute and experienced politicians” like her. She laments that no matter how much she had contributed to the growth of the State, she is no longer considered important because she is currently not in government.

“She goes to great extent to attack the fabric of society just to soothe her bruised ego. She tries to pull down decades of Kalabari efforts in building unity just because she didn’t get the recognition she thinks she deserved. She swears that “the internal crises these developments will cause in Kalabari can only be imagined”. But Doris Cowan failed and she will continue to fail because Kalabari is resolute.

“She mischievously denigrates the honorary chieftaincy title conferred on Governor Wike. Her real targets are the organizers of the civic reception. She is pained that they may get some political benefits. In her envy she berates the chieftaincy title, saying that it “was anything but Kalabari”. She mocks that the Kalabari Council of Chiefs will never endorse the chieftaincy title. She asks sarcastically, “Why would people who love Wike so much subject him to such ridicule and denigration? The truth is that it is Doris Cowan who by her actions ridicules and denigrates Gov. Wike. It is the height of treachery.

“She argues that “Kalabari Chieftaincies are never conferred on non Kalabaris”. She forgets that in her earlier write-up of 3/2/22, she said that “Kalabari’s do not confer Chieftaincy titles on non Kalabaris… at least, not yet”.

“NOT YET? Not that it is forbidden? So why ridicule and denigrate the novelty that is Governor Wike’s chieftaincy title. Let the governor go into the history books as the first non-Kalabari to receive a Kalabari chieftaincy title. After all, culture is dynamic. If Governor Wike has been found worthy to be the first, so be it.

“But Doris Cowan knows that Kalabari in recent years, have been giving honorary titles to deserving individuals. Former Governor Peter Odili was given the title of Ibiyekoribo I of Kalabari Kingdom. Chief A.K. Horsfall was given the honorary title of Sekuro of Kalabari Kingdom. Chief S.O. Princewill (now deceased) was given the title of Deinpiribo I of Kalabari Kingdom. What is the difference between Governor Nyesom Wike’s title and that of former Governor Peter Odili? Why the sudden revisionism?

“Doris Cowan’s pretentious outburst is nothing but a treacherous act to paint black the organizers of the Grand Kalabari Civic Reception for Governor Wike. It is aimed to create disaffection between the governor and the Kalabari PDP leadership. But it failed.

“In her rage, she pulls down everything in her path. She attacks zoning – a veritable instrument of inclusiveness, justice and equity in a multi-ethnic state like Rivers State.

“She says that “I AM ANTI ZONING!! Zoning deprives us of selecting the best. It is anti-progress. Only weak, lazy and inept people support zoning”.

“Yet her main grouse against the organizers of the Kalabari civic reception was that “it was an Abonnema affair”. She said they “disregard other major stakeholders outside Abonnema”. “Why would they avoid inclusiveness?” she queried miserably.

“She urges Governor Wike to go ahead and pick the next governor from his ward. Yet she is angry that a civic reception was dominated by only Abonnema people. If Doris Cowan does not mind another Ikwerre governor, why is she so bothered about inclusiveness in Kalabari affairs?

“She forgets that she had told some of us that she wants to go to the Senate in 2023. Her opposition to the emergence of a governor of Kalabari extraction is due to her respect for zoning. She does not see how Kalabari can produce a governor and a senator at the same time.

“When she says to Governor Wike “Lead the way, we will follow, even if the next governor is from your Ward, we will support you”, she is only protecting her ambition to go to the Senate. She is only being hypocritical.

“When she tells Governor Wike that “Nothing will happen” if he picked another Ikwerre governor; that “Grumbling will last for one week, maximum and everyone will fall in line”, she is only exhibiting her contempt for Rivers people. She has fed so fat on the system that the feelings of Rivers people mean nothing to her. The people’s sensibilities mean nothing to her. But she is so pained because she was denied the opportunity of making a mere speech at the venue of a civic reception.

“She calls the organizers sycophants, “ready to do anything to attract Wike’s attention” yet she says that “Whoever Wike supports will win and that’s fine by me”.

“Doris Cowan knows that there are scores of Kalabari haters whose pastime is to lampoon Kalabari especially during elections seasons. She invites them as willing audiences to cheer her on as she tries in vain to strip Kalabari naked ahead of the 2023 elections. What she does not know is that majority of Rivers people can see through her schemes. Governor Wike can see through her schemes. He knows her too well.

“If her aim was to exchange the governorship for her senatorial ambition, then she went about it the wrong way. She could have kept her ambition alive quietly without trying to destroy her people.

“If she thinks that she has no interest in the future of Kalabari because all her children and grandchildren are far away and may never come to Kalabari land, she should at least remember how much she had benefited as a Kalabari woman.

“Her insult on Abonnema people and the Amayanabo of Abonnema amounts to cutting off her nose to spite her face.  It was a needles self-destructive venture. The Amayanabo of Abonnema is a traditional ruler in Kalabari, so is Abonnema a Kalabari town. To create disaffection between Abonnema and Buguma is the height of divisiveness. It is anachronistic. Kalabari have gone past that stage.

“It is therefore extremely unfortunate that Doris Cowan attempted to tear down the roof because she was not allowed to say in public, how much she loves Governor Wike.

“Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo”.