BENIN—AS controversy continues to trail the Lagos-Calabar rail project, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Transport, Mr. Ehiozuwa Agbonnayima, has said that Minister for Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, lied when he claimed that the N100 billion Lagos-Calabar rail project was in the budget presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Rotimi Amaechi
He, therefore, called on the executive to own up and accept responsibility for the mix-up and stop blackmailing the National Assembly, adding that no provision was made for the project in the first and second budgets presented to the National Assembly.
He said: “First and foremost, the N100 billion for the Lagos – Calabar rail project which the Minister of Transportation claimed was in the budget, was never in the budget presented by President Buhari to both chambers of the National Assembly when they had a joint session.
“I can also tell you that when the budget was later brought back after the rumoured paddling, it was never in that second budget that was brought to the National Assembly. Let it be on record, yes, that there was a time the Minister wrote a letter to the National Assembly, not even to the entire National Assembly but to the Committee on Transport which I belong to on the issue,” adding that such a move does not remove the fact that the project was not included in the national budget.
The lawmaker, who represents Ikpoba-Okha/Egor federal constituency of Edo State, noted that accusing the National Assembly of removing the project from the national budget amounted to inciting Nigerians against members of the National Assembly.
“It was shocking to read on the pages of newspaper that N100 billion was removed from the 2016 budget. This is just another way of blackmailing the National Assembly. It is high time we stopped this blame game,” he said.
Impressed with the landmark achievements of Governor Nyesom Wike led-government in Rivers State in less than one year in office especially in Road Infrastructural Development, the State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, Bro Felix Obuah says he is ready and will appreciate a facility tour of these numerous completed and commissioned road projects by the minister of transportation, and former State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
The State PDP Chairman stated this while taking inventory of the achievements of Governor Wike one year after being voted into office in April 2015.
The reconstructed roads he said, include the Abonnema/Obonnema Link road/bridge, Eagle Island/Iloabuchi road/bridge, Abuluoma – Woji Link road/bridge, the Oyigbo Market Road, the Nkpogu – NLNG road/bridge, the reconstruction of Igwuruta – Chokocho Road etc.
According to the State PDP boss, over 120 kilometers of these roads have so far been constructed and rehabilitated across the State since May 29, 2015 when Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike took oath of office as the executive governor the State.
The facility visit and, or tour has become necessary not only to show the immediate past government and its functionaries led by Rotimi Amaechi as governor and Dakuku Peterside as his works commissioner how to prudently use scarce resources for maximum output, but also to prove that the popularity and goodwill being enjoyed by the Wike administration is not based on fallacy but concrete achievements, Bro Obuah noted.
The PDP State chairman believes that given the rancour free environment by cynics, distracters and self-seeking politicians, the Wike administration will no doubt raise the bar of democratic dividends beyond measure for Rivers people.
“We are also inviting all stakeholders at home and in the Diaspora for on-the-spot assessment of these roads already completed and commissioned by Governor Wike in the State besides other breakthroughs in the health, housing, judiciary, education, empowerment/poverty alleviation, transport and sports sectors etc, and they will be amazed at what the governor has been able to do with the little resources at his disposal and will regret and agree that the eight years of Amaechi administration in the State despite the huge resources he controlled was a colossal waste”, Bro Obuah declared.
The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has called on the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi not to heed the call by the National Assembly to apologize for his mischievous flippancy or resign from office.
The State PDP hinges its position on the high regard the All Progressives Congress, APC led federal government has for him as an indispensable asset and his taunted closeness to the Presidency.
PDP
The State PDP Chiarman, Bro. Felix Obuah wondered why a mere controversy over a ministry’s budget that is an infinitesimal part of the 2016 budget proposal should warrant the call for Amaechi’s resignation by the honourable members of the National Assembly who are just realizing their Amaechi’s rascality and eccentricity.
“We believe it’s rather too early to begin to quarrel with Rotimi Amaechi or call for his resignation when he is yet to fix the Nigeria he promised would be changed by his newly found love, the almighty APC in matter of months.
“Again, Amaechi remains our beloved son who said he single-handedly sponsored and made His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, President and he is yet to recoup the billions of Rivers money he invested into the project.
“Amaechi also said he planned to construct the controversial Lagos-Calabar rail line modernization project to empower the APC members in the South-South.
“This lofty dream will not be actualized if he resigns now.
The party said though not surprised at the controversy ignited by the former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi because it’s his character, the PDP wants the distinguished Senators rather than requesting for Amaechi’s apology or resignation use their differences, claims and counter claims to reflect on the kind of persons that are considered for sensitive offices and, or positions of trust.
According to Bro. Obuah, though the honourable National Assembly members may feel hurt by Amaechi’s ingratitude after it had accepted to deliberate over the later included supplementary budget which he later went public to claim was contained in the original budget proposal, thereby portraying the federal lawmakers as partial and discriminatory, the main reason for Amaechi’s mischief was to create the impression that he has the interest of the South/South people at heart which is a fallacy.
Bro. Obuah said he is however happy that Amaechi has carried his antics of setting brother against brother to the very Senate that screened and confirmed his ministerial appointment and would want the lawmakers to use same to reflect on all the submissions by not only the PDP, but also the people, the civil society and concerned citizens etc, before they went on to confirm his appointment despite several allegations of corruption and breaches of the Rule of law by Amaechi.
“This is the kind of falsehood, mischief, and misrepresentation we have been contending with, from Chibuike Amaechi which his allies and the All Progressives Congress, APC have continued to deny and good a thing, he is now exhibiting the same character to his appointees and this is just the beginning, Bro. Obuah noted.
The State PDP boss said the issue is not whether or not Amaechi should resign as a minister or tender apology to the National Assembly but should serve as an eye-opener and a pointer to the crisis he (Amaechi) instigated in Rivers State that brought about the panel of inquiry that indicted him of a myriad of corrupt practices and fraudulent engagements while he served as governor of Rivers State for eight solid years.
“We have said it times without number that Amaechi cannot change his true colour under President Buhari and must remain a cog in the wheel of progress.
“His early resignation will hardly free the APC members and the unrepentant Amaechi apologists from the world of theories which is not good for the country.
“The taste of the pudding they say, is in the eating while experience remains the best teacher.
The Chairman, Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro Felix Obuah says there is no truth in Mr. Rotimi Ameachi’s statement, describing the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, as a threat to democracy in the country.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
The PDP Chairman notes that former Governor Ameachi is only struggling to divert attention from his abominable atrocities, rebellious activities and breach of public peace and security in the State and the nation at large, stressing that it is he (Ameachi) that has become a threat to democracy and peace in the country.
He expressed disappointment that rather than help President Buhari to proffer solution to the numerous problems on his head, particularly the deteriorating economic situation and apparent lack of focus of the APC-led government in the country, Mr. Amaechi is busy blackmailing a focused and development-sensitive Governor (Wike), and causing trouble in Rivers State.
Bro Obuah emphasized that Amaechi’s statement was undoubtedly a cover- up, distraction and attempt to subvert the truth about who he is and what his activities in the State portend, recalling how Amaechi flooded the State during the re-run elections with soldiers to rig the election, kill innocent voters and intimidate the citizens while exercising their franchise.
Rather than admitting his failure as a governor for eight years and ill- preparedness for his new office as Minister for Transportation, Mr. Amaechi has resorted to pulling down the good foundation of the Wike administration, a mission and task he cannot accomplish.
Bro Obuah is therefore calling on the former governor to settle down for business as a minister and allow the peace in Rivers State to be, reiterating his earlier appeal to President Buhari to call him (Amaechi) to order, before he completely destroys the already rough image of his government.
The PDP chairman also urges the people to ignore Amaechi’s lies and deceitful claims, adding that nothing good and meaningful can ever come from Amaechi who failed as a governor, and APC leader in the State, as he could not deliver his party at the polls, failing even in his polling unit.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, of playing politics with the lives of the people of the state.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
He also accused Wike of not taking the development of the state seriously.
Amaechi, a former governor of the state, said this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.
He accused Wike of “twisting, butchering and turning the truth upside down; and in most cases telling outright lies in his failed bid to denigrate, tarnish and rubbish his towering image, person and laudable, landmark achievements.
He said that most troubling was Wike’s alleged propensity, without any qualms whatsoever, to play politics with the safety and security of the lives of Rivers people.
This, he said, was indeed most worrisome.
Amaechi said, “It is no secret that Wike plays politics with the development, welfare and well-being of Rivers people.
“But no government should play politics with the safety and security of its citizens like Wike is sadly and shamelessly doing.
“Governor Wike claimed that the brutal political killings and murder of the All Progressives Congress members and other hapless citizens in the state are cult-related or a result of cult clashes.
“What cult wars is he talking about? Since he claimed to have security reports, we challenge Wike to tell Rivers people the cult group that Franklin Obi, the APC Ward Chairman in Omoku, belongs to, that led to his being gruesomely beheaded and butchered, alongside his pregnant wife and teenage son.
“Or did Franklin suddenly become a cult member because he had the guts and courage to host a resoundingly successful ward meeting of APC faithful in the same ward as Wike’s Peoples Democratic Party State chairman, Felix Obuah, just a few days to the rerun elections?”
The former governor challenged Wike to tell Nigerians the cult groups and the cult wars that led to the killing of the innocent youth corper, Chukwudumeibi Okonta, on the day of the last rerun election on March 19.
“Was the youth corper a cultist or a victim of cult wars or yet another victim of politically-motivated killings in Rivers State?,” he asked.
He also said that Wike must tell Rivers people the cult wars that led to the brutal murder of hundreds of Rivers people since the election that made him governor was held, and the cult groups that all those that had been murdered, belong to.
He said that Wike’s cult wars/cultists claim was akin to insulting and spitting on the graves and memories of all those murdered and their families.
Amaechi said, “With pity, we watched as Wike tried to compare the political killings of the late Okonta and Independent National Electoral Commission ad hoc staff on the rerun election day in Rivers State to the fire accident that occurred at the home of the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano State days after the elections of 2015.
“How pathetic! Even for Wike, this is a new low.”
On the Rivers Monorail project Amaechi started, which Wike said that he would abandon, the former governor said Wike needed to know that the monorail belongs to Rivers State and not his “Amaechi’s” private monorail.
He said, “Pray, Governor Wike, which Rivers people told you not to touch the monorail project? Is it the same Rivers people that have consistently praised the project and see it as a catalyst to jump-start the local economy and place the state at the forefront of transport infrastructural development in Africa?
“Or is Wike aggregating the jaundiced views of the coterie of court-jesters that hang around him daily, as the opinion of the entire people of the state?
“It is sad, very sad that Wike has elected to play politics with this laudable project that was almost completed before Amaechi left office.”
He said that Wike also described several ongoing projects in the state when he (Amaechi) left office as ‘abandoned projects’ that the former governor claimed to have completed or about to complete.
The former governor said Wike specifically mentioned the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo Unity Road that connects the Island of Opobo to Andoni and the rest of the state.
“What a shameless lie! This project was ongoing and was almost completed as at May 29, 2015. May we also remind Wike that the Eagle Island- Diobu Road that he once claimed to have been abandoned was 90 per cent completed with just the final course of coal tar remaining as at when he succeeded Amaechi,” the former governor added.
The RIVERS State Government may have abandoned the multi-billion naira monorail project embarked upon by the immediate-past administration.
Nyesom Wike
Governor Nyesom Wike, who gave this hint on Monday while speaking on a national television programme,Sunrise, said the people of the state did not want the continuation of the project.
Wike explained that in spite of his administration’s commitment to the completion of the projects abandoned by the Rotimi Amaechi administration, the monorail would not be one of such projects.
He said, “Rivers people have told me not to touch the monorail project left behind by the other government.”
Wike said his administration had taken measures to improve the security of the state through funding of security interventions and provision of logistics for security agencies.
The governor lamented that the state had been affected by the regular transfer of security chiefs from the state, blaming Amaechi for the development.
He said, “I won’t make a promise that I will not fulfill I don’t politicise development. My interest is to deliver the best for Rivers people.
“In spite of distractions, we have succeeded in completing many projects abandoned by the previous government. We also have cleared the backlog of unpaid salaries and pensions left by the previous government.
“We have succeeded in restoring the judiciary and reopening courts shut down by the previous government. The Federal Government needs to allow security chiefs remain in Rivers State to do their jobs and ease tensions.
“I have had over three Commissioners of Police removed since I became governor,” Wike, who lamented the death of a corps member in the state recently, added.
Reacting to the position of Wike on the monorail project, the immediate-past state Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Tolofari George, said, “The monorail is a laudable project that should be continued because it is a catalyst to jump-start our local economy and place Rivers State at the forefront of transport infrastructural development.
“The vision is to take the monorail up to the airport in future traversing the city. A lot of River’s taxpayers’ monies have been sunk into that project that it should not be allowed to die. But Wike has chosen to play politics with that project and it is most unfortunate.”
President Muhammadu Buhari is conscious he has approximately three years left in office. Even more, he is aware he has so far not quite justified his election or the abundant goodwill and trust reposed in him by those who voted him last year. Addressing the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last Thursday in Abuja, he promised real and substantial improvement in the circumstances and welfare of his people. He did not quite give a speech, for apparently, he was always hobbled by the gravity of formal occasions. What he gave instead were remarks that came across quite well, and in which he admitted his failings where he needed to, refused to excuse his mistakes, and promised to meet his longsuffering compatriots at their points of need on account of the more than three million naira the Treasury Single Account (TSA) had enabled his government to save.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
Before last week’s APC NEC meeting, President Buhari had given scores of formal and boring speeches, including his inauguration address, and a couple of wisecracks, some of them, especially those given during his foreign trips, misspoken. In none of those speeches and brief remarks did he come across as a politician or conciliator. In one breath, he would speak candidly, forcefully and sometimes unreflectively of how fortune and fate in equal measure dealt him a cruel hand regarding the limiting effects of his age and the falling price of crude oil. And sometimes exhilarated, he would speak wistfully from the hangover of his regimented background, attempting to juxtapose his nostalgic past with what he feels is his unresponsive and frustrating present. On Thursday, however, he spoke as a politician and conciliator. If he can act his newfound speech and press the spirit of his rhetoric, who knows, he may yet save his presidency.
But whatever he does from now on cannot save his party from defeat and humiliation in Rivers State, and indeed in most other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states. He will in fact struggle to sustain his party’s hold on some controversial and borderline APC states, many of which he has neither shown commitment to nor displayed affection for. The rerun elections in Rivers were enveloped in violence, with many murdered before, during and after the polls. A party’s defeat may admittedly sometimes be explained in terms of who is the more disposed to violence between two leading political gladiators in any election. But in the case of Rivers, neither former governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is now Minister of Transport, nor APC chairman, Odigie Oyegun, conducted himself in such a manner as to engender victory for their party. However, ultimately, the responsibility for the party’s defeat in that state lies with the party leader, President Buhari.
This column indicated immediately after the Supreme Court validated Nyesom Wike’s election as governor that the APC would have a tough job winning a substantial part of the rerun polls. Except perhaps to the APC, the reasons were clear. Mr. Amaechi may be popular in the state, and may even have governed well, but Riverians are not so stupid as not to recognise that voting for APC lawmakers would prolong and entrench the stalemate in the state and predispose it to more violence. In the opinion of this column, Mr. Wike had not always acted with the maturity and brilliance expected of a governor, but having been installed as governor, it was unlikely that the structure of Nigeria’s unitary and patronage-ridden economy would lead the state’s electorate to repudiate him. They longed for peace, but would not mind submitting to the more practical and debilitating purveyor of evil among their political leaders.
In addition, rather than speak loftily, and perhaps dreamily, of the Rivers State of their vision, the APC chairman and other party officials had spoken deprecatingly and materialistically of the state as that oil-rich state, almost akin to how the president himself later described the Niger Delta as a lucrative part of Nigeria. Together with Mr. Amaechi’s impetuousness and Mr. Oyegun’s materialistic view of politics, it was impossible to imagine that Riverians would be enamoured of the APC, or feel indebted to its misbegotten principles and values. The president should do all in his power to bring to justice all those who fomented violence in Rivers State, including those who inspired it, but he should do nothing to interfere with the composition and inauguration of the state legislature. The civilised world may have reservations about how Mr. Wike conducted himself before and during the polls, but it is not enough to halt or abridge any of the processes leading to the inauguration of the House of Assembly if a quorum is formed.
As crucial to APC’s defeat in Rivers as the widespread violence in the state was, and not ignoring the orientation and conduct of Messrs Oyegun and Amaechi, probably the most important other reason for the debacle is the president’s inattentiveness to politics, in substance and ornamentation. However, it seems the president may just be starting to appreciate politics, if his remarks at last Thursday’s APC NEC meeting in Abuja is anything to go by. He had misrepresented politics when he suggested in his inauguration address that he belonged to everybody and to nobody. He had at the time unbelievably given the impression he became president by dint of his own hard work, appeal and merit, and would therefore not be beholden to anybody. He couldn’t be more wrong. If it were left to him and merit alone, he would have retired from politics long before 2015.
Not only does the president in fact belong to his party and individuals who broke their backs to ensure his victory, he needs them to sustain himself in office, entrench and protect his legacy, and run for a second term, if he desires one. But with a divided party and an apparently disenchanted following, it is not surprising that his party has fared badly in most of the elections that have taken place under his watch. It could get much worse, and not simply because of violence or the Independent National Electoral Commission’s inability to get its act together. The reasons are nuanced. First, since he assumed office, President Buhari has done precious little to instill confidence in the nations laws, constitution and processes. He has dithered badly on the rule of law in his anti-corruption campaign, thereby giving the opposition the impression he had no regard for due process and seemingly suggesting that the fittest could always take the trophy regardless of what the law says. In addition, he has behaved awkwardly and intimidatingly to the judiciary, again convincing Mr. Wike and others like him that whatever they needed should be taken by force, perhaps extrajudicially and remorselessly.
Second, by repudiating and even denouncing the politics of accommodation and consensus, the president virtually told indigenes of the South-South and Southeast geopolitical zones that they should look elsewhere for affiliation and attention. He would not offer them sop on the scale he would give his avid supporters meat and delicacies, he had whined incredibly and paradoxically as a victor. Then he worsened an already bad situation by his unsympathetic approach to the Biafra idea vis-a-vis other rebellious groups in the North, and gave ministerial portfolios considered of little influence to the region. The implication is that with two swift blows to the head, the two regions swore to close ranks and shut down their politics against the APC. The president needed to woo his ‘enemies’; instead he harangued them. Thus APC lost Bayelsa and the rerun polls in Rivers and Akwa Ibom, and had any other poll been called for anywhere else in the two geopolitical zones, the party would have lost woefully. In the circumstance, the best the president can do leading his troops to the next polls is to mitigate the scale of his party’s defeat, for that defeat will surely come. The presidnt must also rue how the momentum the APC carried into the 2015 polls came barely a few months later to a wrenching and agonising stop.
Third, in order to gain in stature and earn respect in hostile states, the president needed to act subliminally as a statesman in almost everything, from elections to judicial proceedings and respect for the laws of the land, and from inter-party politics to inter-ethnic relations. Instead, he seems to have foresworn that sublimeness. He should have acted decisively in arresting the political drift towards the unrelenting parochialism authored by his party in the Kogi governorship election; instead he has merely regretted the inconclusiveness of the poll, thereby giving the impression to the cognoscenti that he has no deep and abiding understanding of the principles of justice and equity. The president’s discomfort with the tenets of justice has emboldened politicians like Mr. Wike and Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, to embrace brinkmanship and flirt with dangerous and cataclysmic propositions. Messrs Wike and Fayose lack principles and political morality, but they will continue to dismiss President Buhari’s efforts as sanctimoniousness, and stiffen their increasingly contagious opposition to his ideas and policies.
Fourth, it was necessary for the president to travel to Rivers before the polls, meet with the gladiators, admonish them on peace and impactful politicking, address a town hall meeting on the values and virtues that must underpin Nigerian politics, engage traditional rulers and the youths, and encourage law enforcement agents to be fair and impartial. Instead, he said nothing to a state like Rivers so unused to the amenities of elections, and mobilised no one who could help to prod the state in the right direction. He is right to vow retribution against those who killed and maimed in the Rivers rerun, but the damage is already done, both to the state as a whole, and to the APC’s image in particular.
Fifth, unfortunately for President Buhari, he has not articulated any lofty idea of the economy, politics, and society. He has spent about one year in office, but it is doubtful whether he has any convert to any great cause, for a convert must embrace an idea or a man of ideas. Though his APC NEC remarks are full of sensible ideas, he nonetheless seems to think once the economy is revamped his job is done. Both the president and his party must begin to come to terms with a different and more sublime reality. They can lose elections even with a growing economy, defeated Boko Haram, and low crime rate. Worse, like the PDP has shown, APC’s legacies (as a party, and as a president) can be subverted and pulverised if they are unable to enthrone enduring and endearing philosophy of government and society. This was why ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and his successors were a disaster despite growing economy, and their legacies quickly denuded and bastardised. They did not imbue the nation with an identity and character worthy of remark and attention. If President Buhari wishes to attract the respect and reverence of the country, irrespective of political, ethnic and religious affiliations, he must go beyond reforms to treat the legislature, judiciary and other groups in the society with veneration, in the process carefully calibrating the urgent need to midwife reforms vis-a-vis the constitutional obligation of building and strengthening institutions.
States and their leading politicians will not support President Buhari and the APC just because of who they are. They must first see the ruling party and its leaders as embodying inspiring ideas and principles before offering them the respect and support they covet. That Rivers State is PDP today does not mean it cannot be APC tomorrow. But before Riverians will pitch tent with APC they must see in the president and his party unusual and soaring qualities of depth and character, and of poise and carriage, something and everything beyond the mundane and mechanical. The president must learn to woo his enemies and opponents, nurture and retain his friends, exemplify great ideas and principles, build and sustain institutions, rise above his biases and prejudices, transcend his comfort zone, and situate his country firmly and regally not in the restricted confine of his own limited background but in the difficult, expansive, conflict-ridden and boisterous global context that continues to demean the black man and treat many African nations contemptuously.
If despite their towering statures and achievements great historical personages could lose elections, both President Buhari and the APC must acknowledge that their puny statures, poverty of noble and catalysing ideas, poor appreciation of and relationship with national institutions, and general and dangerous parochialisms, make them exceedingly vulnerable. Rather than blame the judiciary and violence for their electoral reverses, they should help Rivers back on its feet. The fault for the political morass in which Nigeria is immersed at the moment lies with the president and his party. The buck stops on their desks. To return to winning ways, the party and president should rise to the occasion by imbibing the skills and discipline necessary to deal with cantankerous foes like Messrs Fayose and Wike, and obstreperous and combative opposition party leaders like Ali Modu Sheriff.
President Buhari’s remarks at the APC’s NEC meeting last week indicate he may have begun to understand what should be done. If the transformation is real, he owes the amelioration of his stiff and unattractive politics to his critics, not his sycophants. And if the transformation is to endure, he should seek out more critics who will coax him back to nobility and mould him into a statesmanlike stature, a sculpture of him that many, because of his stiffness and intransigence, have long described as an illusion and given up on.
*Military plotting to declare state of emergency — Wike
*Wike is turning Rivers to another Somalia — APC
*Hold INEC, security agencies responsible —PDP
By Jimitota Onoyume, Kingsley Omonobi, Henry Umoru, Ben Agande & Omeiza Ajayi
PORT HARCOURT— THE Independent National Electoral Commssion, INEC, has said that it will not return to Rivers until the state is conducive to conduct elections.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu – INEC Chairman
The INEC spoke as the heavy shootings that characterised weekend’s federal and some state legislative re-run elections in Rivers, yesterday, petered out and became a verbal warfare among stakeholders in the polls as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Progressives Congress, APC, traded blames over the issue.
We won’t return to Rivers until there is peace – INEC
Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, revealed that INEC had scheduled a meeting for tomorrow to review the situation in Rivers, adding: “I don’t want to pre-empt anything ahead of the Wednesday meeting.”
Citing widespread irregularities, the commission annulled the election in eight local government areas and also suspended collation of results after declaring few results.
In an interview in Abuja with The Cable, yesterday, Osaze-Uzzi also said the commission would investigate the allegations levelled against it during the election. He said the decision on when the remaining results of the election would announced would be taken at the meeting.
Military plotting to declare state of emergency — Wike
Apart from attacking the APC, Governor Nyesom Wike accused the military of orchestrating violence in the elections as part of a plot to declare a state of emergency in the state.
The governor, who said no official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has power to cancel results already declared by the electoral umpire, stated that the government had video evidence of the ignoble role of soldiers during the elections.
Wike, in a statement by his media aide, Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, said: “We have videos of the atrocities committed by the military across Rivers State. We shall release them at the appropriate time. There is an attempt to cause violence to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.”
He said the APC was not prepared for the elections, noting that it concentrated on propaganda instead of relating with the people for the elections.
This came as the Rivers APC called for the arrest of Wike over the alleged assassination attempt on Dr Dakuku Peterside and others and cancellations of the polls. just as the Rivers PDP attributed the cancellation of the election in parts of the state to use of fake electoral materials.
Hold INEC, security agencies responsible – PDP
The national leadership of the PDP said the INEC and security agencies should be held responsible, if there is a break down of law and order in Rivers State as a result of the failure of the commission to declare the results of last Saturday’s election.
In a statement, yesterday, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the conduct of polls fell short of the standard expected in view of the preparations put into it.
The position of the party came on the heels of a warning by the National Vice Chairman, South of the party, Dr Cairo Ojuogboh, that attempt by the APC to manipulate the outcome of elections would have dire consequences on the country.
Metuh noted that it was disappointing that since Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s appointment as chairman of the INEC, he had not been able to conduct any conclusive election in few constituencies and states so far and wondered what would be the case when the entire country is involved.
He said: “Also grossly unacceptable is the shoddy work by security operatives leading to escalation of violence, avoidable deaths and eventual cancellation of election results in eight local government areas of the state.”
On his part, Ojuogboh called on the APC-led Federal Government to allow Wike run the state government, saying after four years, he will be accountable to the people of Rivers State.
He said: “The entire idea of trying to take over the Rivers State House of Assembly by force by rigging the elections so that the lawmakers can oppose Wike in governance is a badly thoughout idea.
So we employ the Federal Government and the APC to advise the APC Rivers state to thread cautiously, because peace has no alternative.
If you do not prepare for peace, what you prepare for is war.” Also, the Rivers PDP said it was unfortunate and shameful that despite all efforts and assurances from security agencies and all stakeholders prior to the polls, some APC desperate and agitated political office seekers still went on to connive with certain electoral officers and military personnel to smuggle in fake election materials with a view to rigging the election, leading to the cancellation of election in some parts of the state by the INEC.
In a statement by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Rivers State PDP Chairman, Felix Obuah, the party blamed the precarious situation on the Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, whom he said had threatened to use any means possible to stop the ruling PDP government in the state from winning the election.
Wike turning Rivers to another Somalia – APC
Countering, the Rivers APC expressed outrage over the assassination attempt on the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the State APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, and the deputy governorship candidate of the party in the April 2015 elections, Asita O. Asita. Describing as “outrageous, an affront and condemnable,” the “brazen attempt to snuff out the lives of three key leaders of Rivers APC,“ the party in a statement held Governor Wike responsible for the assassination attempt.
It called on relevant security agencies to quickly arrest and interrogate him and to hasten to bring the full weight of the law on all those involved in the dastardly act.
The party, in the statement by Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, SSA Media and Public Affairs to the state Chairman, APC Rivers State, said: “We have often cried out about Wike’s bloodthirstiness but, unfortunately, nothing was done to keep him in check.
“Before last weekend’s state and National Assembly rerun elections in the state, we had openly cried out following Wike’s open threats on the lives of President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Those who thought we were shouting wolf where one does not exist now know better.”
The Rivers APC lamented that Wike, in only 10 months in office, is fast turning Rivers State into another Somalia.
The party said: “He is attempting to dwarf other evil and satanic regimes such as those of Mobutu Sese Seko, Emperor Jean Bedel Bokassa and Idi Amin Dada known for displaying optimum barbarism. Wike now hunts his opponents like a game, with many beheaded, clubbed to death or buried alive like chicken.”
Rivers APC call for cancellation of polls This came as the Rivers APC called for outright cancellation of the rerun election in the 23 local government areas of the state, saying it was characterised by violence.
State chairman of the party, Dr Davies Ikanya, who spoke, yesterday, evening at the state secretariat of the party in Port Harcourt alleged that the Police connived with the PDP to manipulate the exercise.
Wike is wrong, we‘re out to ensure peace, order —Defence hqtrs
The Defence Headquarters, yesterday, debunked allegations by Wike that the military orchestrated and supervised the violence that characterized the polls.
Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig-General Rabe Abubakar, told Vanguard last night: “Our (military’s) presence in Niger Delta is not exclusively for election but to ensure peace and order in the region and to ensure protection of lives and property of Nigerians.
“We also have oversight functions of protecting pipelines and ensuring that illegal economic sabotage activities do not take place. Kidnapping, piracy are also challenges we are there to checkmate.
So nobody can say we are tied down to any particular individual or certain group because of any election or interest. Regarding the accusation of Governor Wike, Abubakar said: “We are not joining issues with any personality. We are extremely professional; we are trained to maintain peace and orderliness. We will never join issues with any Nigerian. We are for everybody. We will checkmate anybody or group that wants to perpetrate crime or violence because that is why we are there. We belong to all Nigerians and cannot belong to a selective few.”
NYSC loses corps member
Meantime, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has announced the death of a corps member, Okonta Samuel, with call-up number RV/15B/5539, during the re-run elections.
Mr. Samuel, who served at GCSS Ukpeliede, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Ahoada West Local Government Area. Vowing to assist in ensuring that the killers are fished out and brought to book, the NYSC prayed for the repose of his soul and for the family to have the fortitude to bear the loss.
NYSC also said two other corps members that were with the deceased at the time of the incident were rescued by security agents.
1. The National and State Assemblies re-run elections come up this Saturday, March 19, 2016. This is another opportunity for us to exercise our rights to vote for candidates of our choice. You would recall that the last time the elections were held, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were brazenly, crudely and violently prevented from exercising their inalienable rights to elect those they wanted.
Rotimi Amaechi
2. Those same characters and forces that stole our votes by violently denying us the right to vote the last time, are at it again. In the months and weeks leading to this Saturday’s elections, they have employed the use of violence and threats to lives as tools of intimidation and harassment, all aimed at preventing us from coming out to vote. They have turned our hitherto peaceful State into a haven of brazen criminality, culminating in killings and maiming of innocent citizens.
3. However, it is gratifying to note that the Commander-In-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the security of lives and property in the State before, during and after the elections. Mr. President has graciously provided adequate security through the length and breadth of the State. I therefore enjoin you all to come out en mass to exercise your civic rights, on Saturday.
4. To this end, the reign of terror in some of our Local Government Areas, leading to senseless killings will not be tolerated, as the security agencies have been directed to ensure the safety of all before, during and after the elections. I therefore, implore you all to come out to exercise your rights to vote.
5. The Rivers State Government has declared a two-day ‘public holiday’, for Thursday and Friday. To this effect, the State government has directed non Rivers State government establishments and institutions such as banks, businesses and schools to ensure compliance. It is however sad to note that the State government is extending the public holidays to private institutions. This, from the constitutional point of view is an illegality, which clearly shows that the incumbent governor has no regard for the people nor care for their well being. This flows from the sudden declaration of a two-day public holiday without considering the attendant economic hardships and consequences it would inflict on the people and the State, respectively. Now, that you have a chance to vote and your vote will count, choose wisely, vote APC.
6. Finally, I call on all Rivers people not to submit to any form of intimidation and threat. Coming out to elect candidates of your choice on Saturday is your constitutional right and civic responsibility. No one, I repeat, no one can stop you from exercising this right. Once again, let me assure you all that your security and safety is guaranteed. Come out and exercise your right to vote.
…Wants Chief Of Army Staff, Bori Camp Brigade Commander To Respond To Amaechi’s Claim On Use Of Soldiers
The chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro Felix Obuah says the planned monitoring tour of all the electoral units in the State by former Governor Chibuike Amaechi during the re-run election on Saturday, March 19, is not only provocative but also aimed at inciting crisis in the State.
Rotimi Amaechi
The State PDP chairman through a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam regretted that Amaechi after failing in his bid to orchestrate commotion in some parts of the State through the activities of cultists and compromised military personnel acting on his orders, he has decided to execute his last and final plot through the planned tour.
Describing the planned tour as unconstitutional and a direct affront on the electoral law, Bro Obuah warned that the boastful minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi should be held responsible for the consequences of such dangerous undertaking.
Also condemning Amaechi’s threat to begin his planned election monitoring tour at Governor Nyesom Wike’s unit, the State PDP chairman said there must be more in the tour than meets the eye.
He wondered why the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the president are keeping silent on such condemnable plot by one of their own, adding that they must be acting in concert with Amaechi but will fail.
More worrisome, according to Bro Felix Obuah is why Rivers State’s own re-run experience is so different that the threat to the lives of innocent Rivers people by Amaechi’s rascality and desperation does not matter to both the federal government and the APC.
“Are Rivers people sacrificial lambs for the failure of APC in other places or is PDP responsible for the hardship the APC has brought on lamenting Nigerians,” Bro Obuah queried.
Similarly, the State PDP boss wants the Chief of Army Staff and the Brigade Commander of the Nigerian Army, Bori Camp to respond to Amaechi’s claimed planned deal with the army to flood the State with soldiers whom he boasted are more loyal to him than the police.
Bro Obuah said the way and manner Amaechi is carrying on and going about intimidating people with his claim of having the army in his pocket calls for caution and a clear cut statement from the Army high command and the Brigade Command whether Amaechi’s claim is true or not to disabuse the minds of the people.
The Rivers people, Bro Obuah said are getting uncomfortable by the rumoured complicity of the army in APC’s plot to rig the Saturday’s re-run elections in the State which he called direct invitation to anarchy if it’s true.
Former Rivers State governor and Minister of Transportation Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has accused his successor, governor Nyesom Wike of lacking the political will and capacity to govern Rivers State.
Rotimi Amaechi
Amaechi stated this on Sunday at an APC rally in Rumueme, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, ahead of the state and national assembly elections on Saturday.
Amaechi said, “Wike lacks capacity to govern. Somebody who just knows how to steal money is a bushman. Wike said, am corrupt. He should bring evidence to show. I will bring evidence to show that Wike is corrupt. Wike did the Rukpoku/ Eneka road during my tenure he did not complete it. I gave Wike the contracts to do all the roads around Aristle House (a hotel in GRA) but he failed to do them, I gave him fourteen schools to give to Obio/Akpor people, he stole them, he lacks character.”
Also speaking on the security situation in the state, Amaechi said, “When I was the governor, one thing that I kept thinking of was how to chase these criminals away but under Nyesom Wike, he meets with them. If Wike does not secure you people, the federal government will secure you. If he doesn’t want to be ignored he should go and secure you people because federal government will no longer tolerate these killings in Rivers State.
Amaechi further told his supporters not to be intimidated by Wike’s threats and come out to vote APC at Saturday’s election.
“Saturday is your day, come out and vote.They will no longer have the Police they had, they will no longer have the Army they had, we pray that INEC should be neutral, your job is to match out and vote for APC, we will not write results like Nyesom Wike , so go back to your wards and do door to door.”
Also, in Akuku/Toru local government area, Amaechi told his party supporters to be courageous in exercising their franchise without fear of intimidation
“You see, it is not enough to provide security because if there are no votes we will lose, the implication therefore is that all of you must come out and vote for APC so that we will win the election.”,he said.
Amaechi had earlier paid condolence to the family of slain APC stalwart Mr. Ofirite Amachree who was killed and burnt beyond recognition by unknown gunmen in Buguma.
Amaechi has also pledged to assist families of slain All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Omoku, Ogba,Egbema/Ndoni local government area of Rivers state.
Amaechi gave the assurance at the weekend when he visited families of late Frankline Obi and late Chukwuladi Adiela in Omoku, Rivers State.
The late Frankline Obi was the APC chairman of ward 4 and was killed and beheaded by unknown gunmen alongside his pregnant wife and son while late Chukwuladi Adiela was an APC stalwart of ward 14.
Addressing the deceased families, the Minister said, “The President is aware of the death of your son who was our party ward chairman. I personally gave him the photograph of the beheaded body. Everybody must learn to give account of their action or inaction in Omoku. We can’t have police and be experiencing this kind of thing. Internal security is the responsibility of the police so if we have police and keep experiencing this in Omoku it means the police in Rivers State has failed and the people that are been killed are mostly APC members,” he said.
Amaechi also told the bereaved families that the president was aware of the killings in Omoku and promised that full investigation will be carried out to unravel the killers.
“The President is fully aware of the situation. I was the governor of this state and Omoku wasn’t this bad Stay clear they will kill more. The police can’t claim not to know who the people are because I was governor, the police worked with me, we knew where the criminals were and we went after them.”
Amaechi also assured the people that arrangements have been made to beef up security ahead of the State and National Assembly re- run elections in the state.
“There will be enough security on the Election Day, there will be enough security to protect lives,” the Minister declared.
PORT HARCOURT— Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, weekend, traded words, accusing each other of corruption and mismanaging the resources of the state.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
Amaechi accused his successor, Wike, of allegedly squandering about N50 billion since he assumed office on May 29, while on his part, Governor Wike alleged that the Minister of Transport frittered away about N3 trillion as governor of the state, stressing that Amaechi’s administration had the highest record of abandoned projects in the history of governance in the state since its creation in 1967.
Amaechi, who spoke on a radio programme in Port Harcourt, said that the state will be flooded with security men on March 19, the day of the re-run election to guard against rigging.
He challenged Governor Wike to show Rivers people what he had done with money borrowed and federal allocation that had accrued to the state since he came on board. The former governor recalled several projects he executed in the state.
Governor Wike, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, after the radio programme, cited the abandoned monorail project started by the former governor, adding that Amaechi allegedly awarded several contracts running into billions of naira to cronies without following due process.
The commissioner, who briefed newsmen in his office in Port Harcourt, also spoke on some of the successes so far recorded by Governor Wike since he assumed office, adding that they included rehabilitation of over 100 kilometres of roads.
His words: “Mr Amaechi should have used the opportunity of the live interviews to give account of his disastrous and visionless administration. Despite receiving over N3 trillion in revenue in eight years, Amaechi left the most abandoned projects in the history of Rivers State, since 1967.
“Amaechi awarded school contracts worth billions of naira to his cronies without following due process. Today, the abandoned monorail project for which Amaechi spent N60 billion stands out in its mammoth ugliness on Azikiwe Road, Port Harcourt. It is a headstone to the corruption and waste that characterized his era.
“But since he assumed office eight months ago, Governor Wike has de-politicised development and reconstructed roads and other projects abandoned by Amaechi. Over 100 kilometres of roads across the state, including roads in Borikiri and Origwe, where Amaechi once lived, had been revamped.
“What were the state of the roads in Diobu and Okaki in Borikiri during Amaechi’s tenure? Today, those roads have been totally reconstructed by the Wike government. The school contracts and other projects with doubtful legality and value are being comprehensively reviewed by the Wike administration.
“Under Wike, 40,000 small and medium scale entrepreneurs are set to benefit from a N2 billoin Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, loan guaranteed by the Rivers State Government. Under the Amaechi administration, there is no record of how N4 billion agricultural loan granted by the CBN was used. No farmer benefited from a loan taken in their name.”
Meantime, Mr Amaechi said he had relocated to the state to mobilize members of his All Progressives Congress, APC for the rerun elections.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State Chapter, has dismissed rumours of a brewing crisis among its ranks, declaring that the party remains focused and united more than ever, as none of its leaders is fighting with another. The party specifically declared that there is no iota of truth in the rumour of disaffection between its governorship candidate in the 2015 election, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, and the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari.
Ibim Semenitari
“This satanic rumour originated and being spread by the Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a wicked lie from the pit of hell and has no foundation whatsoever. We urge our teeming members and
supporters, as well as the good people of Rivers State and the general public to totally ignore it as it is a desperate strategy by the floundering PDP to shore up its image ahead of the forthcoming Assembly re-run elections, for which PDP has become jittery because of the imminent defeat staring it in the face,” Rivers APC said in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.
The statement issued Friday in Port Harcourt laughed off the unintelligent attempt by Rivers PDP to blackmail Mrs. Semenitari for accompanying the visiting Senate delegation to the Niger Delta on a courtesy visit to
Governor Nyesom Wike at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday. “How can the performance of a simple official duty by the Acting NDDC Managing Director amount to disloyalty to APC and a fictional quarrel with Dr. Peterside over the 2019 governorship ticket?” Rivers APC asked. “Many of the Distinguished Senators whom Mrs. Semenitari escorted to the Government House to see Governor Nyesom Wike are also APC members, so does their visit mean that they are also disloyal to the APC?” the statement asked.
It dismissed the rumour as a poor hatchet job by Wike and PDP’s propaganda team to cause disaffection among the Rivers APC leadership, adding, however: “This plot is dead on arrival because we are too intelligent and
too close-knit a family to be deceived by such a fallacious and wicked falsehood intended to distract us from the urgent task of winning the forthcoming State and National Assembly re-run elections.
“Mrs. Semenitari is an accomplished administrator who knows where to draw the line between her official duties and politics. As head of NDDC, she has a statutory role that covers the six states of South-South that includes
Rivers State plus the two states of Abia and Imo in the South-East and Ondo State in the South-West. The Senate is probing the 16 years of NDDC and if the investigating Senators are to visit the Rivers State Governor on issues
pertaining to NDDC, are we saying that the Acting NDDC MD should not accompany them because she is an APC chieftain even while most of the Senate Committee members are also APC members?
“For the avoidance of doubt, Rivers State APC Leadership, including Dr. Peterside, is happy with Mrs. Semenitari and proud of her, as her commitment and loyalty to the APC cause has never been in doubt. She has been one of the arrow heads of this struggle and one of the most persecuted among us. As a matter of fact, she was the only one invited to appear before the then dreaded National Security Adviser to erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan when the heat was on us at Rivers State. Apart from this, she was one of our Principals targeted to be assassinated by the PDP hoodlums at the Okirika rally attack. Her house in Port Harcourt was attacked immediately Wike took over as Governor and her personal jeep towed away by the Wike regime just to publicly disgrace her. So if anybody is trying to blackmail her for any reason such a person is embarking on a mission impossible.
“It is worth stressing that we have no Dakuku faction or any faction or factions but one united, compact, virile and vibrant Rivers APC under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. As for the purported intrigues about 2019, that does not deserve any attention because it just does not make sense as we cannot start talking about 2019 when we have not concluded the 2015 elections.”
The All Progressives Congress members of the House of Representatives clashed with their Peoples Democratic Party colleagues on Thursday over the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
Rotimi Amaechi
Amaechi appeared before the joint Committee on Marine/Land Transport to defend the 2016 budget proposals of the ministry, but the lawmakers tried to turn the session into a venue for political party supremacy battle.
The APC members, who control the majority of 213, out of the 360-member legislature, felt that the former Rivers State governor deserved some protection from the committee, as he came under a barrage of questions.
The APC lawmakers complained that too many questions were being thrown at the minister.
However, some PDP members suddenly flared up, arguing that the minister could be asked any question.
The PDP were led by Mr. Pat Asadu (Enugu State) and Mr. Nnana Igbokwe (Imo State).
The development came as the House Committee on Aviation rejected a proposal by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to spend N130m this year to conduct a security audit on the nation’s airports.
The Chairperson of the committee, Mrs. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, recalled that in 2015, a similar proposal was submitted by the agency.
She said, “I can see you people have brought this matter of security audit again, and I remember querying it last year.
“How can you spend this much on the airports even when 22 out of the 32 airports are shut down with no operation going on whatsoever?
The committee expressed its dissatisfaction with the performance of the capital projects of the NCAA, rating them as “below average.”
But the Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Mukhtar Usman, informed the committee that the agency improved on the training of personnel to meet global standards.
Similarly, the Committee on Foreign Relations declined to approve a proposal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to spend N9bn for connectivity projects to link Abuja with all foreign missions.
Former governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has described the statement credited to Governor Nyesom Wike that he spent $150 million during the general election as an imaginary tale, a bogus and fallacious concoction.
Amaechi also said that all efforts by Wike and his cohorts to denigrate his name in the media will fail.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
In a statement by the media office of the minister, Amaechi said that it was worrisome and sad that Governor Wike picked a church, a sacred temple of God, to tell his tales.
He said, ‘’It continues to baffle us, like most right-thinking Nigerians, that Governor Wike will stand in a church, a solemn place of worship, and carelessly, brusquely tell such a profound lie. He condescendingly descended to falsely and indecorously shout corruption against Amaechi without providing a single shred of evidence to back his claims.
‘’The ‘story-story’ this time is about another phantom $150 million that Amaechi purportedly stole from Rivers State Government coffers and siphoned to his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, within 18 days, from December 1 to 18 of 2014.
This new scurrilous fabrication by Governor Wike is in sync with the one-point agenda of the Wike administration, which is to throw as much mud as possible at former governor Amaechi, hoping that some may at least stick. All sorts of spurious stories about alleged corruption and stealing of state funds against the Amaechi administration, have been bandied in the media with no attempt to substantiate or prove these distorted false claims that completely make nonsense of common sense.
‘’Even, when Amaechi challenged the Wike administration and its agents to use any constitutionally available legal process or procedure to prove their jaundiced, deceitful allegations against him and his administration, they have rather elected to do their own corruption probe, trial and conviction in the media, and now, even inside our solemn places of worship.
“Why would a government be so determined to desecrate and destroy every institution all in the name of playing politics?’’
He challenged Governor Wike to explain to Nigerians how the money transfer was done and where it was transffered from.
‘’Governor Wike should tell Nigerians who collected the $150 million on behalf of APC. From which state government account(s) was the $150 million taken? How was the $150 million taken and given to APC? Was it by wired transfer from Rivers State Government account(s) to APC account(s)?
‘’Rivers people and Nigerians are indeed sick and tired of this old worn-out trick of Governor Wike to hoodwink and distract Rivers people from the real issues. Making a new spurious allegation of corruption against Amaechi every day will not make Rivers people forget that most of the beautiful, working institutions built by the Amaechi administration are now being allowed to rot away despite of the billions of naira that had accrued to the state and the billions of naira borrowed by Wike. Rivers people want to know why weeds and grasses have taken over the beautiful schools built by Amaechi?”
THE Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, said on Sunday that he would not have contested a governorship rerun if the Supreme Court had failed to uphold his election.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
The governor also alleged that between December 1 and 18 of 2014, the immediate past government in the state led by Mr. Rotimi Amaechi had used $150m to fund the All Progressives Congress’ elections, adding that the state government will recover all stolen funds.
Wike said this at a thanksgiving service at Saint Peter’s Anglican Church in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.
But reacting to the allegation, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, described the claim as a big lie from “the very depth of hell.”
Finebone challenged Wike to take Amaechi to court, adding that the former governor was without blemish.
He said, “That (allegation) is a big lie taken from the very depth of hell. Wike talks big and tough, but behind his tough-talking is a moronic coward. He will not advance that accusation beyond the comfort of his audience.
“His deeds are awaiting him and at the appropriate time, he will be held to account. If he is serious, let him go to court and summon Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. But you can be sure that he (Wike) will not do that because that Amaechi is without blemish.”
The governor said he would have opted out of the rerun in order to prevent loss of lives that could have trailed the poll.
Wike added, “Nothing is impossible with God. Men of God prophesied a few days to the Supreme Court ruling that the judgment will confirm the mandate given to us by the Rivers people.
“We won the election clearly as has been confirmed by the Supreme Court. If there was a rerun, I wouldn’t have contested because there would have been a bloodbath. I resolved not to be part of anything that would bring about bloodbath.”
He pointed out that the failure of the “evil plotters” meant that Rivers people would return all the legislators, whose elections were nullified by the Appeal Court.
Explaining that the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed his election restored the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary, Wike stated that the ruling of the apex court confirmed the will of the Rivers people.
He assured the people of the state that he would judiciously use the mandate given to him to advance the course of the development of the state.
The governor restated his earlier declaration that he would not allow the rigging of the State and National Assembly rerun elections in the state, saying any INEC staff who attempts to rig will be treated as an armed robbers.
ABUJA—MEMBERS of the adhoc committee of the House of Representatives on failed rail contracts have summoned the Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, Seyi Sijuwade; former Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr Mohammed Bello Haliru; and former Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, to explain their roles in the alleged N1 trillion rail contracts scam.
Rotimi Amaechi
The adhoc committee is headed by Ehoizuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, PDP, Ikpoba/Oha Federal Constituency. They are expected to appear before the committee tomorrow during the investigative hearing.
Chairman of the adhoc committee, Agbonayinma, confirmed that all the stakeholders had been duly informed and were expected to show up unfailingly tomorrow.
Asked why the Minister of Transport was invited, despite the fact that he is barely three months old in office, Agbonayinma said: “The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, was also invited to tell us all he knows, though he just assumed office but you know government is a continuum.
“This 8th House is 100 per cent in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s crusade against any form of corruption.
“We are not out to witch-hunt anybody but anyone found wanting in the course of this investigative hearing will be adequately exposed although as you are aware, not until it is proven by a competent court that such persons are guilty you can’t say they are guilty.”
It would be recalled that during the last investigative hearing on December 10, former chairman of the NRC board, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had denied that during his tenure, no contract was awarded by the board he chaired.
Tukur, a former chairman of PDP, had told the adhoc committee that the Procurement Act excluded the NRC Board from participating in the award of railway contracts.
“The Board which I chaired, was never involved in any contract award and was never told or invited to participate in issues of contract award of financial disbursement,” he said.
He said throughout his stay as the Board Chairman of the NRC, no issue of contract award of any amount or tune was discussed or awarded by the Board.
Another Chairman of the board, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, also a former chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, told the adhoc committee that he was not privileged to appoint any consultant or award contracts for the railway projects.
According to Baraje, all the paraphernalia and indices that would assist him carry out his work were all gone.
“We only played the role of inspection because the procurement act excluded the board from participating in any contract,’’ he added.
He expressed worry that the country’s railway transportation system had suffered neglect, in spite of playing critical role in the development of the economy.
Baraje said more attention should be given to the 25-year railway modernisation plan to boost transportation in the country.
Also speaking at the hearing Senator Ladan Shuni, another former Board Chairman of the NRC, wondered the essence of inaugurating a board that lacked the capacity to oversee the award of contracts.
The investigative hearing is expected to unravel how over N1 trillion was expended on rail rehabilitation, purchase of coaches, spare parts and materials for NRC.
Vanguard recalls that the House of Representatives, had on October 14 based on a motion promoted by Rep Solomon Ahwhinawi, PDP, Delta had set up the adhoc committee to probe contracts awarded for the rehabilitation of rail tracks, standard gauge, bridges, coaches, wagons and locomotives between 2010 and 2014 amounting to N1 trillion.
Rivers State government yesterday called on the Minister for Transport, Mr Chibuike Amaechi to account for about N3 trillion received throughout his eight years tenure as the governor of the State.
Nyesom Wike
The State Commissioner for Information, Dr Tam George told newsmen in Port Harcourt that the State was still reeling from “the catastrophic legacy of the former governor” despite receiving over three trillion naira in revenue in 8 years.
“Amaechi left the most abandoned projects in the history of Rivers State since 1997. Thousands of workers were without their salaries for four months and thousands of teachers were not paid for nearly 12 months.
“We have so many abandoned projects which huge sums have been paid but projects are yet to be completed. We have the Mono-rail project that gulped over N60bn and it was abandoned.
“We have the Woji road project awarded at N3bn. There was a variation of the project to the upward of N14bn but it was abandoned.
“We inherited the project and completed it. There are so many of the abandoned projects. We have the Karibi George 250 bed project where huge sums of money were paid but no single block was laid at the site” he said.
He said that the State would deploy every legitimate means to compel those that looted the State to face the full wrath of law.
Excited by the magic wand of the Rivers State governor, Chief Barr Nyesom Wike that is impressively returning the State to its past Garden City status, the State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro Felix Obuah wants the immediate past State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and his surrogate, the defeated All Progressives Congress, APC governorship candidate in the April 26, 2015 election, Dakuku Peterside to make out time for a facility tour of the new Rivers State under Governor Wike.
Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi
The State PDP chairman through a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam said the facility tour will not only teach the failed duo of Amaechi and Peterside how to make judicious use of public funds for public interest which they could not do in their capacity as both State Chief Executive and Commissioner for Works for eight years respectively but will also enable them re-master the rehabilitated roads and streets and construction of new ones in the Port Harcourt metropolis and its environs, so as not to miss their way any time they are in town.
Prince Obuah said this is the crux of the matter and the core reason for aspiring to leadership position and not necessarily hijacking power for sheer bravado that characterized their eight year long administration that left nothing but a legacy of misery and abandoned projects behind.
Ironically, the State PDP boss regretted, rather than admire and give kudos to this man of history, Chief Barr Nyesom Wike is being vilified for not towing their outdated ignominious path of self-enrichment at the expense of infrastructural development of the State and the general welfare of Rivers people.
“But seeing they say is believing, it’s no longer a matter of unnecessary exaggerations, hoodwinking the people into a world of make-believe that were their stock in trade while their administration lasted. Ours is democracy in action and food for thought for doubting Thomases.
The magic is nothing but applying accountability, transparency and commitment to duty in the management of State resources.
The rehabilitated streets and roads and construction of new ones across the State are only an iceberg vis-a-via the lofty ideals of Governor Wike to transform the State into a haven for investors, and a promised land for all peace loving progressives irrespective tribe, ethnicity, nationality and, or religion”, Prince Obuah assured.
•Says Wike’s allegation the unfortunate ranting of a drowning man
The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has apologised to Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, over the embarrassment caused him by the recent allegation of embattled caretaker governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, that the immediate past Rivers State Government under the watch of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi spent a whopping N82 million to organise a birthday dinner in honour of the revered statesman in the state capital, Port Harcourt. Rivers APC in a statement signed by its State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya and issued Monday in Port Harcourt described Wike’s allegation as unfortunate.
Watch And Pray, Watch And Prey By Wole Soyinka
“On behalf of the good people of Rivers State, we hereby tender an unreserved apology to Prof. Soyinka and to assure him that Wike’s vile attempt to link him to an imaginary corruption will fail. This accusation is nothing but the ranting of a drowning man looking for whom to pull into the stinking pool but Wike has over-reached himself this time because Prof. Soyinka is globally renowned as a man of unimpeachable integrity who has never been associated with corruption in his over 80 years on earth”. The fact remains that Chief Wike is currently in a pit full of faeces, looking for whom he will splatter the faeces and sadly he remembered our revered Prof and as rightly observed by Prof Soyinka in his reaction, Wike is ready to, “splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions,” Rivers APC said.
The party noted that Wike in his desperation to demonise Amaechi and whoever that is associated with him must have forgotten that his panel of Inquiry that investigated Amaechi’s tenure exonerated him of any financial misdeeds. The statement made it clear that the great achievements of the Amaechi administration cannot be wished away or cancelled through cheap blackmail.
Rivers APC said the sad outbursts of Wike made through the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, did not come to the party as a surprise, knowing Wike’s antecedents as a controversial politician. “For him to try to disparage a respected personality like Prof. Soyinka in this manner only exposes him as a drowning man looking for any tool to stay afloat,” the party said.
It wondered why Amaechi should spend such a huge sum to host a birthday celebration, asking: “If Wike is sure of his records, why doesn’t he go to court to retrieve the said sum?”
To us as a political party, It is very sad and unfortunate that Wike and his confused Team in their wild accusation failed to appreciate the pivotal role Prof Soyinka played in securing Port Harcourt as the UNESCO World Book Capital City 2014. The feat, which put not only Rivers State but indeed Nigeria on the global map necessitated the dinner in honour of the Nobel Laureate. All said and done we are happy to note that this bare-faced lies deliberately hatched to smear the character and image of the literary scholar as well as the Acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari have failed woefully as Nigerians are gradually coming to terms of what Wike stands for.
The party admonished Wike to stop making a bad name for the state, “as he has done enough damage to the general psyche of the Rivers people through his visionless administration which is now in the process of winding up having been declared illegal by the courts, which ordered fresh elections to be held soon to formally bury the Wike administration.”
