It has come to the attention of the Rivers State Chapter of All
Progressives Congress, APC, that the Governor of Rivers State, Barr.
Nyesom Wike and his party, the PDP have been thrown into panic mode
since the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu
Buhari dropped the hint that corrupt Ministers and officials of the
immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan
would be probed.
As part of the cauldron of confusion in which the governor and his
party have been thrown into, the Spokesperson of the governor, Opunabo
Inko-Tariah recently came out with what would pass for a litany of
incoherent ironical lines which clearly typifies the quandary in which
the governor and his party now find themselves.
Like the proverbial sinking man who is bent on dragging along anyone
in sight, Wike babbled between name-callings of Rt. Hon. Chibuike
Rotimi Amaechi and President Buhari to threats of resistance in an
obvious display of disconcerted state of mind and disorientated
thought process.
On one hand, the governor, through Mr. Inko-Tariah, claimed to support
the fight against corruption and everything should be done to retrieve
our stolen commonwealth but quickly turned around to recommend what
the scope, span and colour of the probe should be. Not done, the
governor threatened resistance should Mr. President not adopt his own
[Wike’s] anti-corruption crusade template.
For a governor who set up a probe panel with a mandate to probe only
the last 18 months of his predecessor’s administration to now turn
around to insist that the President should extend his probe to cover
the last 30 years says so much about the character and persona of
Governor Nyesom Wike. One may ask, between the governor’s 18-month
probe and that of the President which spans 4 whole years, which is a
more selective probe? Is it that Governor Nyesom Wike thinks Rivers
State is now a state populated by nit-wits?
It is perhaps necessary at this point to help Governor Wike remember
what OBJ said of President Buhari when the latter headed the PTF. OBJ
had this to say recently:
“When you were going to become the manager of PTF, we talked about it
and when you finished and I took over, we looked into it.
“I haven’t said this publicly, I would say it publicly now. When we
looked into it, there was really nothing amiss except that that
organisation went from road building to mosquito net-buying and all
sorts of things.”
The governor finally settled on his most-priced self-appointed mission
– that of deconstructing, degrading and witch-hunting of his former
boss and tarring him to his heart’s desire. Wike claimed that the
former governor was corrupt, citing certain projects which he, as
Chief of Staff, knew the real facts about.
For example, say what you may about the Monorail Project, the APC
would like to challenge Governor Wike to provide evidence of a cheaper
monorail project [per mile] anywhere in the world.
As the leader of our party, the APC, we profoundly believe in the
impeccable integrity of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday,
today and tomorrow. No amount of campaign of calumny and caustic
bitterness by the likes of Gov. Wike can change that.
Gov. Wike’s warning to the Department of State Security [DSS] over the
arrest of Dame Gesila Khan, INEC REC for Rivers State is
understandable to even the most naive observer. We believe that the
humongous sum of N700m reportedly found in her account must be funds
the Jonathan Presidency and Candidate Nyesom Wike paid out to the
woman to buy the mandate of Rivers people in the last general
elections. Sadly, they did not tutor her well enough on how to deal
with such huge amount of money. You cannot have a perfect crime.
Finally, Gov. Wike’s lamentations are not as a result of the
governor’s concern for former President Goodluck Jonathan; Wike is
clearly weeping for himself because his indictment on the humongous
fraud that took place in the Federal Ministry of Education and
Universal Basic Education Commission all under his watch as Minister
of State and substantive Minister, clearly hang on his neck like the
hangman’s noose waiting to snap.
Chris Finebone
State Publicity Secretary
