I got a call on Monday, August 5, 2019 drawing my attention to the “notice me” interview that the embattled Director General of failed NIMASA, Mr Dakuku Peterside granted to the Rivers State Correspondent of The Nation, Otunba Bisi Olaniyi. Trust the duo, they took the opportunity to rant and spew gibberish.
Titled: “Peterside: Wike running uninspiring, purposeless administration “, Dakuku Peterside and his side-kick Otunba Bisi Olaniyi rehashed their beer parlour stories against Governor Wike. I wasn’t surprised that The Nation published the report which was a mere regurgitation of Dakuku’s previous baseless statements. If there was any editorial due diligence, The Nation would have realised that Dakuku Peterside and Otunba Bisi Olaniyi have been repeating same lines on behalf of their MINISTERIAL OGA.
I was alarmed that Dakuku Peterside would have the courage to drive all the way to Opobo with Otunba Bisi Olaniyi and a few Pro-APC reporters to hold an interview against Governor Wike. These guys drove on the dualised Sakpenwa-Bori Road and passed through the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo-Nkoro Unity Road to the ancient town of Opobo where they engaged in a dance of shame. Dakuku Peterside was a Commissioner of Works under his Ministerial OGA, but was unable to link his maternal home to the rest of Rivers State.
It took the visionary and prudent Administration of Governor Wike to link Opobo to the rest of Rivers State. As a result of this outstanding contribution, the Traditional Council of Opobo Kingdom handed over the golden key of the ancient kingdom to Governor Wike. This is an Administration that Dakuku wants to insult to please his OGA.
Dakuku’s Maternal Opobo was one of the benefitting towns in the water supply programme that Governor Wike executed with the EU Development Partners.
RSG-EU/NDSP Programme covered: (1) Opobo/Nkoro LGA : Opobo,Nkoro and Kalaibiama (2) Akuku-Toru LGA : Abonnema,Kula and Abissa. This is a Governor that Dakuku thinks his bad-mouth can shake.
Opobo where Dakuku Peterside claims as his political base is one of the 17 towns that benefitted from the reconstruction of General Hospitals across the state during Governor Wike’s first term. Still in Opobo-Nkoro Local Government Area about 7 basic education schools were reconstructed.
Dakuku Peterside and his Oga abandoned several projects after diverting the stupendous funds. Governor Wike completed majority of these projects and initiated new projects. Therefore, in all the 23 Local Government Areas, Governor Wike has key projects to his credit. He is continuing with projects delivery during his second term. In the first 100days of his second term, Governor Wike will roll out more completed projects in all the three Senatorial Districts of the state. This is a man Dakuku Peterside thinks he can malign. What an exercise in futility.
At the Rivers State University, Governor Wike signature projects are visible. The Faculty of Law building, the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the Faculty of Management Sciences, the Faculty Technical Education Building and the Students Union Secretariat are testament of the Governor’s investment in the institution. Today, Rivers State has a Teaching Hospital.
Dakuku’s Oga ran away with five months civil servants salaries and four months pension. Governor Wike settled these outstanding and has been consistent in the payment of Pensioners and Civil Servants. The Contributory Pension scheme mismanaged by Dakuku’s Oga has been addressed. The first set of Contributory Pensioners have been paid. Others are engaged in biometric capture for their own payment.
On the issue of security, Governor Wike has continued to support the promotion of security of lives and property. During his first term, he supported the security agencies with over 300 operational vehicles, armoured personnel Carriers and gunboats. He also funded all operations. This term, Governor Wike has launched Operation Sting with 76 Operational Vehicles, 8 gunboats, 450 communication equipment and armoured personnel Carriers.
With elections over, Governor Wike is working towards making the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps operational. It was Dakuku Peterside and his Ministerial Oga that engineered the disruption of the scheme after they convinced the Nigerian Army to invade the training centre at Nonwa Tai. Governor Wike is working to operationalise the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency which will have over 2000 operatives.
Over the last four years, Governor Wike has embarked on series of loan schemes to empower civil servants and entrepreneurs. His projects over the last four years have generated over a hundred thousand jobs.
Rivers people are not deceived by the regular rantings of Dakuku Peterside. They understand that it is his strategy to pledge his loyalty to his Ministerial Oga who has been defeated in the Rivers political landscape. Dakuku forgot that during the last election, his Ministerial Oga jettisoned and pitched tent with the bouncer of an International boxer. With such false interviews, published in a lying paper, he hopes to be endorsed to try his luck in 2023.
Since the Ministerial Oga, Major General Jamil Sarhem, the 6 Division, the APC Machine and the neophyte AAC alliance lost woefully on March 9, 2019, Dakuku ought to have seen the handwriting on the wall. Rivers people have since rejected these anti-Rivers alliance.
I wonder why Dakuku Peterside and his Ministerial Oga rely on lies when they could not convince the APC Federal Government to execute a single project in Rivers State since 2015. All they do is to attract political violence to a state that has rejected them.
In seeking political relevance, Dakuku Peterside should abandon lies. He has used this strategy since 2014 to no avail. He should stop using Otunba Bisi Olaniyi. He is a notorious mischief maker already relegated by the Rivers reading public. Dakuku should re-strategise and contest for the Opobo-Nkoro State Constituency. Let him try his luck at that level. Let him conquer his Constituency in 2023. Thereafter, he can seek higher office in 2027. Rivers State is bigger than this failed Commissioner of Works who disappointed his people.
Governor Wike remains committed to the development of Rivers State. These tales by moonlight cannot distract Governor Wike. He appreciates the mandate freely given to him by Rivers people and he will never disappoint them.
