BEVRERLY HILLS, May 23, (THEWILL) – The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State says the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, sidestepped the electorate in Rivers state and imposed Nyesom Wike on them as the governor of Rivers State.
Insisting that “Rivers people never voted Wike into power”, the party maintained that it is on this basis that Wike now “recoats” and “repaints” projects initiated and executed by the administration of his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, and present them for commissioning as projects of his own.
Jonathan had, during the commissioning of the Second Nkpogu Bridge as part of the second year anniversary of the Wike administration, stated that “I have no regrets that Governor Wike is the governor of Rivers State”.
Reacting in a statement issued on Tuesday by its chairman, Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Rivers APC declared that the former president’s assertion confirms that Jonathan alone and not Rivers people made Wike a governor.
The statement reads, “It is this fact that he was never voted in by the people of Rivers State that made him to continue to embark upon projects that are inimical to the growth and progress of Rivers State and her people.
“It is based on this fact that Rivers State under Wike is now renamed Rivers of Blood as political killings continue unabated in the once-peaceful state.
“It is based on this fact that the only known agenda of Wike and his cohorts is how to do the impossible of decimating, destroying and undoing one of the brightest stars from Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Amaechi, and make him irrelevant in the politics of Nigeria.
“It is because the people of Rivers State never vote for him in the 2015 general elections that made him to ensure that Rivers’ money is wasted on profitless ventures and sponsoring of PDP Conventions.”
APC however warned that never again will one man sit somewhere in Abuja or anywhere else and decide for Rivers people who will be their governor.
Hailing Jonathan for admitting that it was Amaechi who made Wike politically, the party quoted the ex-president as saying: “Even though Wike was Chief of Staff Government House, Port Harcourt, at the time I was Vice President, I didn’t know him personally until his name was forwarded to me by the then Governor of Rivers State, Amaechi, when I became President for ministerial appointment. Out of persuasion, he became Minister…I have no regret for making him governor.”
It then said: “This fact once again exposes Wike as a nobody until Amaechi decided to nominate him to Dr Jonathan as a Minister. Today, Wike has become a disaster and we are paying for this unfortunate appointment.
“Today, he is after the Amaechi that made him politically, thereby making himself a master betrayer less than Judas Iscariot. We thank Dr Jonathan for telling the world that in his entire life, he never knew or met Wike until Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi brought him to him.”
Rivers APC also aligned itself with the statement credited to Governor Seriake Dickson of Jonathan’s home state of Bayelsa that the former president’s five years in Aso Rock was a waste for the Ijaw nation.
The party outlined reasons why it believes Jonathan’s presidency was also a total disaster for Rivers State and her people thus: “Jonathan failed to muster the courage and political will in a PDP-controlled National Assembly to see to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in the over six years of his administration to demonstrate his hatred for the Niger Delta region, knowing that communities in Rivers State will benefit from the bill.
“The East/West Road, especially Eleme-Onne axis in Rivers State, was abandoned and became a nightmare to travellers. He refused to refund to the State Government over 110 billion naira used in the dualisation of Ikwerre-Owerri Road approved by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and other Federal Roads in the State executed by the State to ease the sufferings of the people of Rivers State.
“He wickedly stopped the Train 7 at NLNG Bonny, resulting in the loss of jobs to Rivers people and revenue to the State Government. Refused to implement the UNEP Report on the clean-up of Ogoni land despite all the pleas by our people and the International Community – just to punish the Ogonis and Rivers State irrespective of their overwhelming support for him during the 2011 elections.
“Jonathan duly acknowledged that he has no project to point as was executed by his administration for the six years he was Abuja as President.
“Most wickedly, he ceded oil wells belonging to Rivers to Bayelsa and Abia states to ensure that the revenue accruing to the State is reduced to nothing.
“Abandoned construction of the Port Harcourt International Airport after completing other airports started at the same time with it.
“The airport was described as the worst sixth Airports in the world during Jonathan’s administration. Posting and encouraging the excesses of the tyrannical Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu during his inglorious days in the State.
“Supporting every imaginable act of impunity in the State, including the plot by five State Assembly members to impeach the Speaker in a House of 31 members. Seizing and grounding the planes of the State for no just cause.
“Harassing and intimidating the duly elected Governor of Rivers State then for no just cause and even supporting the splitting of the Governors’ Forum into two just to ensure that former Governor Amaechi, who was duly elected by his colleagues, did not have an easy reign as the Chairman of the Forum.”
The opposition party in Rivers concluded by saying: “Though what Rivers State suffered in the hands of Jonathan is so enormous we hand over his case and that of Wike to God to handle.”
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