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By: Amaechi Okonkwo – Port Harcourt.
Governor Nyesom Wike has warned citizens and residents of Rivers State to be careful of the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Tonye Cole, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the state prepares for the governorship and state assembly elections.
The governor said the warning become imperative following what he described as the reckless instigation of needless war between the Igbos and Rivers people allegedly by the former governor of the state, Amaechi.
Wike gave the warning on Friday at Egbeda Community while inaugurating the Akpabu-Egbeda-Omoku Link Road in the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.
He urged the electorate to ensure that they delivered their votes for Sir Siminialayi Fubara, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who, he claimed was more disposed to sustaining the prevailing harmony in the state.
Wike condemned Amaechi for resurrecting the issues of abandoned property that happened during Nigeria’s civil war over 50 years ago, insisting that Cole and Amaechi were insensitive to the danger the animosity they were triggering and what it would cause in the state in their inordinate and dubious quest for power.
Wike said: “We have been living peacefully with our brothers and sisters; Ndi Igbos, living peacefully, doing business peacefully. I felt that I should let you know that a vote for Tonye Cole is a vote for division of Rivers State. A vote for Tonye Cole is a vote in order not for him to return our 50 million US dollars, and God will not allow us to vote for such people. We are prosecuting them. They want to run away from prosecution, they cannot.”
He reprimanded Amaechi, saying that the former minister lied to Igbos in the state about ensuring compensation is paid for their purported abandoned property during the civil war if they vote for Tonye Cole.
“When you have a child who wants to destroy a home, to open up old wounds at this time in Nigeria, in Rivers State is a terrible thing. He is trying to put us and the Igbos at loggerheads for us to fight, God will not allow us to fight”, Wike declared adding that despite what Chibuike Amaechi would do, Igbos and Rivers people would continue to live together as people who have largely intermarried among themselves.
The governor alluded to the fact that Chibuike Amaechi wants to foist Tonye Cole, a man who cannot speak the indigenous language he claims, as governor of the State and wondered what he described as the nature of double-faced political life that Chibuike Amaechi often depicts. According to him, Amaechi claimed a different tribe when he contested for the presidential ticket of his party, adding that when he failed, instead of supporting Peter Obi or another southern candidate, he voted for a northern candidate.
Governor Wike also mocked Dele Momodu for his inability to deliver his presidential, senate and House of Representatives candidates in the February 25th elections.
The governor stressed that he has produced three PDP senators, 9 House of Representatives so far and is certain of winning the house of Assembly election and governorship for the PDP.
He wondered why Dele Momodu and his cohorts have ceased appearing on Arise TV after the 25th February presidential and National Assembly election, because it is now obvious to them that politics is not done on television.
He clarified that he never mentioned anybody’s name when he described some members of the PDP as buccaneers and vampires responsible for the party’s lost in recent election.
Commenting on the project, Wike said because of the seriousness his administration attached to the road project, it has been delivered on schedule in order to avail the people dividend of democracy.
He told the people of the Egbeda community that the contract for the construction of internal roads in the area had been awarded and the contractor, Monier Construction Company (MCC) had been directed to mobilise to site on 13th of March 2023.
He said the Commissioner of Works had been told to prepare the Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) so that the contractor can withdraw N500 million from the Internally Generated Revenue monthly so that fund does not frustrate the job.
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