•••Says He Is Evading Trial
The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has responded to his political arch rival, the former Rivers State Governor, and the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, over his comment on Wike on weekend at the burial of an elder statesman and many-time Minister, late Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas.
Amaechi, had at the weekend during the burial at Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the state, lambasted Wike for not giving the late Douglas a state burial.
But on Monday, Wike fired back at Amaechi saying he was playing politics with the burial of Douglas instead of mourning the deceased.
The governor, spoke during the inauguration of a world-class seven-storey office complex built in Port Harcourt by his government.
He stated that Amaechi’s poor leadership style was the reason for the mass exodus of prominent politicians in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Wike described Amaechi as a total failure, who could no longer enter Aso Rock Villa since his resignation as a Minister.
“You thought you would not finish as a minister. But you have left. I heard you can’t even enter villa now. All those period you intimidated the police and army is over. When you used to tell them, ‘the President is angry with you’. Now go and tell them and they will ask you ‘which president are you seeing. You are seeing no president”
According to Wike, Amaechi disappeared and went into hiding when the man was sick adding that his administration committed over N50m on medical expenses to keep him alive.
Speaking further, he stated that the government was preoccupied with saving the man’s life, but that Amaechi was only interested in his death stressing that the former Transport Minister had a vested interest in the death of the man.
The governor accused Amaechi of ignoring the elderstatesman and rebuffed every demands Douglas made during Amaechi’s administration, stressing that his current government has fulfilled all of the demands.
According to Wike, Amaechi is a “failure as far as Rivers is concerned”, explaining that his predecessor made promises to other departed elder statesmen on their immortalization when they were alive but couldn’t do anything and they died without witnessing the actualisation of the promises made to them by Amaechi.
According to Wike, he excused himself from the burial, when he realised that the likes of Amaechi would turn the burial into All Progressives Congress APC, rally and play politics on the grave of the elderstatesman.
He added that he honoured the man when he was alive with the “Distinguished Service Star award of Rivers.”
He said: “People like to use the deaths of some prominent people to play politics. If you go for a burial and you are going to honour a man that had died, you honour the man and not to use the man’s death to play politics.
“I am disappointed that the former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, will still come to this state to talk about this government not giving late Alabo Graham Douglas a state burial. It is unfortunate.
“I asked him, when Alabo was sick where were you? This state government committed so much amount of money to make sure Alabo survived. I want to challenge anybody. We didn’t spend less than N50m to make sure our elder statesman survived. It is the survival we want.
“We wanted him to be alive. When his son, the late son, had an accident and was flown to London, this state government took the cost of it. We didn’t need to say all these. They like to eulogise the dead.
“Why will I give him state burial, when I saw you people had brought politics to the man’s burial. I decided to withdraw myself because I didn’t want to be involved in the politics. But we spent such amount of money to save our leader when you could not bring one Naira.
“All of you claiming to be Port Harcourt Boys and donating money, why didn’t you donate money to save the man that time? We like to eulogise the dead. We don’t want to eulogise the living. When Alabo was alive, how did you eulogise him? When I came I honoured him and gave him Distinguished Service Star of Rivers State. He was not dead when I gave him
“Amaechi when Alabo was alive, he told you to honour him by elevating the stool of Amayanabo of Abonnema. You didn’t do it but I came and elevated the stool to a first class stool. Amaechi Alabo told you ‘please, help me and do the ring road in Abonnema so that we won’t be having problems of people being trapped on one road’. But he refused to do it. I did it.
“When Alabo was alive, he told Amaechi, please, do the Trans-Kalabari road, he didn’t do it. I am the one doing it. So, who is the man who loves Alabo? Because the man is dead, you went there. I know why you went there. You have interest. Everybody knows that you have interest.
“The only way is to go there when the man has died. When the man was alive you couldn’t do things that would make him happy. Before Karibi Whyte died you went and pulled down our General Hospital that you are going to build Karibi Whyte Hospital, but the man died without seeing one block you laid. But when the man died you went there.
“Before Captain Elechi Amadi’s death, you said you were going to build Faculty of Humanities. That one you tried to lay block but you abandoned it. I came and completed it. That is the kind of life you live.
“When Elechi Amadi died, there was no road to his house for a man you said you love. I came and did that road and that was how he was buried. You should be ashamed of yourself. You come and open your mouth and talk politics in this state. Some people should know that there is limitation to everything. If you didn’t say what you said on Saturday, I wouldn’t have exposed you. Some people should be quiet”.
Wike said the PDP had taken all Amaechi’s key APC members and challenged him to show his scorecard in Rivers as a former Minister of Transport.
The governor said when he was a junior Minister during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, he brought tangible projects to Rivers.
Wike said: “We have taken all your people. Nobody in your party again. They are leaving because of your poor leadership. Tell Rivers people, as a Minister of Transport what did you do for your people for seven years? We haven’t seen any guage in Port Harcourt.
“Show Rivers people what you did for them. When I was a junior minister, I brought Faculty of Law, University of Port Harcourt. As a Junior Minister, I brought oil and gas Polytechnic in Bonny. I gave grants to higher institutions. I renovated most of the secondary schools in this state.
“Tell us as a grade A Minister, what you brought. You think you can deceive Rivers State again. This should be your last time to open your mouth and talk about this state. You are a total failure as far as this state is concerned. Even things that were supposed to come to us, you blocked it. We didn’t bother.
“I am proud of myself and my team. I am proud that I have done something in this state. I may not have satisfied everybody, majority of the people will say my administration had done a lot to improve our state. So, don’t distract us again. If you do I will say more things that when Nigerians see you they will pour you hot water. So, be careful”.
Wike said Amaechi was running helter-skelter to stop his ongoing prosecution, but he vowed that nothing would frustrate the trial.
“We are prosecuting you but you are running around mounting pressure on the Ispector-General of Police that they should not allow them to testify. But you said your hands are clean, why not come to court so that they will ask you question?
“Stop doing everything to ensure your trial doesn’t go on. It will go on. Even if I leave office, the incoming governor will make sure that trial goes on. You can’t run away from it. You told people lies. You don’t like money, meanwhile your eyes don’t see money at all.”
The governor said the former structure in the area was abandoned and became a den of armed robbers and marijuana smokers, stating that after visiting the site, he decided to turn it around by building an office complex, which he said would be valuable for firms in financial businesses like banks.
The Governor named the edifice, “Senator John Azuta Mbata House,” and appealed to Herbert Nwigwe to purchase the edifice and turn it into a regional headquarters of the Access Bank.
“If you had seen what used to be here, you will know a great job had been done. When I came here, what I saw was something else, criminals, armed robbers and I said no. Some of our citizens were involved in trying to take away this property from government.
“We have turned the landscape of this area to something befitting. The only thing is that government can’t use here. We have been thinking whether to lease it or sell it. For me I prefer we sell it and use the money and do another project. Civil servants will lease these things but you won’t know where the money is going to.
“It is purely built like a bank so, we urge bankers and other financial institutions to come and take it. In fact, our brother Herbert Nwigwe I have told him to come and buy this and make here the regional headquarters of Access Bank, not every time Lagos. Come and buy here”.
The Mayor of Port Harcourt, Victor Ihunwo, commended the governor for transforming the landscape of the area adding that they would follow his directives in 2023 election.
