By Charles Igbo
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, allegedly, cancelled a Scholarship Scheme instituted by his predecessor because the Igbo were benefitting from it.
Wike’s predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi, revealed this at a stakeholders interaction with the very large Igbo Community in Rivers State where he appealed to them to vote for the Governorship candidate of his Party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the March 18, Governorship Election, Tonye Cole.
Amaechi, a foundation member of the APC, who is the immediate past Minister for Transportation, has been indifferent to political activities since he lost the APC Presidential Ticket to Bola Tinubu, now the President-elect. He was not present at most Presidential Campaign rallies, and was conspicuously absent when the Party held its Presidential Rally in Porthacourt, Rivers State.
Aside from his loss to Tinubu, Amaechi, this medium gathered, feels betrayed by the leadership of the APC which surprisingly struck a deal with Wike without referring to him. He was ignored all through the discussions that led to Wike’s support for the Presidential ambition of Tinubu. In appreciation, a faction of the APC, which recently announced that Amaechi is no longer their leader, has promised to give full support to Wike’s Governorship Candidate, Sim Fubara. The Governor is of the PDP.
Now, Amaechi is fighting back. Wooing the Igbo Community, he appealed to them to vote APC candidate, Tonye Cole. As an incentive to the Igbo, he promised that all their properties seized from them after the Civil War, and labelled abandoned property, will be returned to them.
He said: “I am sorry for the issue of abandoned properties. I apologised to you when I became governor and I am still apologizing. We are sorry.
“In the North, the Igbo, who returned after the war, were given back their properties, but here our people seized them and called them abandoned properties.
“The second thing I did as Governor was to abolish the disparity in school fees between indigenes and non-indigenes.
“Thirdly, I instituted a scholarship for all, irrespective of State of origin, as long as you were in Rivers State.
“But when I left office, the next governor cancelled that scholarship on the premise that Igbo people were benefiting from it. I employed 13,200 teachers in this state and 3,000 of them were Igbo people”.
Amaechi, therefore, asked the Igbo community to come out en masse to vote for Cole.
“Anything you have lost in this state through violence, whether house or properties, please write your name and phone number and give to us. We will give them back to you”, he promised.
Speaking, the APC Governorship candidate Cole, promised to protect the interests and businesses of the Igbo.
He said: “The future of Rivers State and Nigeria is at stake. Democracy is about giving people the right to chose their leaders.
“I am one of you. Igbo blood runs in me. My mum is Igbo, my wife is Igbo, you have nothing to fear.”
The Governorship election is slated for Saturday March, 18, 2023.
