By Tosin Olatokunbo
Governor Nyesom Wike has fired back at his predecessor’s, Rotimi Amaechi comment that the state under him enjoyed more prosperity and peace.
Amaechi was governor of the state between 2008 and 2015 and is the current Minister of Transportation.
The duo has been at loggerheads over the control of the soul of the state.
The latest brawl however started, last week, after the minister, at the burial of late Justice Karibi-White, deplored the state of insecurity, blaming Governor Wike for the development.
Amaechi said criminal gangs have taken over of the state without any efforts on the part of the government to reverse the situation, adding that the governor has pocketed the judiciary and members of the state house of Assembly.
“You have lost your voice. The sage (the late justice) has gone under and nobody is speaking. When I was governor, I gave people voices, but they have blocked those voices,” Amaechi had said. Everyone is scared. We are going back to when Ateke held sway. We are going back to the period where we run away from our people. We are back to a period when nobody could speak.”
But while speaking at a live programme on the AIT on Monday, Wike described the minister as an Abuja politician that has lost touch with his home state.
The governor challenged Amaechi to mention anything he has done for the state since he was appointed minister by President Muhammadu Buhari five years ago.
He said he’s ready to resign if the minister could name any project that he has attracted to the state from Abuja since becoming a member of Buhari’s cabinet.
Governor Wike fired back at his predecessor “As minister of education, I brought faculty of law to Port Harcourt; I brought N500 million grant to Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, I built so many schools. As a minister, I’m proud.
“You’re a minister, tell Rivers people I brought this, mention one. If you mention one, I’ll resign now. Mention what you’ve brought to Rivers people to convince them. We’re too educated for you to go to Kalamari to incite them.”
On the allegation by Amaechi that he silenced dissents.
Amaechi “said judges lost their voice. He’s right, why won’t they? A man who shut down the court for two years, NBA didn’t say anything. So, if he is now saying that NBA lost their voice, he’s right. Today, nobody talks about it that’s why he has the audacity to tell NBA they’ve lost their voice.”
The governor accused the minister of mismanaging the resources of the state for eight years that he ruled the state.
“One of the things that made him the best governor, for fumigation of a state like Rivers state, we paid over N12 billion naira so that there would be no more mosquitoe. Today, mosquito is still biting me. He is not one of the best, he is the best. Who would have done all he did without being the best?” Wike said.
