The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State had gone into the battlefield with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State over his political attacks on former Governor Rotimi Amaechi in the state. The APC State Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, in Rivers, in a statement reminded Governor Wike that he was Chief of Staff to former Governor Amaechi in Rivers State, noting that the Amaechi administration built five flyovers and several drainages.
The Rivers APC noted that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state has improved remarkably under the Wike administration. Nwauju said that thr Amaechi administration had an IGR of between N1.5 and N1.9 billion monthly to work with, noting that the Wike administration gets between N10 billion and N15 billion monthly in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
The State Publicity Secretary also noted that the Amaechi administration faced hostile relationship with the federal government, including withholding of certain funds to Rivers State, but the Wike administration enjoys the highest form of cooperation from the federal government, pointing out that N83 billion was refunded the Rivers State Government for federal projects executed by the Amaechi administration, by the Buhari administration while Amaechi was a member of the Federal Executive Council as Minister of Transport.
The State APC listed several other development projects executed by the Amaechi administration.
The full statement read:
APC RESPONSE TO GOV WIKE’S LATEST ATTACK ON AMAECHI
Nigerians no longer take seriously most of the comments that come out of the Governor of Rivers State and being our leader’s former staff, there is no way Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi can engage in any media exchanges with the Governor.
However, it is important to set the records straight by confirming that the former Governor of Rivers State had to the credit of his administration, the following fly-over projects:
- Agip fly-over
2. Eliozu flyover
3. Obiri Ikwere flyover
4. Eleme flyover, and
5. Woji flyover
These projects like others under his administration were done with utmost regard for due process as they went through competitive bidding processes with premium standards delivered in the best interest of Rivers people.
It is also important to state that while the Chibuike Amaechi administration had an IGR of between N1.5 and N1.9 billion monthly to work with, the Wike administration gets between N10 billion and N15 billion monthly in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) monthly. Again, while the later years of the Amaechi administration saw a barrage of attacks from the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Wike administration is enjoying the highest form of cooperation from the centre as N83 billion was refunded the Rivers State Government for federal projects executed by the Amaechi administration, and this approval was graciously extended by the Buhari administration while Amaechi sat in Council as Minister of Transport.
Without struggling to always sound politically correct like Governor Wike, we can beat our chest to say that our leader and former Governor of Rivers State did so much for Rivers State as 12,200 teachers were employed, 400 doctors employed, pharmacists and nurses were all employed without clannish, tribal or political sentiments unlike what recently happened at the Rivers State University were only persons from Governor Wike’s community were given employment opportunities against the Oath of Allegiance the Governor swore to be fair to all manner of men.
The model secondary and primary schools built by the Amaechi administration were sited across the 319 political wards of Rivers State, and the Ubima community where the former Governor comes from, also benefitted. There is also a Naval War College at Ubima. Development of communities or improving the lives of the rural people is not limited to the construction of over-invoiced and poor-quality roads without drainages.
We do know that posterity is the judge of all men.
Signed:
DARLINGTON NWAUJU
Rivers State APC Spokesperson