We ’re Not Seeking Asylum …27 Rivers Assemblymen

The 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who are loyal to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi have denied allegation by the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, that they were seeking asylum at foreign embassies in order to escape from the state.
Wike had, while speaking at the inauguration of his political group, Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area of the state last Sunday, alleged that the 27 members of the Assembly were seeking asylum in the United Kingdom and other European as well as American countries so as to escape the wrath of the people of the state.
But Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Leyii Kwanee, in a statement in Port Harcourt last Monday, dismissed Wike’s claims, saying that the lawmakers were available except for him, and a few others who went on an official duty outside the country and would soon be back.
Kwanee, who represents Khana Constituency II in the House, described the comment as misleading and unacceptable of a man holding a ministerial position, saying that it was wrong for Wike to address Ogonis on the inauguration of GDI at Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoniland, without any good words for the people but rather chose to blatantly lie about their representatives.
He urged the people of Ogoni to disregard the utterances of a man who does not believe that the Ogonis can aspire to the highest political office in the state, and advised them to stand behind the Amaechi-led administration.
While urging the minister to be more concerned with resolving the issues prolonging the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and less with spreading falsehood, the deputy speaker advised Wike to be mindful of what he was doing to the people of the state, pointing out that history will judge his role as there was no patriotism in his conduct.
He said, “today, he is privileged to work with the centre and its coercive institutions but tomorrow will be a different ball game. History will hold him for whatever he perpetrated against Rivers people for the sake of naked power.”

Rivers Deputy Governor, Engr Tele Ikuru (left), with Governor Chibuike Amaechi, at the 53rd Independence Day celebration in Port Harcourt, yesterday