Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari says the recent resignation of two commissioners from the State Executive Council was not in any way a loss to the Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi-led administration.
She made the assertion while reacting to questions during a media interactive forum organised at the weekend by Silverbird Communications in Port Harcourt.
According to her, “Governor Amaechi did not ask any of us to join him to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He gave everybody freedom to choose”.
Semenitari, who dismissed views in some quarters that the governor forced his executive council members to join him in defecting to the APC, also said the matter was purely a matter of integrity and conscience, arguing that the two commissioners, who resigned and joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), did so on their own volition.
She insisted that Governor Amaechi had before defecting to the APC, consulted with his cabinet, which unanimously agreed on the plan.
The Rivers State Information Commissioner, however, said she was not surprised that some cabinet members, based on their interest, failed to keep to their agreement.
She said, “Integrity is something we should protect very seriously. Yes, this is democracy, but integrity is key.”
Reacting to comments recently made by two former gubernatorial candidates of the Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Prince Tonye Princewill and Dr Abiye Sekibo on governance in the state, Semenitari maintained that both Princewill and Sekibo do not have any moral basis to pass judgement on the Amaechi-led administration.
She responded to Sekibo’s outbursts, asking, “as a former Secretary to the State Government, what did Dr Sekibo bring to Okrika? Is it the destruction of Okuruama or mayhem in Okrika?”
Semenitari also carpeted Sekibo’s claim that Amaechi does not respect the office of the president, recalling that the ACN gubernatorial candidate in the general elections in 2011 worked against the president, while Amaechi worked and delivered over two million votes to President Goodluck Jonathan.
On Princewill, she remarked that the Kalabari prince lied in some of his claims, and lacked integrity to pass judgement on the government.
The commissioner emphasized that Governor Amaechi does not, in anyway, disrespect the office of the president, but is rather condemning the failings of some institutions such as the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RAMFC).