Wike Names Kobani As SSG

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has appointed the immediate past Minister of State for Trade and Investment under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Kenneth Kobani, as Secretary to the Rivers State Government.

The governor made the appointment, in a statement released Friday in Government House, Port Harcourt.

He replaces George Feyii, an Ogoni technocrat from Khana Local Government Area in the state, appointed by the outgone Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in October, 2007.

Kobani was before his appointment last February as minister in the Jonathan administration, a commissioner in the Dr Peter Odili-led government in the state.

He hails from Gokana Local Government Area, in the Ogoni heartland.

The Rivers State governor also appointed Hon Emeka Woke as the Chief of Staff, Government House.

Widely believed to be a grassroots mobiliser, Woke, was a former Emohua Local Government Council chairman under Dr Peter Odili’s administration.

Both Wike and Woke were alleged to be strong Amaechi loyalists before the split in the state’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) family, leading to the former governor’s exit to join the All Progressioves Congress (APC) in early 2013.