How FG Denied PDP States Bailout Fund – Wike

Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has raised alarm over attempts by the Federal Government to deny states under the rulership of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) the bailout fund.
Speaking when National Executives of the Ohaneze Ndigbo paid a courtesy call on him yesterday in Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Wike revealed that the fund percentage accruing to PDP-led states was cut from the officially approved 2 per cent to 11.3 per cent.
The reason, he said, was to make sure the opposition is stifled, “ because if they give us 2 per cent, we will get more money and because we are PDP states and they don’t like us.”
The governor decried that the preferential treatment meted out to only APC states, saying it is indicative that the Federal Government wanted to kill the opposition but submitted that such posture will kill democracy in the country.
Besides that, he cited the incident that took place in Abuja last Monday when security agencies sealed up the venue of PDP emergency meeting at the Conference Centre in Abuja and lamented that the same scenario is playing out in Rivers State where the security agencies are being used to compromise security of the state because of party interest.
Wike while advocating  true federalism argued that the concentration of powers at the centre was killing good governance, pointing out that rather than seeing the states as federating units, the states are viewed as agency of the Federal Government.
‘ We must practise true federalism by allowing states to be independent and autonomous “ he stressed, “I will not relent to still hold that view and those that mean well for Nigeria also believe in that.”
The Rivers State governor said only those who do not mean well are those that will insist that the states be run as agencies rather than units.
Earlier, the President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dr John Nwodo called for restructuring of the country to give every section a sense of belonging.
The President-General of the umbrella Igbo group decried the marginalization of Ndigbo by the Buhari-led government, as he maintained that the Igbo people have been schemed out of the polity since there is no infrastructural development in the South-East.
He commended Wike for his doggedness and achievements to transform Rivers State, as he advised on the need for industrial expansion in the state.