The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has accused the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of plunging the nation into its worst depth of corruption since independence, 57 years ago.
\nWike said that the mind-boggling $26billion monumental corruption unveiled in the leaked memo of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu brings to the fore the high-level sleaze amongst top officials of the APC-led Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
\nHe spoke at the Government House, Umuahia, last Friday, during a state visit to Abia State where he commissioned construction equipment for rural development and also held a meeting with the Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.
\nWike said: \u201cWhen they said judges were accused of corruption, they were told to step aside. They have not told anyone to step aside so that they can conclude investigation. When you are in office, investigation will be compromised.
\n\u201cIt is for Nigerians to see. Are we fighting corruption? The corruption they are fighting is against some people who are their opponents. All of us are victims. I have never seen this kind of scandal all my political career. We have never heard of it like this.
\n\u201cWhat about this $26billion (N9trillion) contract scam, and nobody is talking. Everywhere is quiet.\u201d
\nHe said the anti-corruption fight is simply aimed at brow-beating the opposition because the APC has metamorphosed into a monumental failure.
\n\u201cSo many promises were made, but none has been fulfilled. Every day, what they have to say is corruption, corruption, no other statement.\u00a0 Corruption from day one and corruption till the day they will leave office. What have they achieved? No roads, no infrastructure. I could not come to Abia by road. It is not possible\u201d, he said.
\nThe Rivers State governor said that PDP was ready to rescue Nigerians from the failure and under-development foisted on them by APC.
\nHe said: \u201cThey are working to see that there is disunity amongst the governors. But we have realised that we must work together because of the country. We will do everything possible to make PDP stronger.
\n\u201cIt is not by propaganda. No amount of blackmail will make the governors shy away from taking Nigeria to the level Nigerians want it. We are going to work together to ensure that PDP emerges victorious in 2019\u201d, Wike assures.
\nHe said that PDP was the solution to the nation\u2019s challenges, pointing out that all PDP states were working and performing excellently well.
\nEarlier, while commissioning the construction equipment procured by the Abia State Government, Wike commended the Abia State governor for his commitment to rural infrastructure development.
\nHe urged Abia people to continue to support Ikpeazu for greater achievements.
\nWike also announced that the Rivers State Government will work with the Abia State Government to reconstruct Federal Government-owned Oyigbo-Aba axis of the Port Harcourt-Aba-Umuahia-Enugu Highway.
\nThe Rivers State governor said that the APC-led Federal Government was in a state of confusion because it has been meddling in the politics of Rivers State.
\nHe said until they confess, they will wallow in confusion.
\nIn his remarks, Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu said that the construction equipment commissioned by Wike will be used to revolutionise infrastructure development in rural communities in the state.
\nHe said that the earth-moving equipment will serve the rural communities of the state, adding that his administration has lifted Abia State above her peers in terms of development.
\nIkpeazu praised Wike for his commitment to transformational development and good governance in Rivers State.
\n\u201cI count Governor Wike as a special blessing, not only to our people, but to human kind. I thank God for the kind of courage that he has blessed Wike with. Today, he has come here. I pray that the blessing of Rivers State will follow Abia\u201d, Ikpeazu said.
\nMeanwhile, in continuation of his commitment to bolster regional ties and enhance economic and political cooperation, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike also visited Enugu State where he met with stakeholders on the need for cross fertilisation of ideas.
\nThe Rivers State governor, who was received last Saturday at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport by the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi harped on the need to boost regional integration through peer reviews that factor in the interests of the people as key ingredients of development.
\nHe stated that he will continue to be an advocate of regional and inter-regional cooperation for the purpose of enhancing development in the country.
\nWike maintained that it was vital for governors to meet on different platforms to share ideas, proposals and peer review each other for the good of the governed.
\nThe governor stressed that regional cooperation was vital to the deepening of the nation\u2019s democracy and the needed force to propel development at the state level.
\nWike, who was accompanied to Enugu State by the former Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus had a closed door meeting with the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and key stakeholders at the Government House in Enugu.
\nThe Rivers State governor, who addressed journalists after the meeting, said: \u201cYou know this is my brother governor. I am here on a visit for us to compare notes for the development of our respective states.
\n\u201cI have come around for him to brief me on some of the things he is doing for us to make the desired progress.
\n\u201cFor PDP governors, we believe that we should work together and see that we improve the lives of our people\u201d, Wike added.
\nIt would be recalled that Wike had visited Bayelsa State last Thursday and Abia State last Friday, where he focused on developing linkages to encourage regional cooperation for greater development.<\/p>\n
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Chris Oluoh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has accused the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of plunging the nation into its worst depth of corruption since independence, 57 years ago. Wike said that the mind-boggling $26billion monumental corruption unveiled in the leaked memo of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu brings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/162575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}