The non-existent All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State believes that the best way to\u00a0maneuver its way into reckoning is to aimlessly criticise Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. They also imagine that they can eke out acceptance if they sabotage the development of Rivers State by derailing the fight against the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
\nHaving failed repeatedly in their struggle to undermine Governor Wike,\u00a0the remnants of Rivers APC have seen the fight to check the spread of Coronavirus as their only way to maintain visibility.
\nTherefore,\u00a0any action taken by Governor Wike to protect Rivers people from Coronavirus is seen as an excuse for Rivers APC members to criticise the administration and attempt to sabotage the entire state.
\nFrom the very beginning,\u00a0Governor Wike\u00a0led the way in instituting precautionary measures to check the spread of Coronavirus. The proactive\u00a0measures adopted by the Governor have been helpful.
\nGovernor Wike was the first governor to close the borders. When this action was taken, APC leaders condemned him.\u00a0 They even paid mercenaries to write nasty articles calling the Governor names. When other states emulated the Rivers State Governor,\u00a0they dropped this condemnation and fished for another.
\nSeveral steps have been taken by some unscrupulous persons to sabotage the precautionary measures in place to protect Rivers people.\u00a0 Governor Wike is working round the clock because nobody expects any form of assistance from any quarters.
\nFor days, Caverton Helicopters worked with some groups to make Rivers State vulnerable.\u00a0 In a state broadcast, Governor Wike drew their attention to this ugly trend,\u00a0but they ignored it; perhaps, because the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, was beating the drums for them. They acted as if they are above the law.
\nOn April 5, 2020, Governor Wike in a state broadcast declared: \u201cEvery day, we are inundated with letters from the Federal Government to allow oil companies to fly in expatriates to drill oil. Then we ask, what is the status of those coming from Lagos? Nobody has told us their status as regards Coronavirus.
\n\u201cIf they come to Rivers without us knowing their status, what will be the implication assuming they have the virus?\u201d
\nDespite the warnings, on 7th April, 2020\u00a0Caverton\u00a0Helicopters conveyed passengers\u00a0into Port Harcourt and arrogantly refused to subject them to prescribed tests. That action further jeopardised the state\u2019s scheme to protect the people from Coronavirus.
\nThe pilots and the said passengers were promptly arrested. They were arraigned before courts of competent jurisdiction and they are to face trial.
\nThey weren\u2019t arrested for flying a helicopter. They were arrested for refusing to cooperate with state health authorities by complying with regulations on the testing of anyone coming into the state for essential duties. Same way other states have arrested different persons who violated regulations at this time.
\nPart of the regulations signed by the Rivers State Governor,\u00a0which the pilots and Caverton Helicopters contravened read: \u201cThese Regulations apply where the Governor declares, that the incidence or transmission of Coronavirus or any other infectious disease constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health, and that the incidence or transmission of Coronavirus or any infectious disease is at such a point that the measures outlined in these Regulations may reasonably be considered as an effective means of preventing the further, significant transmission of Coronavirus or any infectious disease.\u201d
\nThe Executive Order signed by Governor Wike\u00a0is titled: \u201cEXECUTIVE ORDER RVSG – 01 2020 PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 2, 4 AND 8\u00a0OF QUARANTINE ACT, CAP. Q2 LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA\u00a02004 AND REGULATION 11 OF THE QUARANTINE (CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES) REGULATIONS, 2020.\u201d
\nThe Executive Order stated: \u201cIn exercise of the powers conferred on me by Sections 4 and 8 of the Quarantine Act, Cap. Q2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and regulation 11 of Quarantine (Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 2020 and all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, GSSRS, Governor, Rivers State, hereby issue the following Orders: It added:\u00a0\u201dFlight operations at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Airforce Base, Port Harcourt and Bonny Helipad are hereby suspended and no person landing at these airports shall be allowed to transit into the state.\u201d
\nGovernor Wike was the very first to sign this order. Other states, including the Presidency, copied from Rivers State.
\nThe Minister of Aviation is not conversant with the seriousness of the issues involved.\u00a0We are talking about public safety.\u00a0Nothing could be more important than that. The lives of over six million Rivers people are at stake with his careless issuance of permits premised on the arrogance of telling Caverton Helicopters not to subject themselves to the health protocols on the ground for the protection of Rivers people.
\nIn Rivers\u00a0State,\u00a0everyone understands that the law must to be respected.\u00a0The Governor knows the law and respects the rule of law. He will never obstruct the process, but insists that Federal Agencies respect their boundaries.\u00a0After issuing landing permit, will the workers work inside the plane or helicopter? That is where the respect for the COVID-19 regulations in the state comes to play. You must subject the pilots and passengers to test.\u00a0 Thereafter,\u00a0they proceed to carry out their essential duties.\u00a0 This particular area is way off the Minister of Aviation\u2019s jurisdiction.
\nDoes the Aviation Minister run Isolation\/Treatment Centres in Rivers State? Is there any record that the Minister has ever taken measures to protect Rivers people from Coronavirus?
\nAside the deliberate plot to make Rivers State vulnerable to Coronavirus,\u00a0what positive contribution has the Federal Government made to protect the state?
\nGovernor Wike said: \u201cIt is quite unfortunate that the containment of Coronavirus has been politicised by the Federal Government. While Lagos State received a grant of N10 billion as a commercial hub, Rivers State as the oil and gas hub that produces a greater percentage of the nation\u2019s wealth has not received any support from the Federal Government.
\n\u201cOne wonders why the Federal Government should single out a state out of 36 states to give support.\u00a0 Does it mean that support will come when a state has a record of over 50 infected persons before it gets support?\u00a0 No state should be seen as more important than any other state. This is a Federal Republic.\u00a0No state is superior to others.\u201d
\nRivers State is not the first state to arrest violators of Coronavirus regulations.\u00a0 Only a few days ago, Lagos State arrested and convicted Nollywood Star,\u00a0 Funke Akindele, and her husband. The Minister of Culture and Tourism did not defend her. Lagos also arrested different classes of offenders.\u00a0 No Federal Agency or professional organisation defended the offenders.\u00a0See the following links: http:\/\/saharareporters.com\/ 2020\/04\/08\/coronavirus-lagos- government-quarantines-67- ivory-coast-returnees; https:\/\/www.premiumtimesng. com\/regional\/ssouth-west\/ 386797-lockdown-lagos-police- impounds-over-600-vehicles- arrests-78.html; https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/ 2020\/04\/08\/breaking-27- quarantined-in-niger-state- over-covid-19\/
\nIn Abuja, the FCT COVID-19 Enforcement Team arrested 17 Turkish professionals for violating the Coronavirus regulations on Wednesday.\u00a0The Foreign Affairs Minister did not defend them.
\nKaduna State Government has arrested Christian and Muslim clerics for violating the Coronavirus regulations,\u00a0nobody from the Federal Government rose to the defence of the offenders. See:\u00a0https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/ 2020\/04\/lockdown-kaduna-drags- clergy-men-to-court-for- holding-service\/
\nThis brings me to the threat issued by an association of pilots. Samuel Ugorji and Samuel Buhari were not arrested with 10 others because they are pilots. They committed an offence. The rule of law will be upheld.\u00a0 Nobody is above the law because of his\/her profession. Most importantly,\u00a0the lives of Rivers people remain paramount.
\nGovernor Wike captures this point:\u00a0\u201dThe highly insensitive and provocative actions of Caverton Helicopters took place in the midst of credible intelligence reports about plans by our enemies to traffic carriers of the dreaded Coronavirus into the state.
\n\u201dTheir morbid intention is to create panic by pushing up the infection rate and rubbish the robust measures we have since put in place to cut off the spread of the virus and keep our State and our citizens safe and secure from the ravaging pandemic.\u201d
\nAn Adviser to Governor Wike,\u00a0Mr Erastus Awortu, captured the folly of the Minister of Aviation thus: \u201cIt does not matter to the FG if Rivers lives are\u00a0wiped out by the virus so long as they can take oil to service other lands.\u201d
\nOnce it comes to Rivers State,\u00a0the Federal Government sees money. It cannot see safety of lives. It cannot see security.\u00a0It cannot see projects and it cannot see the welfare of Rivers people.
\nThe misconduct of the Aviation Minister is unfortunate.\u00a0 We saw this character trait in the former General Officer Commanding 6 Division and the former Rivers State SARS Commander.\u00a0 Sirika\u2019s outburst, to me, is a confirmation of the ulterior motive behind the recklessness of Caverton.
\nThe Federal Government and her officials should retrace their steps and work with the Rivers State Government to fight the spread of Coronavirus. The fight against Coronavirus is not an election.\u00a0There are no institutions to manipulate results. That is why the Federal Government must abandon this ugly political strategy.
\nI know that the Federal Government will invest huge sums in misinformation and propaganda on this issue as they have always done, but the fundamental issue remains: why the eagerness to jeopardise the safety of Rivers people by compromising the health defence network of the state?
\nWhen there were cases of insecurity in Rivers State,\u00a0the APC- led Federal Government offered no support to the Rivers State Government.\u00a0 Governor Wike had to personally lead the way to pull Rivers State out of the woods.
\nHadi Sirika can blatantly talk trash because he is playing politics.\u00a0Otherwise, in Kaduna,\u00a0the state government has declared that any person passing through the state will be quarantined for 14 days. This is irrespective of the profession of the person. Coronavirus is no respecter of professions. See:https:\/\/www.premiumtimesng. com\/coronavirus\/386772- coronavirus-travellers- passing-through-kaduna-will- be-quarantined-14-days- official.html; https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/ 2020\/04\/08\/covid-19-kaduna- quarantine-law-violators-to- spend-14-days-in-isolation- facility\/
\nOn March 30, 2020, Rivers State Government announced\u00a0waivers to different categories of persons in view of the directive of the State Government closing the borders.
\nThey include: Medical and Pharmaceutical Personnel, Food and Beverages, Essential Oil and Gas Staff, Petroleum Products and Media Workers and Newspaper Distributors. All these categories of staff\u00a0must identify themselves with valid identity cards.\u00a0 These persons are to subject themselves\u00a0to health checks by health professionals at the surveillance posts at the entry points and their contact addresses obtained for tracing in the case of any eventuality.
\nMedical and Pharmaceutical Personnel, Food and Beverages , Essential Oil and Gas Staff, Petroleum Products and Media Workers and Newspaper Distributors subject themselves to the health protocols outlined in the state governor\u2019s Executive Order at the entry points of the state.
\nBut his Imperial Majesty,\u00a0Hadi Sirika, the Almighty \u2018Elected\u2019 Minister of Aviation,\u00a0wants to jeopardise the health of Rivers people because he issued a permit on the EXCLUSIVE LIST.
\nIf there is any person who is ignorant,\u00a0it is Chairman of EXCLUSIVE LIST. I want to reiterate. The pilots of Caverton Helicopters were arrested because they refused to respect the health regulations outlined in the Executive Order signed by Governor Wike. They executed\u00a0the tenets of Sirika, a permit by landing in Rivers State,\u00a0but refused to obey the extant regulations in place to protect Rivers people.
\nI will still refer to Governor Wike\u2019s state broadcast of March 30, 2020. He said: \u201cLet me reiterate that this government will continue to do what is right no matter who is involved.\u00a0 As you are all aware, no conventional war has grounded global life and economy like Coronavirus has done.
\n\u201cEverybody is affected.\u00a0 Therefore,\u00a0all hands must be on deck to defeat Coronavirus. I want to sincerely\u00a0express my heartfelt gratitude to our health professionals on the frontline of this fight.\u00a0 Let me also thank all the security agencies, individuals and organisations who are collaborating with us to make Rivers State safe\u201d.
\nNo well meaning Nigerian should take Sirika seriously.\u00a0 The matter at stake is beyond the touting of LISTS. We are talking of the safety of Rivers people. Not who is on what list.\u00a0Sirika serves a government that lacks the moral ground to discuss Rivers State. By his irrational outburst, Sirika has emphasised the deadly conspiracy against Rivers people.
\nAs usual,\u00a0Rivers people are prepared to defend themselves.\u00a0If they rose to defend their mandate during the 2019 elections against soldiers and the F-SARS, then Sirika and those who sent him to display irresponsible ignorance should understand that Rivers people will defend themselves at this crucial moment. It is a matter of life and death.
\nTwo days ago,\u00a0the APC Federal Government took the necessary precautionary measure of placing the visiting Chinese doctors on quarantine for 14 days. These Chinese doctors were invited by the Federal Government,\u00a0but they took action to protect the Abuja community.\u00a0But they want the Rivers State Government to be careless.\u00a0See: https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v= zaP6J8G9_VU; https:\/\/gwg.ng\/2020\/04\/08\/ chinese-doctors-arrive-go- into-quarantine\/
\nNwakaudu is Special Assistant to Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Simeon Nwakaudu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The non-existent All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State believes that the best way to\u00a0maneuver its way into reckoning is to aimlessly criticise Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. They also imagine that they can eke out acceptance if they sabotage the development of Rivers State by derailing the fight against the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). Having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234344","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=234344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/234257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=234344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=234344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=234344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}