Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications Paulinus Nsirim has said Governor Nyesom Wike desired a safe and a healthy state for residents.

He spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt at a meeting with managers of state-owned government media organisations.

The commissioner urged the media to drive a conversation that would enlist the support of those living and doing business in Rivers, to achieve the objectives of the government.

He said: “We must use our media houses to make our people not to politicise what the governor is doing in this direction.

“Wike means well for Rivers people. It is only a man who has the interest of the people he is governing at heart that will come up with that kind of new year agenda.

“Of course, we are all aware that bunkering and artisanal refineries contribute to the environmental challenges we are facing, with soot in the state.

“From the governor’s new year broadcast, you find that there is a strategic move to end bunkering and artisanal refineries.

“This meeting is to draw our attention to the fact that we need to play a very prominent role in advocacy, enlightenment and sensitisation of the citizenry to buy into this positive agenda of the government.”

“We owe our state that obligation to ensure Rivers is safe and healthy so that people whose stock in trade is to see no good in the policies of the government are shunned.

“The people must shun these naysayers. The people must shun those who are playing to the gallery, those who are looking for cheap popularity and publicity.”

Pastor Nsirim advised the media to drive a conversation through  their programmes to help people understand that the governor had the interest of the people at heart.

“It should be aggressive. Let it permeate the minds of those living and doing business in Rivers State. This is what we should all join hands with the government to do,” he said.

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has promised to complete the projects embarked on by his administration before leaving office.

He spoke at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Umuahia, during the inauguration of the Abia State PDP Elders’ Committee.

The governor said funds had been made available to contractors, adding that the first three months “of this year will witness constructions.”

He said Faulks Road, Azikiwe Road, Omuma; Eziukwu Cemetery, Ngwa Road, Ohanku, Obohia; ABSUTH – Udeagbala Road, Aba Owerri Road, Uratta Road, PH Road and others “are in the completion dashboard for this period, including the Osisioma flyover project.”

Ikpeazu said major roads in Umuahia would be given fresh asphalt coatings in the coming days and weeks, to improve their longevity.

The Chief Press Secretary to Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Onyebuchi Ememanka, has reacted to a rumour on the governor’s plan to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This is coming on the heels of the recent visit and closed-door meeting between Ikpeazu and the leader of APC in Abia State and Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu.

The governor had received Kalu at his Umuobiakwa country home in Obinngwa Local Government.

He, alongside his aides and personal staff, who were already waiting for Kalu, received the Senate Chief Whip, who arrived at the governor’s mansion on January 7, at 1:32 pm.

After exchanging pleasantries, Ikpeazu went into an inner room with Kalu for a meeting.

Dismissing Ikpeazu’s planned defection to the APC, Ememanka regretted the reactions that had trailed Kalu’s visit to the governor at Umuobiakwa and lamented that the development had shown that many people were interested in empty conspiracy theories.

He said Ikpeazu would always receive his visitors, especially his predecessors.

Said he: “Those who know Ikpeazu will tell you that even when you have disagreement with him, based on political ideologies, it doesn’t affect his relationship with you.

“He is a kind governor. He will receive a former governor, even if they don’t agree politically. No such issue ever came up during their talks. If anyone will defect on account of that visit, it is certainly not Governor Ikpeazu.”

The spokesman reaffirmed the loyalty of Ikpeazu to the PDP, noting: “Ikpeazu remains a member and a leader in the PDP. He will lead the party in Abia State to victory in 2023.”

Enugu State Command has assured residents that its officers and men have brought the situation in the state under control.

This followed the alleged cases of sporadic shootings at Topland Amechi-Awkunanaw, snatching and burning of a Toyota Sienna vehicle and a tricycle at Umueze and Agbani axis of Nkanu West Local Government by miscreants alleged to be enforcing illegal sit-at-home order, “which caused panic in the Enugu metropolis in the morning of today (yesterday).”

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A statement by spokesman Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Daniel Ndukwe said the command enjoined law-abiding citizens “to go about their lawful businesses without fear of intimidation or harassment, as the police and other security operatives have been deployed to thwart the activities of the miscreants.”