Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has berated the former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, for speaking about Rivers economy from the point of ignorance.

The governor wondered why Peterside would say that because the budget figures of Lagos and Akwa Ibom states were higher, compared to Rivers budget, it meant that Rivers economy was performing poorly.

He said Peterside’s comments were capable of compelling people to question his academic status, especially for saying that the economy was dependent on budgetary estimates.

Read Also; Wike: Fed Govt’s policies have failed to stimulate economy

Wike said: “When they asked him about the budget of Rivers State, he said the mere fact that Lagos State budget is very high, the mere fact that Akwa Ibom budget is very high and Rivers State budget is low, that means the economy is not doing well.

“A PhD holder saying that the performance of an economy is based on the size of a budget. Which means that Cross River that had a budget of N1.3 trillion economy has performed more than every other state economy.”

Inaugurating 10km internal roads in Rivers State, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal noted that he was witnessing a success story of infrastructural development in a rural Odiokwu community.

He said despite the lack of capacity by the Federal Government to deliver good governance, the governors were doing their utmost, playing their role to keep Nigeria together.

Tambuwal said they were proud of Wike for strengthening the existing relationship between Rivers and Sokoto states.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State has suspended a member, Tony Nwaka, for allegedly breaching Section 58 (b)(h) of its constitution.

Nwaka, a commissioner during ex-governor Emmanuel Uduaghan administration, was suspended in a letter posted on his Facebook page.

He had in that Facebook post launched a veiled attack on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa over his maltreatment of a party chieftain and governorship aspirant in the 2023 governorship election.

Read Also; Anambra APC suspends secretary

The letter, signed by Patrick Nwandu, PDP ward 2 chairman, said: “You are by this letter suspended from the party for one month, to enable the ward Disciplinary Committee investigate your breaching of Section 58 (b) (h). This is to enable you come and defend what you posted on Facebook on December 13.”

Nwandu, in the letter, also copied the state Chairman of the party, Kingsley Esiso, Aniocha South Local Government Chairman, Prince Mike Okwufulueze and Delta North Senatorial Chairman, Moses Idu.

The Olu of Warri, HRM Ogiame Atuwase 111, has urged Niger Delta leaders to unite, to tackle the challenges facing the region, rather than pursue personal interests.

He said only a collective action backed by sincerity of purpose would bring lasting peace and sustainable development to the region and its people.

Ogiame spoke yesterday at his palace in Warri when he received the interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd).

He decried division among Niger Delta leaders, stressing that the desired destination could only be reached with the concerted efforts of stakeholders.

The monarch said: “Our heads have been held down for too long. We have always been capable of greatness. The divisions among us have not allowed us to attain the greatness we desire.”

Read Also: Leaders urged to embrace peace, unity

He urged Dikio to use his office to unite Niger Deltans, saying: “Once Niger Delta gets it right, it will be easier for Nigeria to also get it right.”

The traditional ruler said the region was blessed with economic opportunities capable of changing its fortunes beyond oil and gas.

“All the things that sustained our ancestors are still here, still valid. From palm tree to cocoa, fish and so on. All we need to do is to use the resources to grow our economy and make life better for our people,” he said.

He pledged the support of his kingdom to the PAP, especially Dikio’s vision of shared prosperity for ex-agitators, using his Train, Employ and Mentor scheme.

The monarch said:  “In any way we can help to echo that message, we will do so. We are here to support and encourage you.”

Dikio had pointed out opportunities in the Niger Delta, noting that harnessing them depended on peace.

He said the importance of Warri and the historical facts about the city and the kingdom compelled PAP to host a summit that would showcase the region’s economic potential.

“We have chosen the path of economic prosperity and we feel that there is no better place to start than the great city of Warri,” Dikio said.

He congratulated the Warri king on his ascension to the throne and hoped that the kingdom under him would inspire others.

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka and Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

Tricycle operators in Anambra State yesterday protested extortion, harassment and incessant killings of their members.

The protesters, who carried placards, alleged that the acts were being perpetrated by suspected cultists engaged by the government.

Addressing reporters in Awka, the Coordinator, Awka North and South Keke Drivers Welfare Forum, Osita Obi, alleged that security operatives were aware of the sponsors.

He further alleged that security and government officials’ hands were tied because of what he termed huge financial returns being remitted to them.

Read Also: Nasarawa DPO removed over extortion of hoteliers

Obi listed some of the levies being extorted from the Keke operators to include end of year party fee of N4,500, ID card renewal fee of N3,500, State Management Code of N4,000 to N8,000, among other illegal levies.

He said: “Many people have been killed in this town. We don’t want it again. The Keke drivers are tired of leadership imposition and want to be allowed to operate independently.

“Many of them can’t afford living in good houses, sending their children to better schools and wearing good clothes.

“The Keke drivers are willing to pay legitimate government revenues, but obnoxious revenues will no longer be tolerated.”

Reacting on behalf of the Commissioner for Transport, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Emma Akpeh, dismissed alleged attempts to compel tricycle riders to pay certain levies, including that of end of year party/get together.

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has warned criminals to steer clear of the state.

He gave the warning yesterday during the re-launch of the state security outfit code-named ‘Operation Doo Akpo’.

The governor also inaugurated 50 operational vehicles, 40 motorcycles and security gadgets.

He signed into law the Community Safety Corps Bill passed by the House of Assembly.

The law streamlines operations of ‘Operation Doo Akpo’ and the special outfits — Bayelsa Volunteers and Bayelsa Vigilante — under one umbrella.

Speaking during the event at the Peace Park in Yenagoa, Diri said the exercise was to reinvigorate the security architecture of the state to make it more efficient and effective in crime fighting.

He said the operations of the state security outfit are not to usurp the functions of the conventional security agencies, but to support and collaborate with them in efforts to rid the state of criminals.

Acknowledging the resources used to procure the assets, the governor said the priority of his administration was to ensure the prosperity of all, which could not be achieved without security of lives and property.

Describing crime fighting as a collective effort, he appealed to security agencies to conceal the identities of informants, to encourage people to report crimes.

Read Also; I won’t divert state funds to personal enrichment, says Diri 

Diri appealed to the citizens to provide information for the security agencies that would lead to more effective crime fighting.

He thanked security agencies for their role in ensuring the relative peace in the state.

The governor hailed his predecessor, Sen. Seriake Dickson, for establishing ‘Operation Doo Akpo’ in 2012, which he said had over the years assisted in combating crime.

He said: “I have just signed the Community Safety Corps Bill into law. This is intended to complement the work of the constitutionally recognised security agencies.

“The law also harmonises the special security outfits of the state under one umbrella. This means that henceforth ‘Operation Doo-Akpo’, Bayelsa Volunteers and Bayelsa Vigilante will operate under one umbrella.

“In line with our action plan for security, we have made progress in changing the mindset of our operatives, enhanced intelligence gathering, reinforced our alertness and increased mobility and response time.

“After comprehensively and holistically evaluating the situation, we have made informed and tailored decisions, allowing us to re-engage ‘Doo-Akpo’ even more effectively, strengthening performance and guaranteeing the safety and security of our people. Improving responsiveness also requires that we have the requisite equipment and assets.

“Consequently, it gives me great joy to re-launch ‘Operation Doo-Akpo’. Necessarily, the programme has been rejigged, redesigned and refreshed to be more responsive and responsible in carrying out its duties.”

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, CP Agberebi Akpoebi (rtd), noted that the outfit had assisted in combating crime in the state, making it one of the safest states in the Southsouth.

He said that the swift response of ‘Doo Akpo’ to distress calls encouraged residents to believe in the capability of the outfit to ensure their safety.

House of Assembly Speaker Abraham Ingobere said that the Community Safety Corp Bill, which harmonised activities of security outfits, would assist in curbing crime, protecting government infrastructure in rural areas and engaging youths.

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has advocated stronger ties between the state and Equatorial Guinea in maritime and aviation.

He spoke yesterday when the new Equatorial Guinea Consular-General to Nigeria, Ildel Fonso Ondo Nchama, presented his Letter of Credence to him at the state executive council chamber in Calabar.

The governor said he was happy to “wholeheartedly accept this Letter of Credence and all its associated credentials and with joy, pride and honour I congratulate you and welcome you.”

He said he was in no doubt that the new Consular-General would be able to discharge his duties “diligently while you are here in Cross River and indeed Calabar, which is the real centre of African tourism.”

Read Also; Ayade: why we’re building airport with longest runway

While looking forward to stronger trade ties between Equatorial Guinea and Cross River, Ayade said: “It is my strong conviction that the relationship between Equatorial Guinea and Cross River State and indeed, on a larger scale Nigeria, will be facilitated. I am excited that there will be bigger commercial activities and there will be stronger unity and bond, courtesy of a young, ebullient and dynamic Consular-General.

“It is my hope therefore that your coming here as the Consular-General of Equatorial Guinea to Cross River State will give us the opportunity to open up international air cargoes between Calabar and Equatorial Guinea.

“We look forward to meeting with your president very soon to establish the air operating licence between Calabar and Malabo. Hopefully in no distant future, the maritime corridor and the maritime relationship will also be exploited. We believe that there are better opportunities for us to work together and collaborate.”

Nchama, presenting his Letter of Credence, told the governor that “it is necessary to have a Consular-General here in Calabar, Cross River State, because of the cordial relationship between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.”

A former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, has expressed shock and sadness over the death of Mrs. Ezeife Njideka, the wife of his predecessor and prominent Igbo leader, Chukwuemeka Ezeife

Obi, in a condolence message, said the vacuum created by her death will surely be felt by many.

Commiserating with Dr Ezeife, Obi urged him to stay strong.

“On behalf of my family, I sincerely condole with our former governor and elder statesman, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, over the loss of his beloved wife.

“One cannot question God in such seemingly turbulent times as this.

“But we must anchor our hope in the resurrection of the dead, as I pray God to comfort you and the entire Ezeife family,” Obi, a former vice presidential candidate, said.

Concerned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State have urged the national leadership of the party to intervene in the crisis rocking the party.

They said they were tired of “the avoidable and unending ‘factionalisation’ of the APC in the state by anti-APC leaders, which had made it impossible for the party to win even councillorship election.

The members made this known in a communiqué at the end of their one day meeting held at the state secretariat of the party in Enugu.

The communiqué, read to reporters by the former chairman of the APC in the state, Dr. Ben Nwoye, was signed by two persons from each of the senatorial zones.

The members said that they were in the same position with an ex-governor of the state, Sullivan Chime, the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, Baywood Ibe, among others.

They said they would never recognise a former commissioner in the state, Ugochukwu Agballa, as the chairman of the party and advised him to stop parading himself as the chairman of APC in Enugu. “He is not a registered member of the party.”

The APC members said they were determined and committed to reinvigorate and reposition the party in Enugu State to become a viable opposition party, adding that they had decided to work together for that purpose.

They called on the national headquarters of the party to intervene in the crisis through its National Reconciliation Committee.

Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation Andrew Adaze Enwanta has insisted that Governor Godwin Obaseki remains the undisputed leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

He said the governor did not need to struggle with anybody over the party structure, adding that the allegation of declaration of war against the National Vice Chairman of PDP in Southsouth, Chief Dan Orbih, was imaginary and grotesque.

Enwanta, speaking yesterday in Benin, noted that what Obaseki had consistently stated was that PDP executive members, who moved with him from the All Progressives Congress (APC), on June 19, 2020, should be accommodated within the leadership structure of PDP.

Our reporter gathered that Obaseki declared war against Orbih, to fully take over the party’s structure in Edo State.

Obaseki’s anger against the zonal chairman, the former chairman of PDP in Edo, was also in view of Orbih’s closeness to Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who had  described former members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP as tax collectors, over Obaseki’s emergence as the governorship candidate of PDP, ahead of September 19 last year’s election.

Obaseki, in his determination to weaken the influence of Orbih, plotted his removal as the zonal chairman, but it was reversed by the court, which made the Edo governor to be much angrier.

In Orbih’s decision to restrategise, during the last convention of PDP in Abuja, he had most members of the party from Edo in his camp, which made Obaseki uncomfortable.

Since the Southsouth zonal chairman of PDP and his teeming supporters returned to Benin, it had been cat and mouse game between him and Obaseki.

Enwanta said: “The legacy leaders of PDP, including Chief Tom Ikimi, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, Sen.  Yisa Braimah, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, his father, the Esama of Benin, Sir Gabriel Igbinedion, and the two serving PDP senators from Edo State are in full support of Governor Obaseki’s advice.