The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has apologised to the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, and the people of the state on the insults from Governor Nyesom Wike.
Rivers APC, yesterday in Port Harcourt, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, stated that Wike, a former Minister of State of Education, should have acted much better.
It said: “As the news continues to pop up about a plan by the Rivers State Governor to execute road projects worth N4 billion in Benue State, the Rivers State Chapter of the APC has maintained a studied silence, believing that it was an episode taken from Hephaestus: a Greek Mythology Circus Tale that will soon come to an end.
“Despite our initial dismissal of the story as mere comic relief from the governor’s deep bag of tragic jokes, it soon became clear that Wike actually made the revelation in an exclusive interview with The Sun newspaper that, not too long ago, named him their Man of the Year – an award that reminds us that the famous Time Magazine named the dictator, Hitler Man of the Year on the eve of World War II in 1938. So also was Stalin given the award twice by Time Magazine in1939 and 1942.
“A day or so later, the Governor of Benue State, speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, made a comprehensive response to the fatal comedy by Wike, giving him a thorough dressing down.
“Assuming that the good people of Rivers State have had enough of Wike’s theatre of the absurd, the APC declined to throw itself into the ring, for the sake of saving the people yet another distraction and needless embarrassment.
“Surprisingly to the APC, the Rivers governor has continued with his gory market-square dance, to the unending shame and embarrassment of the good people of Rivers State.
“The APC is dismayed that a governor (just like any other) facing the present crunchy economic times has embarked on making expensive jokes that suggest that Rivers State has overcome its own infrastructural, educational, health and other glaring developmental deficiencies, as to go offering road projects to other states of the nation.
“In a twist of fate, just as Wike disparaged and taunted Ortom for not being able to pay striking pensioners, the next day, pensioners in Rivers State, who are owed up to eight months pensions, marched to the Government House, Port Harcourt. They were joined by suffering staff of Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), whose months of outstanding salaries we have lost count of.”
APC also stated that in Rivers State, many ongoing projects were begging for completion, while it reiterated that Wike had since withdrawn Rivers youths on overseas scholarships, with the state-of-the-arts modern secondary schools started by his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, now Transportation Minister, had been closed and abandoned.
It noted that many of the primary schools had been overgrown with weeds and had become homes for reptiles.
Rivers APC said: “All you see are superficial and deceitful projects that cannot stand the test of time. Yet, Rivers State ranks among Nigeria’s most indebted states, under less than two years of the Wike administration. Yet, the governor thinks he is better off than his Benue State counterpart.
“The APC wishes to apologise to Governor Samuel Ortom and the good people of Benue State for the undeserved insults from Wike. We re-iterate that the Rivers State governor is not near the example of who true Rivers people are.”
The main opposition APC also stated that the tragedy that afflicted Wike on Rivers people had become too well-known to Nigerians, while taking solace that God would surely heal the people of the affliction, much sooner than later.
