The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nyesome Wike

  • FCT doctors suspend warning strike following Wike’s intervention

    FCT doctors suspend warning strike following Wike’s intervention

    The Association of Resident Doctors in the Federal Capital Territory (ARD-FCT) has suspended its three-day warning strike after the intervention of the FCT Minister, Nyesome Wike.

    The President of the Association, Dr. George Ebong, in a statement on Friday night said the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) under the minister had met their demands.

    The ARD-FCT had on Wednesday, Jan. 22, commenced a three-day warning strike to press home some demands from the FCTA.

    The strike grounded most of the government hospitals in the FCT, as the doctors claimed that some of them employed in 2023 were yet to receive some arrears, allowances, and other benefits.

    The doctors also listed the deplorable conditions of some of the hospitals in the FCT, manpower shortage among other demands.

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    However, Ebong in the statement revealed that its members have started receiving the alerts of unpaid six-month salary arrears.

    The ARD-FCT President said that the Minister had approved, as well as ordered immediate payment of the accoutrement allowance owed members.

    He said that the Minister had also given approval for medical residency bonding training to two years; approval of immediate employment of doctors and allied health workers.

    Ebong said that the Minister had also given approval for payment of locum doctors and other health workers that were being owed, noting that “with the intervention of the Minister, doctors are expected to resume work with immediate effect.”

    He added that the intervention had also put an end to the impending indefinite shutdown of hospitals in Abuja, while urging the Minister to brace-up and meet other demands to avert future strike action.

    “On behalf of the executive members and the entire supreme congress of ARD-FCTA, I, Dr. George Ebong, deeply appreciate the Minister for his prompt and timely intervention in meeting our demands, thereby ending our warning strike.

    “We also humbly plead with the Minister to put a mechanism in place to avoid a repeat of this anomaly. We are hopeful that other demands will be attended to in due time,” Ebong said.

  • Rivers Collapsed Building: Site engineer, Architect, others to be prosecuted

    Indications emerged weekend that victims of the collapsed 7-storey building in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state will soon get justice.

    It was gathered that the state governor, Nyesome Wike has given a directive to the state Attorney General to put in place a process to arrest and prosecute the owner of the building, Sir Francis Allagoa, apparently for the failure to comply with the building approval he got in 2014.

    Recall that a 7-storey building (with an underground layer) under construction in the Woji road axis of the Government Reserved Area (GRA), of Port Harcourt, collapsed shortly after casting of the sixth floor in November 2018, thereby killing many and injuring others.

    The governor had set up a commission of inquiry led by a state High court Judge to investigate the incident.

    The committee, it was gathered, sat between December 23, 2018 and January 7, 2019.

    Reports of the committee indicted Alagoa, the site engineer and the Architect of the building.

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    Also found wanting in the incident are some principal staff of the state ministry, including Dr. Reason Onya, who voluntarily stepped aside from his position to allow for smooth and uncompromised investigation into the immediate and remote cause of the callapse.

    The  government after the  state Executive meeting presided over by Wike on Friday, directed the State Attorney General, Zacchus Adango  to prosecute Alagoa and any other person whose actions constituted criminality as established by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that investigated the collapsed 7 Storey building.

    Rivers state Commissioner of Information and Communications,  Emma Okah,  said: “The Rivers State Government accepts that the owner of the building,  Sir Francis J. Allagoa should bear all liability regarding compensation to families of the deceased persons and individual expenses of those injured.”

    He said: “Allagoa is also to bear the cost and make good the damage done to the adjoining property owned by Mrs Edna Ezekiel Hart.”

    The state government also declared  that in line with the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry it will comprehensively reform the procedures and processes relating to building approvals and actual construction of buildings to eliminate failure of buildings in the future.

    The government added that the collapsed 7-Storey building was not covered by any approval and that the one obtained in July 2014 was for a four-five floor building.

    The Rivers State Government directed the State Civil Service Commission to take disciplinary action against Town Planner Edmund Obinna, Director of Buildings and Plan Approvals because his actions fell short of expectations.

    The Council also directed the State Civil Service Commission to take disciplinary action against Rev Dr. Mina Aprioku,  Director of Development Control for professional deficiency.

    The Attorney General of the State was directed to prosecute Engr Adeniyi Ibiyeye and Architect Timiebi Reuben for professional misconduct.

    The Council resolved to report Engr Ibiyeye to the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria for necessary disciplinary action.

  • Wike, Lamido, Murray-Bruce warned against ‘reckless speech’

    Wike, Lamido, Murray-Bruce warned against ‘reckless speech’

    The Buhari Media Support Group (BMSG) has cautioned Rivers State Governor Nyesome Wike, former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and Senator Ben Murray-Bruce against statements that can negatively inflame passions in the country.

    It said “reckless statements and hate speeches” by Nigerians in leadership positions could plunge the nation into internal strife or tarnish its image internationally.

    The BMSG, in a statement, said: “While recognising the rights of citizens to freedom of speech under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we believe it is imperative to condemn recent unjustifiable and careless statements by those who ought to be aware of the implications of making unguarded public statements.

    According to the group, in “one of these reckless statements” Wike allegedly claimed that voting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections “would amount to digging the grave for the burial of Nigeria.”

    It said the governor also claimed that there had been a nationwide breakdown of security, especially in APC states, which he cited as an example of the Buhari administration’s inability to productively manage natural resources.

    “The BMSG considers those comments as untenable and totally against the available evidence in the public arena. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration was embarked on to save Nigeria from continued wastage of its foreign reserves in mindless consumption of foreign goods and services through importation.

    “The results of that policy thrust by the administration are already yielding fruits to the national economy, particularly in the areas of agriculture and manufacturing.”

  • Why Rivers rerun can’t hold now – INEC 

    Why Rivers rerun can’t hold now – INEC 

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would consult political stakeholders in Rivers on logistics for repeat of legislative re-run elections in areas the exercise was cancelled on March 19.

    Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity in the commission, Mr. Nick Dazang, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

    Dazing said that the consultation would commence soon, because INEC was eager to ensure that the elections were concluded.

    “We stated it clearly in our previous statement on Friday that we will not announce new date for the election until we have engaged with stakeholders and that engagement has not taken place.

    “It is after the engagement that INEC will fix a date for the conclusion of the election. We cannot just go back to Rivers state like that, given what happened during the election.

    “Engagement at the level of stakeholders will start soon,” he said, adding that the date for the consultation would be made public when fixed.

    Dazang also told NAN that the commission would not release any other results from the March 19 re-run until the elections were concluded.

    “There cannot be more results than we have announced because as at the time we suspended the election, not all the elections have been concluded.

    “It is only when election has been concluded that return can be made.

    “When INEC suspended the elections, in some areas voting had just started; in some areas collation had just started, and in some areas collation had been concluded but return had not been made.

    “So, it is only in places where elections have been concluded that we have so far announced results,” he said

     

  • Rivers Killing: Women group wants FG to question Wike

    Rivers Killing: Women group wants FG to question Wike

    Women Arise for Justice Wednesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to question the Governor of Rivers state, Chief Nyesom Wike, over numbers of people who lost their lives at the just concluded legislative re-run elections in that took place in the State.

    The women condemned the killings, calling for the arrest of those found guilty or associated with the violence.

    The group also wants the Federal Government to probe the abduction and the eventual killing of an army Colonel, Samaila Inusa, in Kaduna on Tuesday.

    The over 1000  women who  stormed the Presidential villa in Abuja during a peaceful protest said  all the  deaths, abduction, intimidation and destruction of properties were the product of the do or die politics that featured  during the last  Rivers state re-run election.

    The National  President of the group, Jummai Samuel Pukat who led the protest  said the Governor should be held responsible for all the atrocities since his body language and utterances directly constitute instruction to his political killers to deal with those not on the same side as him.

    According to her, “It was Governor Wike who threatened that there are areas that people from the federal level cannot access in the state. It was him who said anyone coming from outside Rivers State for the re-run must first write their will, which implies that he was confident of how to make sure federal agents do not make it out of Rivers state alive.”

    She said that all those who died in the Rivers State re-run must not die in vain, adding that those who lost their properties must be reassured that there is still a government and that it enforces the law.

    “Our sons, brothers, husband and fathers cannot be continually cut down in their prime with the federal government remaining indifferent simply because the murder took place in Wike‘s Rivers State.

    “We cannot wait until more governors join in this killing spree. We dare not contemplate what will happen if Wike’s approach to treating human lives becomes the new norm. As mothers we no longer have the ability to sleep at night when our loved ones have to undertake even the most basic assignment in Rivers State,” she said.

    Pukat said the deafening silence from the federal government has made Wike to continue insulting and assaulting our sensibilities with lies meant to shift the blame for the killings of others.

    She said history will not be kind to them if the memory of the dead is so desecrated with lies.

    “Our hearts bleed Mr. President. We are worried and confused and we ask if Rivers state is still part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” she added

     

  • Rivers: PDP, APC clash over distribution of fake military uniforms  

    Rivers: PDP, APC clash over distribution of fake military uniforms  

    The two leading political Parties in Rivers State have continued to accuse each other of distributing fake military uniforms to different parts of the State, in order to rig the rerun elections on Saturday.

    The Rivers State Government Friday urged security agencies operating in the state to urgently address disturbing news that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has sent out hundreds of its thugs in fake military uniforms to different parts of the State.

    They alleged that APC thugs have been sighted in Novotel hotel, which is used by the party as its command and control center for the Saturday elections.

    The PDP Government also accused Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister for Transportation of directly responsible for the distribution of N50, 000 and uniforms to each of the thugs.

    But  APC Chieftain  in Ikwerre Local government Area, Hon. Azubiuke Wanjoku, a strong supporter of Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, the Hon. Minister for Transport said the  allegation of the PDP led government in the state is a mere defense of what Wike and his PDP are doing.

    He said as long as the re-run election is concern in the state the people of the state would not listen to Wike and his PDP adding that killing of APC supporters in the state will not deterred the people of the state not to vote for APC candidates.

    Wanjoku who is an APC candidate for State House of Assembly, Ikwerre Constituency alleged that PDP in the state are recruiting jobless youths, giving them N50, 000 each, AK47 and military camouflage to shoot during the re-run election tomorrow.

    “As I am talking to you now we have uncovered plan by Chieftains of People Democratic Party in the state to recruit jobless youths for tomorrow re-run election. One of the youths who I discouraged not to accept the N50, 000 cash offer told me that their job that day is to shoot and scared voters away.

    “We have confidence in INEC and we believe that the new state INEC boss will do the right thing and ensure that what happened in the general election where result sheets were taken, result allocated to political parties and smuggled back to INEC office did not repeat itself again.”

  • Nullification of my election a temporary setback  –  Wike 

    Nullification of my election a temporary setback  –  Wike 

    Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has described the nullification of his election as a temporary setback,  saying  that  God’s will and the  mandate of  the  people will prevail at the end of the day.

    Addressing thousands of Rivers State people who thronged the Port Harcourt International Airport to receive him on Thursday, Governor Wike urged the people to remain peaceful   as the state remains PDP despite the contrived situation  at present.

    He assured the people that his lawyers have already started the process of Appeal to the Supreme Court, noting that after the Supreme Court, the PDP will work with whatever judgment emanates from the apex court.

    The governor said the PDP is ready for the National Assembly elections as ordered by the Appeal Court, but warned that the people will resist any attempt by the Federal Government to use soldiers and policemen  to manipulate the elections.

    He said: “I want to warn, let nobody attempt to do what happened in Bayelsa State here. Since they said   they have annulled the elections, let them come and conduct fresh elections. Let nobody think that they can use soldiers and policemen to intimidate us. We will resist any such attempt.  We have maintained our cool for a long time.  Our calmness should not be mistaken as a sign of weakness “.

    He said that Rivers people are peace loving, but they hate injustice and intimidation.

    He advised  all PDP  members  in  the  state  to commence  unit to unit and ward to ward campaigns  for  the  National Assembly elections.

    “We shall return all our National Assembly members as a way to disgrace those who think they will snatch the mandate of the  people,” he said.

    He said that the administration  will continue  to  work for the people  of  the state and deliver good governance  and  projects  to  the  people.

    Wike  was welcomed  by the speaker  of the  Rivers State House of Assembly, members of the State Executive Council,  former National Assembly members,  PDP  leaders, Local  Government Caretaker Chairmen,  women and youth groups.

  • Violence, material theft, marred Rivers guber poll – DSS

    Violence, material theft, marred Rivers guber poll – DSS

    Two senior officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and a member of the Action Alliance (AA) party said Saturday that the last governorship election in Rivers State was marred by violence, intimidation shooting and killings.

    The DSS officials, Benson Chukwuma and Godwin Mbah, who said they each led a team of DSS officials to monitor and provide security at the election, said although things began well at the inception of accreditation on April 11 , the electoral process was disrupted by hired hoodlums midway, thereby preventing proper voting and compilation of results.

    Kamuzu Omiete Blankson, who said he acted as the Collation Agent for his party (the AA), said the election was marred by violent sporadic shooting, burning of election materials and intimidation.

    The three gave evidence, upon being subpoenaed, at the hearing of the petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the election, Dakuku Peterside before the Rivers State governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja.

    They gave evidence in relation to the conduct of the election in Ogu-Bolu, Andoni and Asari-Toru Local Governments of the state.

    Respondents to the petitone are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate at the election, Nyesom Wike.

    Chukwuma, who testified as the petitioners’ 43rd witness and monitored in Ogu-Bolu LG, said the election was disrupted at a point following attack on election officials by hoodlums.

    “In ward 10, units 1, 3 and 5, they (hoodlums) removed original result sheets. It gradually spread to all the other wards. There was serious confusion in the place.

    “The police was helpless because the thugs were not afraid of them. I quickly contacted the military to come to the scene. At the sight of the military officers, the people (thugs) started retreating.”

  • Wike inaugurates LG caretaker committee

    Wike inaugurates LG caretaker committee

    … APC kicks

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State chapter, has kicked against the decision of Governor Nyesom Wike to hurriedly inaugurate members of the caretaker committees in 22 of the state’s 23 local government areas, contrary to the order of the National Industrial Court (NIC), sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The NIC earlier gave an order restraining Wike from dissolving the 22 Rivers councils, pending the determination of the suit filed by the chairmen.

    Rivers APC, through its Chairman, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Friday in Port Harcourt, insisted that the setting up and Wike’s Thursday night’s inauguration in Government House, Port Harcourt of the caretaker committee members were illegal.

    The Rivers Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, however, described as a step in the right direction, the dissolution of the 22 councils, through a ruling of the Federal High Court (FHC), Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi, including the screening of the caretaker committee members by the state’s lawmakers and their inauguration by Wike around 10 p.m. on the same Thursday.

    The tenure of the chairman and councillors of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers state will expire next year and not affected by the dissolution.

    Prior to Thursday morning’s sitting of the FHC, there was an explosion at the premises of the FHC, which led to pandemonium, with the people around scampering to safety, but no life was lost, while Justice Akanbi still went ahead to deliver the ruling.

    Wike immediately sent names of members of caretaker committees for the 22 LGAs to the state’s House of Assembly, led by Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani and they were quickly screened by the 32 lawmakers, consisting of 31 PDP and one APC members.

    The chairmen of the dissolved councils, under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers chapter, which has as its chairman, Chimbiko Iche Akarolo, of the Port Harcourt City LG Council, on Thursday, after Justice Akanbi’s ruling, proceeded to the National Industrial Court in Yenagoa, where they obtained an order of stay of execution, restraining Wike from implementing their sack, but was ignored by the Rivers governor.

    Rivers APC said: “Wike, last (Thursday) night, appointed and sworn in caretaker committees for 22 Local Government Councils in Rivers State, presumably based on the illegal pronouncements of Federal High Court One, sitting in Port Harcourt and presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi.

    “The APC will like to unequivocally state that the ruling by Justice Akanbi on Thursday was illegal and, to that extent, unacceptable to the party. Our rejection of the illegal ruling is based on facts.

    “On April 29, 2015, Justice Akanbi acknowledged that he was on notice that the jurisdiction of his court was on appeal by counsel to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the Rivers State Government and therefore adjourned the matter sine die (indefinitely), pending the outcome of the appeal at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt. Consequently, all parties retreated to wait for the decision of the Court of Appeal, fixed for October 12, 2015, for which all parties are already on hearing notice.

    “The application to join by the APC, which Justice Akanbi turned down, was appealed and that appeal is still pending at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt. There is a subsisting court order in suit number: NICN/YEN/26/2015 by the National Industrial Court, Yenagoa, preventing the Rivers Governor and other parties from undertaking any action to dissolve the 22 councils and/or remove the chairmen and councilors from office. Both courts have co-ordinate jurisdiction.

    “Justice Akanbi cannot reverse his earlier decision to adjourn sine die and reopen the matter without the Court of Appeal dispensing with the matter of jurisdiction before it and other pending appeals, followed by service of hearing notice to all parties in the matter.

    “Based on these facts, the APC rejects the illegal ruling, purportedly given by Justice Akanbi dissolving local government councils in Rivers State. We urge the council chairmen, councilors and members to reject and not to recognise anyone parading himself/herself/themselves as caretaker chairmen and members in the 22 local government councils.”

    The APC in Rivers also called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase; the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS); the new Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Chris Okey Ezike; and all other security agencies to be on notice to continue to provide security for the duly-elected chairmen and councilors, as the only legitimate persons in charge of the 23 local councils of Rivers state (all the 23 LG chairmen belong to the APC), which it said would prevent APC members across the state from being forced to resort to self help.

    It will be recalled that the sacked members of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers chapter, recently accused Justice Akanbi at a news conference in Port Harcourt, of being bribed by Wike, a former Minister of State for Education and Chief of Staff to ex-Governor Rotimi Amaechi, to ensure their removal from office.

    The Rivers ALGON members also sent a petition against Justice Akanbi to the National Judicial Council (NJC), calling for his dismissal for unethical conduct and corruption.

  • Wike should focus on governance – ex-Rivers Commissioner

    Wike should focus on governance – ex-Rivers Commissioner

    The immediate past Commissioner for Health in Rivers State, Dr.  Sampson Parker has urged Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to focus on governance rather than embarking on witch hunting the past administration in the state.

    Parker also advised the governor to moderate his utterances, temperament and behavior to suit that of a governor.

    The former commissioner was apparently reacting to  the  recent utterances made by the governor in the state in the past few days on former Governor-Amaechi-led government.

    Parker in a chat with journalists in Abuja, Wednesday said: “Chief Nyesom Nwike is the governor of Rivers state now. I have always said that he is our friend. He is a member of the Amaechi family, so I am very cautious when I talk about my brother.

    “It is not that because things are not good that you start pouring insults on each other. I try to avoid being pulled into that kind of thing.

    “Suffice it to say that, I will advise him that he is now governor, that his temperament, his behavior, his utterance should be that of a governor and not that of what he was before he became a governor.

    “Before he became a governor, he could say anything, but now he has become a governor of Rivers State. Before he speaks, he should think and speak less.

    “He is not the governor of only the people that are around him, he is governor of all the bishops and all the clergy men both Christians and Muslims in Rivers state. He should behave like that.

    “The things that he used to say before, he should not say them again. Any word that comes out of him, he should evaluate it before it comes out.”

    He further advised that health insurance should be made mandatory in Nigeria; stressing that health insurance will help resolve all the challenges in Nigeria’s health sector.

    He said: “we must find a way of making health insurance mandatory if we want to stop complaining and take control of our health care services.

    “I tell people that if there is a policy on ground that if you contribute 10,000 naira every year and there are ten million people who have like minds out there will be enough resources to take care of the health care system.”