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Tag: Rotimi Amaechi

  • 2019 budget: Special FEC session to hold Friday 

    Another Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting was on Wednesday fixed for Friday to deliberate on the 2019 Budget proposal.

    This was disclosed by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina at the end of FEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Read Also:NASS joint committee meets again over INEC 2019 budget

    He was with the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung.

    According to him, the meeting was necessary to quickly look at the proposal before forwarding it to the National Assembly for consideration.

     

    Details Later…

     

  • Senate summons Amaechi over eastern rail line

    The Senate Wednesday invited the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to appear before its joint committee on Land Transport and Local and Foreign Debts over alleged exclusion of eastern rail lines.

    Amaechi is summoned to tell the upper chamber why the eastern rail corridor, Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, was allegedly excluded in the scheme of rail expansion and modernization.

    The invitation of the minister followed the adoption of a motion by Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on alleged exclusion of the eastern rail corridor in the ongoing modernization of rails in the country.

    Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe raised a similar motion last year when he prayed the Senate to put on hold a foreign loan for rail lines in the country due exclusion of eastern rail corridor in the rail expansion plan.

    Amaechi told the Senate that there was no plan to exclude the South East area in the rail modernization scheme.

    He assured that the area will be included in the 2018 borrowing plans of the Federal Government.

    Ekweremadu said yesterday that the exclusion of the eastern corridor in the rail modernization scheme is not good for the country.

    He urged the Senate to intervene and prevail on the Federal Government to take steps to include in the rail line expansion project.

    He noted that there must be fairness and equity in the distribution of projects for people to feel a sense belonging.

    Ekweremadu said: “I want to bring to the notice of the Senate, the deliberate exclusion of the Eastern rail line in the ongoing construction/modernisation nationwide. This is not good for our country. It shows that some parts of the country are deliberately ignored.

    “I must commend the efforts of the Federal Government in ensuring that rail lines are developed, but it is also unfair to exclude the Eastern part of the country. Our people will suffer as a result of this.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, who supported the motion said that it appears there is no commitment on the part of the Federal Government to pay attention to eastern part in the rail development programme.

    Sani said: “The motion raised by Ekweremadu is apt and right. The last time we had an interaction with the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, he promised to include the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail line in the ongoing borrowing plans.

    “It is now clear to us that there is no commitment to do that. That axis has a lot economic benefits to Nigeria. The withdrawal of General Electric is worrisome. Some of my colleagues in the committee appended their signature to the plan to construct Lagos to Kano rail line. But with this development, I am sure that they are regretting.”

    Also Delta South senator, James Manager, wondered why the minister, who hails from the area, has chosen to exclude his place because of political differences.

    Manager said, “We are talking of railway and you are excluding the business communities in Nigeria. When you talk about business in Nigeria, the East is key. The government has decided to exclude that part. This is one issue every Nigerian is interested in. I am from Delta State and I am sure that my state too will be excluded.

    “Ironically, the Minister of Transport is from Port Harcourt. Local politics aside, he will return home after leaving office. We need to invite the Minister to explain to the relevant committees why he has decided to exclude some parts,” he said.

    Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, who also supported the motion, noted that General Electric, which ought to have handled the project, has not abandoned it.

    “I am supporting this motion. But let me clarify that the axis given to General Electric has not been abandoned. General Electric will have its subsidiary handling that axis. My concern is that, General Electric is designed to renovate the narrow gauge and not to modernise. Let there be justice and fairness in this issue.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari has given an express order that every state capital in Nigeria must have a rail line. Let the Senate work with the other side to ensure that the Eastern Line gets this project done,” he argued.

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said that the issue of equity should be considered in the distribution of railway projects in the country.

  • APC built Train stations in villages of PDP chieftains – Amaechi

    The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, on Sunday said that in the course of executing the Warri-Itakpe Rail line, stations were built in the villages of Peoples’ Democratic Party(PDP)’s chieftains.

    Amaechi disclosed this at the `Next Level Presentation’ at Presidential Villa Banquet Hall to signal the commencement of the campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 general elections.

    The minister who made a presentation titled `What We are Building ’  said that President Muhammadu Buhari, upon assumption of office, directed that old and abandoned projects be completed.

    “The truth is that the country is compelled to make a choice between good and bad. When I was appointed the Minister for Transportation, the president warned–do not start new contracts, go and complete old ones.

    “We met Itakpe –Warri Rail line which had been in existence for 34  years uncompleted; it would have been the first Standard Guage line in Africa if it was completed.

    “Based on the president’s instruction, I did a memo; I thought we will borrow money from China; but the president refused. He said we should use our internal funds to execute the project.

    “People saw me on social media on Train service from Warri to Itakpe. I got to Warri 8pm because I was going from one station to the other—almost all the villages and most  prominent members of PDP made sure that train stations were in their villages.

    “So, I am compelled to do those stations in villages of members of PDP; it is okay; it is the instruction of the president that you must go and finish the old work.’’

    He said that the tradition in the past was that once one was elected, one left the old things for the old people and awarded new contracts.

    According to Amaechi, the ministry will start commercial service from Itakpe to Warri.

    On PDP’s argument that it started the projects, Amaechi said that Buhari made it clear on commissioning the Abuja –Kaduna rail project that the project was started by the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “We completed it but two things are remarkable—we borrowed 500 million dollars to start that project at the time oil was selling at 114 dollars per barrel.

    “ We should not have borrowed; you mean this country could not have afforded 500 million dollars?

    “I will show that we can; when I wrote a memo to the president and to the cabinet requesting that he should allow me borrow 500 million dollars from China to buy locomotives and coaches for Lagos-Ibadan, the cabinet under the directive of the president refused.

    Read Also: PDP kicks as APC wins by-election for House of Reps

    “He(the president) said 500 million dollars; we can get from here and we are funding it from here; so we did and completed Kaduna to Abuja quickly.

    “We spend N56million per month and we get N16 million; so we are augmenting for both rich and poor—N40 million per month under the directive of the president because he fears that the poor might not be able to afford it. So, everybody is using it.’’

    According to him, Lagos to Ibadan railway is almost complete—a distance of 156kms.

    The minister said that application had also been made to construct Kano to Kaduna railway as approval for funds is being awaited.

    “We are about to award the central line from Abuja to Niger to Baru from Baru to Itakpe to Warri; the president had approved a new seaport in Warri. We are negotiating with a Chinese company which will build it.

    “Do not forget that N2.7 billion dollars is N1 trillion. So, we are looking for money to commence already awarded work on the coastal rail.

    “The coastal rail starts from Lagos, from Lagos; it passes through Ogun State, Ondo, Benin, Asaba, and Onitsha. From Benin again, it passes through Warri, Sapele, Ughelli, to Bayelsa, in fact, it goes to Utuoke. From Otuoke, it goes to Port Harcourt.

    “ Then from Port Harcourt, it goes to Aba, Uyo, and ends up in Cross River State.

    “We are almost ready to award Port Harcourt to Maidugiri. The difference between us and the last award is that the last award was 1500km but under the directive of Mr President, it was extended to 2000 km.

    “ The last award was Port Harcourt straight to Maidugiri but in order to satisfy everybody at the directive of the President, we must get to every state capital,’’ he said.

    On his part, Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, said that it would require a long journey into Nigeria’s history to recall when last it had massive investment in infrastructure.

    “It is no coincidence that we look to the 1970s and the 1980s when we built new airports, new seaports, new refineries, new highways and bridges.

    “The closest you will have to that era is the 1990s when petrol-money was also being applied to upgrade infrastructure under the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF)incidentally chaired by Buhari.

    “We lost an enormous opportunity when recently oil money rose to $114 dollar per barrel and stayed there for almost a decade and we have no new airport, refinery, bridges, petrochemical plants,   no new seaports to show accountability to how all the money went,’’ he said.

    The event also witnessed the unveiling of Buhari-Osinbajo 2019—A Basic Guide-The Campaign Manual in Brief.

    NAN

  • The Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge conundrum

    Despite the Federal Government’s spirited effort to achieve an uncommon feat in the revamping of the railway, the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge project may not be delivered in December, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    Top on Minister of Transportation  Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s salver right now is how to manage the fallout of the much touted delivery of the Lagos-Ibadan speed train by December.

    Reason: Nigerians, who are expecting to see President Muhammadu Buhari flag off the train by December and commercial activity in January may have to wait much longer.

    Rather than becoming a major staple on the government’s bouquet of deliverables, the speed train may have to wait till perhaps the second quarter of 2019.

    When he led the Project Implementation Monitoring Team (PIMT) on its routine tour of the project on October 30, this year, Amaechi merely retorted: “I won’t tell.” It was a verdict loaded with forebodings and against the grain of optimism he had expressed in June.

    The Minister had been irrevocably committed to the December deadline and had mounted pressure, a source within the top echelon of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) said “was unknown in this part of the world by any government on the firm”, to ensure compliance.

    Amaechi would have gone into history book as the first state official to midwife such a gargantuan project and deliver within 18 months.

    At the groundbreaking ceremony, which  held at the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) premises on March 7, 2017, the Acting President Prof Yemi Osinbajo (as he then was), restated the Buhari administration’s commitment to revert to the train culture and change the narrative of transportation architecture in Nigeria.  “Our ultimate goal is to restore a railway culture for cargo and passenger traffic. We are confident that the national rail project will create up to half a million jobs and facilitate the movement of up to 3.2 million tons of cargo per annum.

    “It will also reduce the burden on national highways thus, reducing deterioration of the road network.”

    Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), National President Ibrahim Jubril said lack of access to the rail by importers is impeding the government’s directive on ease of doing business in the country.

    According to him, the country is losing billions of naira monthly for not allowing bulk cargoes to be moved by rail, adding that presently, truck drivers collect an average of N800,000 to move a 1×20 ft container by road anywhere outside Lagos and about N250,000 within the state, an amount which has multiplier effect on the cost of goods in the open market.

    Jibril said the continuous movement of cargoes by road is not only responsible for the deplorable condition of port access roads, but has forced the upward review of the cost of freight.

    Sixty-two days to the end of the year, the rail is only about 40 per cent completed.

    Since the earthworks began in June last year, Amaechi had ensured he came on site monitoring at least once a month to push the project.

    Statistics

    The 156-kilometre Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan Railway is the first railway in the Southwest since 1896, when the first line, which was the backbone of what is now known as the NRC’s western line was laid.

    With a contract sum of $1.5billion, the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge was originally penned to be delivered by the CCECC in 36 months.

    The speed train line would have 10 ultra-modern railway stations with four in Lagos: (Apapa, Lagos, Agege and Agbado), three in Ogun: (Kajola, Papalanto and Abeokuta), and three in Oyo: (Olodo, Omi Adio, and Ibadan).

    The 156 km line would have four extra-large bridges, 11 large bridges, four medium bridges two steel bridges, 10 frame bridges, 207 culverts, 40 railway crossing-no level crossing and 31 pedestrian overpasses.

    Assessing the level of civil work at his last visit, Amaechi had disclosed that only three bridges are left between Ibadan and Abeokuta and six between Abeokuta and Lagos.

    Overall, the minister admitted that the pace of work was faster at the Ibadan-Abeokuta axis, while he categorically carpeted the slow pace of work at the Abeokuta-Lagos end.

    “If I tell you I am impressed with the level of work at the Lagos end I would be lying,” he told a stunned CCECC last Tuesday. And this much he traced to a number of hurdles, chief among them being the relocation of water pipes, which the sub-contractor ought to have delivered by November 5, but has been extended for another two months “because of other unforeseen exigencies which they encountered in the course of the relocation”. About 34 kilometres of pipes were affected by the relocation.

    Impediments

    Lagos had posted the most difficult challenge to the actualisation of the project. This according to sources was due to the state being already built up. Aside the water mains, gas and petroleum pipelines, which were submerged underground and in the sea, high tension power lines, overhead bridges, and several structures had been some of the impediments at the Apapa and Lagos end of the project.

    Amaechi said: “Though these are real and tenable excuses, they are not permissible, as these are “known challenges for which solutions ought to have been proffered.” While the other three segments of the project started last year, work did not begin on the Lagos corridor until August.

    “Every other thing but money could impede the progress and delivery of the project,” Amaechi had said, alluding to the fact that the Buhari government had paid its counterpart funding of the Lagos-Ibadan speed train rail project.

    Showpiece

    At least, the Minister of Transportation every month ensures that issues relating to the project are tabled before the FEC. And in May he ensured that the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed led a media team to inspect the extent of work. Mohammed had praised Amaechi for driving the project through, hitherto thick tropical rain forests.

    Mohammed gave the project a pass mark. He said the aim of the visit was to showcase to Nigerians the volume of work the government had put into the railway within a short period.

    He told reporters: “We are satisfied with the level of work. The idea is to let Nigerians know that this administration has done a lot in the area of infrastructure development. This is especially because people continue to complain that they do not know what we have done, so we want to show people what we have achieved.”

    What Mohammed did not say was that delivering the Lagos-Ibadan speed train could have boosted the administration’s profile and acceptability ahead of the campaigns and actual elections next year. That is why everything is tied to delivering the 156.65-kilometre, Lot II of the Lagos-Kano standard gauge rail line.

    Apart from Lai Mohammed, a joint committee of the foreign loans committee and that of land transportation of the National Assembly led by Senator Shehu Sanni and Senator Gbenga Ashafa, have also visited the site to be abreast of the development and had left sobered by the level of work within so short a period, a development Ashafa, described as “unprecedented”.

    If the government had achieved its delivery target and started commercial operation a month after as Amaechi had insisted, it would be the first time a Nigerian government would deliver such a project ahead of schedule and the Minister of Transportation seemed poised to get it done.

    “We have detractors, who have been asking what we have been doing and we want to use this to prove our detractors wrong. We want them to see that you can actually begin a project as big as a standard gauge and end it within your tenure and that it doesn’t need to become inconclusive as the past governments almost made us believe,” Amaechi said.

    Secondly, the minister believed a firm which could construct 1,500 kilometres of rail lines in its home country should not find delivering 156.56 kilometres a hard knot to crack.

    Going by the March assessment, track-laying ought to begin by April. It didn’t start at Itori until early May, few days to the ministers’ visit. This explains why it was only 1.7 km of tracks that could be laid as at the period.

    Despite this, however, the contractor put two track-laying machines each with a capacity for 1.2 km tracks daily on the site. The idea was to complete the Itori to Ibadan end, (which had much less encumbrances before attending to the Lagos end which had been dropped for its encumbrances.

    The projection is that each of the track laying equipments would begin from Ibadan and Abeokuta. With the capacity for 2.4 km per day, CCECC is sure to deliver 72 km in the next 30 days, covering the entire spectrum of the project within two months. As at October, the extent of work on track laying seemed hazy, as attention appeared to be back on completion of the civil engineering works.

    A top Team Consults source, who asked not to be named, said: “The project could have achieved more strides by now, if the contractor had started from the hinterland, which had but little challenges outside payment of compensations for those whose land or buildings were acquired for the project, but had first started working from Lagos, beginning from Ebute-Metta (where the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo) flagged it off in March 2017.

    “They had to stop when it was discovered that little or no progress was being made and today, we are living witnesses to what could be done if the CCECC had less encumbrances to contend with,” he said.

    The source, whose firm oversees the contractor on behalf of the Federal Government, said the uncertainty over the December deadline was compounded by the heavy rainfall. According to him, the unpredictable pattern of rainfall affected the work plan, as it made access to the site difficult, and increased the water level of the water bodies along the corridor.

    On a likely delivery date, the source said a more likely delivery period could be first quarter of 2019. He, however, envisaged that since there may be likely disruptions within the electioneering period, this may be extended to the second quarter.

    He asserted that baring any major disruptions, the project may be ready for inauguration by government in May.

    Even at that the Buhari administration would have set uncommon pace in a domain where such projects take minimum of a decade before delivery.

    Although, Amaechi believed the contractor had no reason to delay the project, his dream of using it to shore up the image of the administration is fast fading. But the strides had underscored the government’s commitment to bequeath to Nigerians a new transportation narrative by giving them a new deal in rail transport.

  • No development without investment in infrastructure , says Minister

    Massive investment in infrastructure is crucial to economic growth and development, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said.

    Mohammed noted that it was this realization that made the current administration to give priority to investment in critical infrastructure in the last three and half years.

    The minister spoke on Thursday in Ibadan at the 14th edition of the Special Town Hall meeting. The meeting which is also the second on infrastructure had as members of panel, Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transport, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Housing, Power and Works and also Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources.

    The minister noted in his opening remark that investment in infrastructure is a fast route to development.

    He said, “This Administration, realizing that no nation develops without massive investment in infrastructure, has made such investment a priority, and it is paying off, as you will hear shortly from the Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing.

    “Whether in the area of job creation or stimulation of economic growth, investment in infrastructure is a fast route to development.

    You cannot talk about the developed Western nations without talking about their roads, power, ports and rail system, just to mention a few. This is because these nations have invested massively in infrastructure over the years, realizing that infrastructure spurs economic growth by enhancing productivity and efficiency. The same template has also been adopted by many other countries, including China, Japan and South Korea. We are in no doubt that the solid foundation that we are laying in the area of infrastructure will be a catalyst to the much-needed economic development in our dear country.”

    Read Also: Minister denies issuing ultimatum to Israel over Kanu

    He therefore noted that the special town hall meeting which will go on till 2019 is to showcase the achievements of the Buhari administration.

    The essence, the minister said “is to provide a platform for the federal government to regularly give account of its stewardship to the people, get a feedback and inputs from them and, overall, to enhance citizens’ participation in governance.”

    This further explains why the meetings have gone round the six get-political zones of the country.

    At the end of the meeting, stakeholders commended the federal government for the massive infrastructural development in the South West, while also urging them to do more especially in the area of power, road and security across the country.

  • Supreme Court reinstates injunction order against Rivers APC congresses

    The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, which vacated a stay order made by a Rivers High Court, against the conduct of All Progressives Congress (APC) congresses in the state.

    Delivering the ruling on the interlocutory appeal, Justice Centus Nweze, held that the decision of the Court of Appeal was in error.

    Nweze said the lower court was compelled to be guided by the judgments of the apex court, adding that the panel had to follow the law before arriving on its decision.

    “This court is the highest and final court of decision in Nigeria. All other courts must abide by decisions from here. Failure to do this amounts to gross misconduct by judges.

    “I hereby make an order setting aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt which vacated the stay order made by a State High Court in this matter,’’ he said.

    The judge held that the respondent (APC) was in contempt when some of its members invaded the court and disrupted the peace of the court during proceedings.

    According to him, it is against known procedure of court for such a party to approach an appellate court to be granted any prayers in a matter for which it is in contempt.

    “The action and attitudes displayed by members and agents of the respondent are complete affront on the judiciary and would not be condoned,’’ he said.

    Ibrahim Umar and 12 other members of the APC had approached the apex court challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt.

    Read Also: APC to critics: Stop playing politics with reform in oil sector

    The appellants had initially instituted a case in the Rivers State High Court challenging their exclusion from the party congresses.

    They prayed the court for a stay in the conduct of the congresses pending the determination of the substantive suit.

    Aggrieved by the action, a faction of the APC approached the appellate court where the stay order was set aside, thereby giving the party the freeway to conduct the congresses.

    Meanwhile, Justice Chinwendu Nworgu, on Oct.11 had delivered judgment on the substantive suit, where the court voided the list of candidates and sacked the state APC executive.

    Nwogu said actions taken by the APC during the pendency of the suit had been set aside because they were illegal and unconstitutional.

    The judge held that all those who purchased nomination forms for the ward congresses were entitled to contest the ward congresses of May 19, but were unjustly excluded by the party.

    Nworgu also set aside all the primaries of the Rivers APC, including the indirect election that produced Mr Tonye Cole, as the governorship candidate.

    NAN recalls that the suit allegedly stemmed from crisis between, Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation and Sen. Magnus Abe, an acclaimed governorship candidate of the party over the leadership of the party.

  • Amaechi, Cole promise to assist victims of Port Harcourt fire

    The Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and billionaire businessman, Pastor Tonye Cole, have promised to assist traders who lost goods worth billions of naira in Thursday evening’s fire at the fruit market on Kaduna Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    Amaechi, a former Rivers Governor, and Cole, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, also assured the traders that they would liaise with the APC leadership in Rivers to assist them financially.

    Transportation minister, while speaking yesterday with victims of the fire at the scene, said: “What we will do is to assist you. You should reach the Rivers State Chairman of APC (Ojukaye Flag-Amachree) and let us know what level of assistance we can give to you.”

    Cole, a co-founder of Sahara Group, while also speaking, described the incident as very sad.

    Read Also: Amaechi’s men accuse Wike of plotting against primary

    The Pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG (Cole) said: “Your (traders’) Chairman will take record of the number of stores affected by the fire, to enable us to compensate everybody that lost their goods.

    “Let us know how much you have lost and the number of persons affected by the fire. We know you need money to survive, we would give some amount of money to your chairman for all of you.”

    Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday night, visited the burnt market and promised to rebuild it and to also assist the traders.

  • Imo Governorship : I’m not afraid of direct primaries, says Nwosu

    Chief of Staff to the Imo state governor and alleged anointed governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo state, Uche Nwosu has said that he was ready to face party members in the state through whatever mode of primary adopted by the party in the state.

    Also, the preferred governorship candidate in Rivers state, Tonye Cole said he was prepared for whatever mode adopted by the party in Rivers state, saying what was important was for the party to present a credible candidate for the general election.

    While Nwosu is widely believed to have been announced for the governorship position by Governor Rochas Okorocha, Cole is believed to be the preferred candidate of Minister of Transportation and former Rivers state Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

    Read Also: APC governors insist on indirect primaries

    Speaking after being screened by the National Working Committee of the party, Nwosu who is also believed to be the son-in-law of the Imo state governor said he consider his closeness to the governor as an added advantage to his aspiration, adding however that he believe that he was the best candidate for the job.

    He said “You know that the party wants to make sure that you are qualified and credible to avoid having a governor that does not have what it takes to rule a state because a governor is not a Chairman. I am happy that our National Chairman took it upon himself to actually interview and screens those who wants to run for the office of the governor.

    “It is the state executive committee of the party that decides on the mode. If they decide to use indirect, so be it. If they decide on direct, so be it. The party has the power and the Governor is just one member of the SEC where you up to 200 members and so, one member cannot stop the entire state Executive from taking a decision.

    “The party has decided that they want to go indirect and so, we adopt that and go with that. I am fully prepared for the primaries and by the special grace of God; I will become the candidate of the party.”

    Asked if he consider his relationship with the governor as a plus or minus, he said “Of course my relationship with the governor is a plus. When you have a sitting Governor in your party, you need his support to come up because he is a member of the party.

    “Except where you have another party man as the governor of that state. But once the governor belongs to your party, you will automatically need his support.”

    On his part, Tonye Cole believed to have been anointed and adopted for the governorship by majority of APC leaders in Rivers state who are loyal to the Minister of Transportation said he was ready to go for any form of primary chosen by the party in the state.

    Cole said “I believe that democracy has come a long a way in Nigeria and one of the things we are seeing now is that the people are now looking at the evidences of things that you have done and not what you are promising to do and how you can make a difference in the People’s life.

    “I believe at the end of the day, both direct and indirect primaries are constitutional. What we want to see is the right candidates emerging and how they emerge is a parry affair.

    “As far as I am concerned, we are because we believe that we have the right candidate for Rivers state and whichever way it comes out, I am ready for it.”

  • Rivers: Three friends in fierce battle

    In Rivers State, a fierce political battle among three friends will help to shape the battle for the ticket of APC’s governorship ticket, reports Southsouth Bureau Chief, Bisi Olaniyi

    Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, is a former boss of current Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and the lawmaker representing Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe. But today, the three are at loggerheads ahead of the September 29 primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Amaechi, an Ikwerre from Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area, was Speaker of Rivers House of Assembly between 1999 and 2007. Abe was the House of Assembly’s Minority Leader from 1999 to 2003, prior to his appointment by the then Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, as Rivers Commissioner for Information. While in the Assembly, Abe was a member of the All Peoples Party (APP), which later became the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

    Wike, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also an Ikwerre from Rumueprikom-Port Harcourt in Obio/Akpor LGA, was a two-term Chairman of Obio/Akpor LG council of Rivers State and he had his re-election as the council’s helmsman made possible by Amaechi as Speaker, when most Ikwerre people in his LGA kicked against his candidature, because of alleged poor performance and lack of respect for elders.

    Amaechi became Rivers governor on October 26, 2007, following the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court the previous day, which sacked Sir Celestine Omehia, from the same Ubima hometown.

    Shortly after his inauguration as governor, Amaechi appointed Wike as Chief of Staff, Government House, Port-Harcourt, while Abe, a lawyer, emerged as Secretary to Rivers State Government (SSG).

    In order to ensure hitch-free re-election in 2011, Amaechi appointed Wike, aka High Tension, as the Director-General of his campaign organisation and subsequently recommended him to the then President Goodluck Jonathan for a ministerial appointment, while Abe was elected into the Senate.

    Right from 2011, especially shortly after Wike’s ministerial appointment, he started nursing the ambition to be Rivers State governor on the platform of the PDP in 2015, which he got through federal might, while Abe was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the APC in Rivers in 2015. However, a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, got the ticket, with Abe returning to the Senate.

    The senator (Abe) started his 2019 governorship activities very early, but disclosed that Transportation Minister visited him in his Abuja house, warning him in the presence of his wife, not to vie for governorship next year, which Abe said he was not comfortable with.

    Amaechi wants the governorship candidate of APC next year in the multi-ethnic Rivers to be a riverine person to ensure even development, equity, justice and fairness, in view of the fact that the state’s governors since 1999: Dr. Peter Odili, Omehia, Amaechi and Wike are from the upland part of Rivers.

    On August 30 in Lagos, stakeholders of APC in Rivers endorsed a co-founder of Sahara Group, Pastor Tonye Cole, as the governorship aspirant of the party in the state, but Abe stated that he was not aware that Cole was a member of APC, insisting that he would vie for Rivers governorship on the party’s (APC’s) platform.

    Ironically, Amaechi’s impact in the political life of Abe cannot be denied, which made the Senator (Abe) to proudly and openly state recently that the Transportation Minister had invested so much in his political career, making him to become the highest political investment of Amaechi in Nigeria.

    Abe, however, inaugurated a parallel secretariat of APC at Waterlines Bus Stop on Aba Road in Port Harcourt, with the former Deputy Chairman of the party, Prince Peter Odike, emerging as the Acting Chairman.

    The three friends (Amaechi, Wike and Abe) have now turned to foes, because of the politics of 2019 elections.

    Amaechi, on Sunday, September 16 this year, at Rumueme Civic Centre, Port-Harcourt in Wike’s Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State, at the LGA’s mega rally of the APC to receive over 5000 defectors from the PDP, declared that his successor (Wike) was panicking and had stopped shouting, but he must go in 2019, in spite of his sponsoring unnamed members of APC to cause confusion.

    At the well-attended rally were Senator Andrew Uchendu (Rivers East), the endorsed governorship candidate of APC in Rivers, Tonye Cole; the state Chairman of APC, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree; and leader of the party in Obio/Akpor LGA, Chikodi Dike, among other top politicians.

    Amaechi, who is also the current Director-General of Buhari/Osinbajo Re-election Campaign Organisation, said: “Nothing is greater than God. I closed my mouth for nearly three years, to enable Wike to do his work. Instead of doing his work, he was busy going everywhere, talking and stealing our money. Wike stole N117 billion belonging to Rivers State, as revealed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    “Wike is sponsoring people in our party (APC) to disintegrate the party. Now, I have come out. The way to go about it is to let the party at the national and to let the country know that we are ready for elections. All these people distracting us inside the party, under the sponsorship of Wike, we will ignore them, because Wike must go in 2019.

    “This is not a campaign rally, but it is a rally to show the world that we are in Wike’s village. Just five minutes trek. I walked from there to this place. When I was running for governor, if you entered Ubima (his hometown in Ikwerre LGA) and you come out alive, then you are a good man. We have entered here (Rumueme Civic Centre), we will enter again and again.

    “I am very impressed with the quality of people who are defecting to APC. Wike has stopped shouting. I told you he would stop shouting. I told you we would go underground, we would work and seeing our work, Wike would panic. Now, Wike is panicking and I am enjoying it. Do not be afraid anymore. Wike does not have the monopoly of killing.”

    “I want to know the membership of APC in Rivers State. Get registered in APC and also get your Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). I will come, ward by ward, to meet you. If our membership base is 796,000 as at now, we have won the elections.”

    The former Rivers governor (Amaechi) also called for the setting up of prayer groups in APC across the 23 LGAs of the state, assuring that members of the party would pray and vote, to end Wike’s bad governance next year.

    Cole, while also speaking at the rally, assured that APC would win in all the wards of Rivers State during the 2019 elections, while declaring that Rivers belongs to APC.

    Leader of APC in Obio/Akpor LGA (Dike) stressed that with PVCs of members of the party and other Rivers residents, Wike would be voted out in 2019, ‘to end impunity in Rivers’.

    While speaking on behalf of the defectors, Solomon Ademola, who was Obio/Akpor LGA’s Coordinator of Wike’s Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), described PDP as dead in Rivers State, with the defections from PDP to APC across the 23 LGAs of the state.

    Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chief Emma Okah, while reacting on behalf of Wike, however said that his boss has no basis to panic, as alleged by Amaechi, who he described as “a dictator, with oppressive style.”

    Okah said: “Amaechi is the person sponsoring opposition against Governor Wike and the Rivers State government. Amaechi should look inwards and solve his problems, rather than blaming the focused and performing governor of Rivers State.

    “Governor Wike is solidly on the ground in Rivers State. His administration has enough development projects across the 23 LGAs of the state to justify his re-election next year. Amaechi should tell Rivers people the development projects he has attracted to Rivers State, as the Minister for Transportation.”

    Rivers Information Commissioner also admonished discerning minds to ignore Amaechi and APC’s propaganda and to continue to support Wike’s administration.

    Abe, on September 17, at an interactive forum with members of 26 notable organisations within the old Port Harcourt Township, popularly called Town, which took place at an event centre on Aggrey Road in the Rivers State capital, stated that Wike was not sponsoring him.

    The interactive forum, with theme: “The possibilities of restoring the economic prospects of Rivers State, a case study of the old Port Harcourt Township,” was also attended by the Director-General of Freedom House, Abe’s campaign organisation, Worgu Boms, a lawyer; and the representative of Ikwerre/Emohua Constituency in the House of Representatives, Elder Chidi Wihioka; among other APC chieftains.

    Representative of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District declared that the Minister for Transportation, who is also the leader of APC in Rivers State and Southsouth zone, would not be able to stop him from participating in the party’s primary election and emerging as the standard bearer of APC, in spite of August 30 endorsement of Pastor Tonye Cole by Rivers stakeholders of the party in Lagos.

    Abe, a lawyer, early this year, had electoral victory thanksgiving reception at Polo Club, new Government Reservation Area (GRA), Port-Harcourt that was attended by Wike and other top officials of Rivers State Government.

    A chieftain of APC in Rivers (name withheld) later alleged that Wike supported Abe with N30million, thereby ensuring the success of the thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Garrison Bus Stop, Aba Road, Port Harcourt. But that alleged financial assistance has been denied.

    The governorship aspirant (Abe) said on September 17: “I have the capacity, I have the knowledge, having been to every part of Rivers State, and I have the understanding of the challenges of our state. If you give me the opportunity to lead this state, I can lead the state in a different direction. I can do things differently. I can bring our people together, in a way that we have not been together in a long time and be able to get the best out of every Rivers man and woman.

    “In this political season, I have decided that I will offer myself as a governorship aspirant of my party, the APC, to be given an opportunity to challenge Rivers people that we can do things better and differently.

    “Rivers State needs unity. The politics of hatred, bitterness and acrimony that has characterised our state in recent past cannot move us anywhere. It will destroy the state. We need to bring people together. We need to learn how to tolerate one another and accommodate divergent views, thereby bringing out the best in us.

    “When I was Commissioner for Information to Dr. Peter Odili, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (the then Speaker of Rivers House of Assembly) was aspiring to be governor of Rivers State, and it caused a big problem in the politics of that time, between him (Amaechi) and Dr. Odili, but I stood with Amaechi. At a point, I was practically the only person in Odili’s government that Amaechi was still talking to. I chose to stand by my friend (Amaechi). Whoever God has said will be governor of Rivers State will be governor of Rivers State and there is nothing Amaechi can do about it.

    “I am not being sponsored by Governor Nyesom Wike. I decided to fight for my right, not only as a citizen of Rivers State, but as a member of the APC. Amaechi also fought for his right up to the Supreme Court to be governor in 2007 and we stood by him. The then Governor Odili never accused Amaechi that he was a betrayer or being sponsored by anybody.

    “I am fighting for my right. I want to be governor of Rivers State. I will fight in any way that is constitutionally allowed, both by the party (APC) and our Constitution. Whatever God says at the end, I will accept in good faith. Nobody can deny me the right to fight for my right.”

    The senator also stated that he would continue to refer to Amaechi as the leader of APC in Rivers, especially as the only member of the party that is a former governor and a member of the caucus of the party.

    Abe stressed that referring to Amaechi as APC leader in Rivers was also to send a signal to all members of the party that no matter how aggrieved they might be, they should be ready to work with him (Amaechi), anytime he decided that it was appropriate to allow justice to prevail in the party, adding that he had never abused the Transportation Minister publicly and he would never allow any APC member to do so, but to continue to respect his former boss.

    Wike-led Rivers State Government has however asked Amaechi to account for the  $308 million (about N112 billion) proceeds of the sale towards the end of his administration of the state’s gas turbine power stations to Sahara Energy, belonging to Pastor Tonye Cole, the endorsed governorship aspirant of the APC in the state.

    Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, alleged that the sale of the power stations and diversion of the proceeds to fund political activities of APC was responsible for why Amaechi’s government abandoned so many uncompleted projects and owed salaries and pensions to workers before he left office in 2015.

    Okah claimed that besides the power assets which Amaechi sold to Sahara Energy, the same company also bought the Olympia Hotel in the old Government Reservation Area (GRA), Port Harcourt and other high-value state assets, under suspicious circumstances.

    He said: “The Justice Omereji Commission of Inquiry investigated the spurious sales and indicted the Minister for Transportation. Instead of refunding the money, the minister rushed to court to set aside the findings of the commission. He lost at the High Court and at the Court of Appeal. His appeal to the Supreme Court has been abandoned, because for over a year, he has failed to file a brief of argument,” he said.

    Responding, the Publicity Secretary of APC in Rivers, Chief Chris Finebone, declared that the state’s Information Commissioner’s allegation was a classical display of the fright that had gripped Wike and his government since the possibility of Cole, an Architect, flying the governorship flag of APC in Rivers State, became public knowledge.

    Finebone said: “It will be an unthinkable and unimaginable mismatch to have Architect Tonye Cole and Nyesom Wike debate the economy, politics and development, among others, on the same platform. What will Wike say? Nothing!

    “Wike is a drowning man who is being abandoned by reasonable people. His case will be made worse if he has to square up with Tonye Cole in 2019. We truly understand his dilemma.

    “Tonye Cole is one of the governorship aspirants of the APC in Rivers State. Should he get the party’s ticket, Wike is finished; hence the frenzied fear that has enveloped Rivers governor and his men.

    “On the matter of Cole’s businesses that cover energy, power and oil and gas within and outside Nigeria, it is absurd to talk about his company buying a single facility in Rivers State. Let those talking about it be informed that Cole’s organisation bought  a wide range of power plants from the Nigerian Federal Government, such as Egbin Power Plant, Afam Power Stations and others. The power plant sold by the Rivers State government to his company pales into insignificance, even if his company had to pay twice the amount the company bought that of the Federal Government during the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, because of the competitive negotiation of the state government under Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

    “Wike and his Commissioner for Information will be sorry for themselves, if they had an idea that Tonye Cole’s company paid higher for the Rivers State-owned power plant, almost twice what it paid for all the Federal Government power plants the company bought. The facts are there.”

    Rivers Publicity Secretary of APC also asked the state’s governor to quickly recover from his fright and be ready to face the so-intelligent, well-travelled, highly-experienced and very brilliant Cole or anybody APC fields in 2019 and stop behaving like a village coward at the wrestling arena.”

    APC guber ticket

    To slug it out for APC’s governorship ticket in Rivers State are Cole, an indigene of Abonnema, the headquarters of Akuku-Toru LGA: Abe, who hails from Bera-Ogoni in Gokana council; and a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Dawari George, an indigene of Buguma, the headquarters of Asari-Toru LGA.

    Other APC governorship aspirants in Rivers are an oil magnate, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, also from Abonnema; and a renowned environmental and human rights activist, AkpoBari Celestine, an Ogoni man.

    Abe and Celestine are from the upland part of Rivers State, while the other governorship aspirants are from the riverine part.

    Keen observers say APC leaders must put their house in order, in order to present an acceptable and popular candidate that will be able to dislodge Wike in 2019, considering the fact that APC leadership wants the governorship running mate to be from Ogoni and Speaker of the House of Assembly to be an Ikwerre person from Wike’s Obio/Akpor LGA or Port Harcourt City LGA with the highest voting strength.

  • Wike, Abe conspiring to defame me – Amaechi

    The Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that his successor, Nyesom Wike, and the lawmaker representing Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, are conniving and conspiring to disparage and defame him. 

    He declared that Rivers State governor (Wike), a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Abe, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were plotting to use his former cabinet members to tell fake, concocted and distorted stories to the media that were meant to denigrate him, impugn his unblemished integrity and paint a very terrible image of him to members of the public.

    Amaechi, the Director-General of Buhari/Osinbajo Re-election Campaign Organisation, who is also the leader of APC in Rivers state and the Southsouth zone, stated this on Friday in an online statement by his media office.

    The immediate past governor of Rivers state revealed that the plot against him was already far-gone and persons were being coached on what to say and how to say it. 

    Wike, a lawyer, was the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt between 2007 and 2011, when Amaechi was governor of Rivers state, while the then governor also appointed the former Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council (Wike) as the Director-General of Amaechi Re-election Campaign Organisation in 2011, before later recommending him the same year to the then President Goodluck Jonathan for ministerial appointment.

    Abe, also a lawyer, was appointed by Amaechi as Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG) from 2007 to 2011, before proceeding to the Senate in 2011. The former Rivers Information Commissioner (Abe) aspired to be the standard bearer of APC in 2015, but a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, emerged as the candidate of the then ruling party (APC), but he was “defeated” by Wike in a massively-rigged and bloody election.

    Amaechi, on September 16 this year in Port Harcourt, accused Wike of sponsoring unnamed APC members to cause confusing in the party, but he declared that the Rivers governor would be sacked next year by the state’s electorate, to put an end to his poor performance and bad governance.

    Read Also: Amaechi to Abe: ‘I am not your leader’

    The senator (Abe), who earlier inaugurated a parallel secretariat of APC at Waterlines Bus Stop in Port Harcourt, on September 17 in the Rivers state capital, said: “Whoever God has said will be governor of Rivers State will be governor of Rivers State and there is nothing Amaechi can do about it.

    “I am not being sponsored by Governor Nyesom Wike. I decided to fight for my right, not only as a citizen of Rivers State, but as a member of the APC. Amaechi also fought for his right up to the Supreme Court to be governor in 2007 and we stood by him. The then Governor Peter Odili never accused Amaechi that he was a betrayer or being sponsored by anybody.

    “I am fighting for my right. I want to be governor of Rivers State. I will fight in any way that is constitutionally allowed, both by the party (APC) and our Constitution. Whatever God says at the end, I will accept in good faith. Nobody can deny me the right to fight for my right.”

    The transportation minister, however, insisted that Abe was not sincere with his claims.

    Amaechi said: “I am aware that two former commissioners who served in the State Executive Council when I was governor have been procured by Wike and Abe, jointly and collaboratively, to carry out the hatchet job of ‘hack Amaechi down’ campaign. The plan is to throw as much dirt at me as possible and rubbish my image.

    “While one (former commissioner) is being coached in Rivers State Government House (Port Harcourt) of what to say to the press and how to say it, to do maximum damage; the other one is busy distorting, concocting and fabricating fake screenshots, text messages, documents and all sorts in Senator Abe’s Freedom House campaign office in Port Harcourt; that they intend to release to the media to tarnish my image.

    “I want to alert the media and members of the public of the smear plot by these two political collaborators (Wike and Abe) to unjustly discredit and smear me for their selfish political reasons.” 

    The former Rivers governor also stated that he would not be distracted by any cheap and fake smear campaign of calumny against him, while urging Rivers people to pay no heed to the desperate attention-seeking duo of Wike and Abe and all of their fabricated lies, but to focus on the goal of ensuring that Rivers state gets a better leader that would turn around the fortunes of the state and its people for good, in 2019.

    The transportation minister insisted that no amount of sabotage and fake stories would deter him and all genuine APC members, supporters and Rivers people from changing and voting out the inept Wike’s government in Rivers State, next year.