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Tag: Wike

  • APC: Wike, PDP planning to blackmail Amaechi

    APC: Wike, PDP planning to blackmail Amaechi

    Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of planning to portray former Governor Rotimi Amaechi to be allegedly corrupt.

    The plan, APC said, was being coordinated by top leaders of the PDP.

    But PDP’s State Publicity Secretary Samuel Nwanosike described the APC as a party of propaganda.

    He urged the public to ignore the party’s alarm.

    APC alleged that the governor’s men had reached out to some people within and outside of the state “to initiate, formulate and contrive a false damaging report bordering on alleged corruption by Amaechi and circulate same to individuals and institutions in Nigeria and abroad to damage the incorruptible character and rising profile of Amaechi to blackmail and put pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari not to appoint the former governor into his government”.

    A statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, reads: “The international community and especially the Nigerian public know that Amaechi is one of the most forthright, transparent and honest leaders in the country today.

  • Petitions: Wike, Akpabio fail to stop hearing

    Petitions: Wike, Akpabio fail to stop hearing

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and former Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio have failed to stop hearing in the petitions challenging their elections.

    In a ruling yesterday, the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal refused an objection by Wike to stop  hearing in the petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Dakuku Peterside, challenging the result of the last election.

    The Akwa Ibom State Legislative Election Tribunal, on Tuesday, also refused a motion byAkpabio, now a senator representing Akwa Ibom North West, to stop  hearing in the petition by the APC and its candidate, Inibehe Okori, challenging his victory in the polls.

    In its ruling yesterday, the Justice Muazu Pindiga-led Rivers tribunal refused to strike out the petition by APC and Peterside.

     Wike argued, among others, that Peterside lacked the locus standi to file the petition as he was not allegedly a valid candidate for the election.

    The governor faulted APC’s notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in relation to its congress, alleging that it was issued less than the 21 days stipulated by law.

    He challenged the constitution of the tribunal and its decision to sit in Abuja.

    Justice Pindiga held that the notice to INEC was validly issued, noting that the tribunal was duly constituted by the president of the Court of Appeal.

     On its sitting in Abuja, he said it was for  security reason, adding that this did not render the tribunal incompetent to hear the petition.

    The tribunal deferred other issues, relating to competence of the petition, for determination during hearing in the petition. This, it said, was in line with Paragraph 12(5) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, which directs tribunals to take matters challenging hearing in a petition to be determined at trial.

    The tribunal will rule on Friday on a motion by Wike’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the competence of the second ground of the petition, which asked the tribunal to strike out some paragraphs  on account of the alleged incompetence of the second ground.

    The second ground states that the election was invalid because it allegedly did not comply with  the Electoral Act (EA) and INEC Manual and Guideline for the election.

    But the PDP contended that the petitioner should have limited its argument of non-compliance to EA, without  including INEC Manual and Guideline.

    On Tuesday, the Akwa Ibom tribunal, led by Justice Goddy  Anunihu, refused Akpabio’s motion, challenging its jurisdiction and held that the tribunal had the jurisdiction to hear the petition.

    Justice Anunihu said Akpabio’s contention that Okori was not an APC candidate was premature and could not be decided at this stage but as the trial progresses.

    He further held that Akpabio’s claim of Appeal Court rulings on the issue of the oath of witnesses were contradictory, adding that there was significant substantial compliance with Okori’s witness statements as deposed.

     The tribunal chair therefore struck out the preliminary objection.

    On Akpabio’s claim that Okori’s witness statement were not deposed before a competent authority, the tribunal ruled that the stamp and signature used by the secretary of the tribunal clearly stated that she was acting as commissioner of Oaths and therefore Akpabio cannot fault Okori’s witness statement.

  • Like Fayose, like Wike

    Like Fayose, like Wike

    Governors Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti and Nyesom Wike of Rivers are two of a kind. They share some parallels. Both are men greatly admired by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife.  For the former, Jonathan was prepared to risk everything including honour and his presidency. Leaving nothing to chance during Fayose’s gubernatorial battle in June 2014, he deployed his Minister for Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan, junior Minister of Defence, Musliu Obanikoro and Brigadier General Aliu Momoh  to lead a contingent of 12,000 mobile police men, 15,000 NSCDC personnel, 26 sniffer dogs, two aircraft at a time the nation lacked resources to confront Boko Haram that had seized a sizable portion of our territory and holding about 300 school girls abducted from their dormitories in captivity.  Fayose went on to secure a landslide victory through what is today known as ‘Ekiti-gate’, defeating Fayemi, the high achieving incumbent in all the 16 LGAs of the state. For the latter, in an election marred by violence, supporters of Patience Jonathan, some of whom once described her as ‘messiah’, ensured he won by a wide margin of 1,029,102 votes to Dr  Dakuku Petersides’s measly 124,896 votes to secure a victory now being hotly contested at the election tribunal in Abuja. In return, the duo loves the ex-president and his wife in equal measure. They could follow Jonathan and his wife into battle blind-folded.  For Jonathan’s March 28 failed re-election bid, Fayose fought without grace. He was like the proverbial stubborn fly that follows the corpse to the grave. He was ready to sink with Jonathan. And for Wike, fighting Jonathan’s personal wars was a greater honour than serving the nation. As Minister of Education, while universities and polytechnics went on strike for close to a year, he was able to create time to be in Port Harcourt every weekend mobilizing thugs and ex-militants to, as he put it ‘ensure the president was not disgraced in South-south’. And he delivered on his promise.  Of the 1,584,768 total votes cast, Jonathan secured 1,487.075 to Buhari’s paltry 69,238 in Rivers.

    Both Fayemi and Amaechi set high standards in the delivery of the dividends of democracy.  And since Fayose and Wike who effortlessly secured landslide victories without agenda have very little to offer in terms of clear policy perspective, their common strategy was to start attacking the integrity of their predecessors in office right from the inauguration ground. Fayose first claimed the “N3.3bn new Government House is Fayemi’s show of wickedness to Ekiti people,” He further claimed the facilities in the lodge which he described as “out-of-this-world luxury” were provided for Fayemi, his wife and children. He also alleged “what was spent on their bedrooms, toilets and bathrooms will be in the region of N100m”.

    But in a live interview monitored in Ado-Ekiti the Thursday after his inauguration, Fayose invited all, the Islamic and Christian prophets in Ekiti, for the cleansing of the Government House. At another thanksgiving service held at the Ado Ekiti Central Mosque the following day, he informed the congregation “I am for the masses. I’m not in a hurry to go to the Government House. Those who want to go there can go there and enjoy themselves; how will governor put electricity in his house and the whole town is in darkness?” Fayose was not done. “Shouldn’t such funds expended on the hilltop edifice have been used to resuscitate the moribund textile factory in Ado-Ekiti that was turned to lock-up shops to provide employment for our teeming youths?” He had asked his audience.

     Like Fayose, like Wike. The only difference was while Fayose’s tantrums was about the alleged N3.4billion his predecessor spent in building a new governors lodge, Wike’s antics was about the vandalized Rivers State Governors Lodge. While addressing his congregation during a post inauguration thanksgiving service on Sunday, May 31, he said: “As I speak with you, everything has been vandalized. I will not enter the Government House in the next two or three months. There is no vehicle in Government House, not even one”. He continued “all the bullet-proof doors, furniture, crested carpets, curtains and windows had been stolen by the former administration”. The following day, Wike took some selected journalists and some PDP stalwarts including national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; former deputy governor of the state, Engr. Tele Ikuru; former Minister of Sports, Dr. Tammy Danagogo the state chairman of PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, among others to the residential quarters, offices and the banquet hall where key furniture, television sets and electrical accessories had been vandalized.  Chief Felix Amaechi Obuah soon followed with a statement which “unequivocally condemns such childish and criminal action of former Governor, Amaechi”.  Then the Rivers State Police Command issued a statement claiming the recovery of three coaster buses, two 306 Peugeot, two hummer buses and one 306 Peugeot’ parked in a unauthorised yard’, which turned out to be mechanic garage.

    Reacting to Wike antics, Amaechi implored the Rivers people to ask Wike whether he was conversant with ‘what was in his former bedroom before now, to conclude that the bedroom was looted?’ or whether he spoke ‘with or review with the Permanent Secretary of Government House, who is the chief accounting officer’. And finally Amaechi wanted the Rivers people to know “that on Friday, May 29, Wike had barred some key officials of Government House, including civil servants from accessing the place. 48 hours later, he started shouting ‘vandalisation and looting’; I left the place intact. If there’s any vandalisation or looting in Government House after I left, Rivers people should ask Wike what happened.” It is Wike’s words against Amaechi’s. One thing that is not in doubt however is the fact that Rivers is home to many thugs and militants who often operate freely. And from the targets of various acts of violence before and during the election, it was clear Wike commands their loyalty.

    In the interim, Wike has secured N30 billion loan in 30 days. Asked to justify a policy of N1b a day by Wike’s administration, one of his top officials told Channel Television reporters something to the effect that, the governor should be praised for achieving so much within a month with the loan.… “This office when we moved in had nothing. Even the central carpet had been taken away…”

    I hope Fayose, who has been chasing Fayemi around the country for allegedly spending N3.4b to build a new government house knows he owes him an apology in the light of his ‘30 days governor N30b loan’ soul mate whose expressed reason for the huge loan is rehabilitation and furnishing vandalized government lodge. But Fayose has more to worry about. By October, he would have spent one year in office, enjoying the luxury including the N50m bed he had claimed Fayemi designed for the comfort of his family. ‘The moribund textile industries’ remain moribund. Ado Ekiti like other Ekiti towns remain in darkness while contrary to his undertaking, he has been sleeping in ‘governors house lit up with electricity.’

     To borrow Fayemi’s apt description of Fayose’s theatrics at the height of his persecution, the antics of Fayemi and Wike have been more of ‘comedy of errors and theatre of the absurd’.

  • Wike sued for restoring Omehia’s rights, privileges

    Wike sued for restoring Omehia’s rights, privileges

    •‘Governor’s action violates subsisting Supreme Court’s verdict’

    A lawyer, ThankGod Nwugha, has sued Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike at the State High Court in Port Harcourt for restoring the rights and privileges of a former Governor Celestine Omehia.

    Wike’s action is said violate a subsisting Supreme Court judgment.

    Nwugha is also the principal solicitor of T. G. E. Nwugha and Co., a firm of legal practitioners in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    The defendants in the suit are: Wike, the state’s Attorney-General and Omehia.

    Nwugha averred that Wike, by mere proclamation and announcement on June 25, restored the rights and privileges of Omehia and hung his portrait in public offices, despite the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007.

    A former House of Assembly’s Speaker Rotimi Amaechi, then of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was replaced as the governorship candidate of the party on February 2, 2007 by Omehia, his cousin, from the same Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration said Amaechi’s candidacy had “K-leg”.

    Omehia took part in the election on April 14, 2007, won and was inaugurated as governor on May 29, 2007.

    But he was sacked on October 25, 2007 by the Supreme Court, which held as follows: “In the eyes of the law, Omehia was never a candidate in the election, much less the winner.”

    Amaechi was inaugurated on October 26, 2007.

    Nwugha said: “I know …that the judgment of the Supreme Court is final and is binding on all other courts, persons, governments, principalities and powers.

    “To my greatest consternation, the first defendant (Wike), on Thursday, June 25, 2015, proclaimed that he had recognised and restored the third defendant (Omehia) as a former governor of Rivers State with all the appurtenant benefits, privileges, entitlements and rights…”

     

  • Wike loses bid to stop hearing of election petition

    Wike loses bid to stop hearing of election petition

    •Tribunal dismisses challenge on jurisdiction
    •Ruling on motions by INEC, PDP, Wike July 29, 31

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday lost his bid to prevent the hearing of a petition challenging the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to return him as the winner of the April 11 governorship election.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Dakuku Peterside, who filed the petition, asked the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to, among others, void Wike’s victory on the grounds that the election was marred by irregularities in violation of the Electoral Act.

    In its ruling yesterday, the tribunal, sitting in Abuja, dismissed Wike’s motion challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction to hear the petition, having relocated to Abuja from its sitting in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    Tribunal Chairman Justice Muazu Pindga, held that Wike’s motion was without merit and substance.

    Wike challenged the powers of the President of the Court of Appeal to order the tribunal’s relocation to Abuja instead of sitting in the state where the disputed election was conducted.

    The governor argued through his lawyer, Godwin Obla (SAN), that the tribunal’s relocation to Abuja was in breach of Section 285 (2) of the Constitution and provisions of the Electoral Act 2010.

    He urged the tribunal to relocate to Port Harcourt in compliance with provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act.

    But Justice Pindiga held that contrary to Wike’s argument, the tribunal had not violated any provision of the law since the relocation to Abuja was for security reasons.

    The judge faulted Wike’s argument that proximity and accessibility were major determining factors in deciding the venue of a tribunal.

    Justice Pindiga held that proximity and accessibility could not be determined in the absence of security for the tribunal members and litigants.

    He said the President of the Appeal Court acted within the ambit of the law, which emphasises the need for a conducive atmosphere for the tribunal to hold its proceedings.

    The tribunal adjourned till July 29 when it is expected to rule on another motion by Wike in which he is challenging Peterside’s qualification to contest the election on the grounds that his name was not sent to INEC within 21 days before his party’s congress, as required.

    The tribunal will, tomorrow, rule on a motion by INEC, in which it is challenging the territorial jurisdiction of the tribunal to sit in Abuja.

    But it has scheduled the ruling for Friday on a motion by the PDP, which is challenging, among others, the competence of the petition.

     

  • Tears for Wike

    Tears for Wike


    [dropcap]J[/dropcap]ust like his Ekiti counterpart, Governor Nyesom Wike is one of the few people in Nigerian politics who should not be burdened with high office. His handling of the task of education minister was such a scandal that it was obvious that GEJ – no superior himself – had thrust an illiterate in charge of churning out persons of letters. He might have gone to school and evinced a measure of articulation. But his is education without culture. That was why Leo Tolstoy launched a campaign “to educate the educated.”

    His latest iniquity was a parody of Jesus when he promised to come back like a thief in the night. Wike decided to do his own in broad daylight. He paid two shameless visits to the Chief Justice of the Federation, Mahmoud Muhammed. The CJN understood the integrity of his office and the compromise that the governor’s call implied for the promise of justice in the land. He promptly made it public.

    Wike quickly clutched at straws to defend himself. He said he wanted to discuss the state of Rivers State renewal of the acting chief judge position. He said he was not there to influence the man over the ongoing case between him and Peterside Dakuku on the governor poll.

    As they say in my village, “talk another thing.” Does he know he is governor? Does he know that a governor should understand what is called conflict of interest? If, as he claims in his release, that he belongs to the body of benchers, who taught him law and how roguish were his teachers? Did he not know what due process was? Why did he have to visit twice and fail before he knew what he should have done in the first place? That is, write a letter.

    If he did not understand it, the CJN knows. He knows that corruption charges have hung over the judiciary in matters of election adjudication. If Wike (clumsily spelt Wilke in his own advertorial) did not know that, then he should not be in that position. Due process, especially in matters of justice, is sacrosanct. Tears for Wike!

    He stated that he visited the CJN as “a member of the Body of Benchers.”  So was it not Wike the governor who visited but Wike the member of body of benchers. The letter he eventually wrote, was it written as a member of the Body of Benchers or as governor?

    On what authority does a member of the Body of Benchers go to the CJN to resolve issues about the chief judge of Rivers State? He can’t answer these questions without exposing his mediocrity and lack of goodwill for the law.

    In any decent society, Wike would quit his perch as governor. But the man who acted as a boor as minister and irritant now as governor does not know better than harass and threaten journalists in advertorials over his own wrongdoing.

  • Wike’s tricky visits

    By virtue of their office,  governors do not move anyhow. Their schedule is planned in detail and everything is done according to protocol. Without the protocol say so, a governor would not move out of his home or office. So, whenever a governor moves, it means all loose ends have been tied. The all-clear  to go is critical because of the governor’s safety and security.

    A governor is not supposed to visit any place on the spur of the moment. To do so will amount to disrupting  the security arrangements for his movement. In an impromptu change in a governor’s itinerary, his security aides may be stretched in order to ensure his safety. A governor is a charge of the state, which is responsible for his welfare and security. But some governors, out of mischief,  dump protocol and insist on doing things their own way.

    And when the bubble bursts, they try to defend the indefensible. They make up stories to cover their self-serving action, forgetting that the people are wiser than they think. I have not ceased wondering since the story broke why a governor with a case at the tribunal would go to the Supreme Court to see the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mahmud Mohammed. Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike called at the CJN’s office not once, but twice. With a petition challenging his election before a tribunal sitting in Abuja, where the CJN has his office, there is more to that visit than meets the eye.

    If The Punch had not broken the story of the inexplicable visits, chances are that Wike and his aides would have pretended as if nothing happened. As a lawyer whose wife is also a judge, Wike is expected to know that you do not visit a judge, whether in your private or official capacity, when you have a matter in his court. Even if he has a matter before his wife, she is not expected to discuss the case with him at home because like her fellow judges, she is expected to dispense justice without fear or favour, affection or ill will to all manner of men.

    Wike may argue that his case is not before the CJN, but he should not forget that the tribunals were set up by the CJN, who while inaugurating them warned that they should shun corruption. By trying to see the CJN, Wike’s intention was to go right to the top to pull strings in respect of his case.

    Wike knew what he was doing by embarking on those two visits in three days – between July 6 and 8. He knows that the CJN wields enormous influence over the tribunals. So, he thought by sweet talking the CJN, his lordship could be made to get the tribunal to play ball.

    The governor will never admit that he had ulterior motive in going to the CJN’s office without appointment; no he will never. He will defend his visits with the last drop of his blood, if need be,  because what he went there for is not for public consumption – it is not something the ears should hear. His reasons for the visits are puerile. He said he went to see the CJN to thank him for sending Bayelsa State Chief Judge Justice Kate Abiri to swear him in on May 29 and over the vexed issue of a chief judge for Rivers.

    ‘’I didn’t go there to lobby for anything cynical. If I was going to lobby for anything like that, would I go in the afternoon? You may wish to know that we have an acting chief judge in my state, and the judiciary is already on vacation and that the National Judicial Council (NJC) may also be on vacation. So, I needed to do a letter to the NJC on the need to extend or approve the appointment of the acting chief judge in my state. I went there on the two days in daytime; and see Nigerians, they are already imputing another meaning to the visits’’, Wike said.

    Yes, we are already talking because he did not exhibit utmost good faith. The governor did not act honestly under the circumstance. Who were those who followed him to the CJN’s office? If he had met the CJN would he have limited himself to issues of his inauguration and the renewal of the appointment of his state’s acting chief judge (ACJ)? Would he? Nigerians are no fools; they can see through Wike’s visits, whether or not he comes out with the truth.

    With due respect to him, the issues he listed for his visits are what the governor should not have broken sweat over  because they have been constitutionally settled. The CJN was not doing Wike any favour by asking Justice Abiri to swear him in. The CJN was only interpreting Section 185 (2) of the Constitution, which stipulates that the chief judge; or grand kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal; or president of the Customary Court of Appeal of any state can swear in a governor, where nobody holds those offices in the elected governor’s state. Moreover, immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke (SAN) had asked Justice Abiri to take up that job last May 29, a directive, which the CJN later confirmed. Has he visited Adoke too to thank him? Must Wike visit the CJN personally to show his appreciation? Couldn’t he have written to thank the CJN?

    Must he also go to Abuja over the renewal of the appointment of his state’s ACJ? All he needs do is to write the NJC, seeking its approval to renew the ACJ’s appointment as contained in Section 271 (5) of the Constitution. Did Wike visit the CJN before he appointed the ACJ shortly after he assumed office in May? His wife is a judge; so if he is confused about these matters, why didn’t he seek her opinion instead of embarking on a mission that could have destroyed the judiciary.  Thank God that he didn’t meet the CJN during those visits. The governor would have ended up tarring a man, who is doing all he could to uphold the integrity of the judiciary.

    This shows that our judges must be extra careful with politicians who will stop at nothing to ensure that they have their way. If Wike had met the CJN during those visits, the public would today have been calling for the nation’s foremost justice’s head because of fear that his lordship may compromise his office. Milord, there are many Wikes still out there looking for men of honour like you to destroy; so, be careful.  To remain safe, the catchword  for the CJN and his men is beware of politicians and their tricky visits.

  • Wike’s indefensible act

    Wike’s indefensible act

    • Rivers State Governor’s unannounced visits to CJN and rude defence

    The visits by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, to the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmoud Mohammed, without an appointment, is irresponsible. The reasons he has offered for the visits do not hold water, because he knew that he has a case before the election petition tribunal, and he knows his case could eventually come before the CJN for adjudication. So, was Wike not bothered that his visits could trigger an alarm, that he was seeking an opportunity to compromise the judicial process?

    According to Wike’s media aide, the governor had gone to the CJN’s office to discuss the renewal of the appointment of the state acting chief judge, and the state acting president of the customary court of appeal, before the vacation begins.  He conveniently chose to forget that as a litigant before the courts, his visits could raise a doubt in the minds of his opponents, about the impartiality of the judicial process, of which the CJN is the chief custodian. But for the fact that Wike did not meet the CJN, it would have been reasonable for his opponents in the election petition case to worry whether Wike had compromised the process, using his influence as a sitting governor.

    To make matters worse, Wike chose to make the visit a personal affair, instead of an official visit, which would have seen his protocol officers set up an appointment through the protocol officers of the CJN. Such a process would have made the purpose of his visits clear from the beginning, and so allow the learned jurist an opportunity to accept or decline such inauspicious visits. But for the vigilance of the press, Wike’s clandestine visits, if successful, could have impugned the integrity of the highest judicial official in Nigeria; for it appeared as if Wike was determined to continue his visits to the office of the CJN, until he succeeded.

    For many, it is scandalous that a governor would, unannounced, attempt to badge into the office of another state official. It depicted the governor as unmannered in state protocols. But considering that Wike is a former minister of the country, it beggars belief that he could behave in such a manner, unless of course he had other ulterior motive for his two failed attempts to see the CJN. Wike’s political antecedents may have lent credence to the accusation by his opponents, that he holds nothing sacrosanct.

    It is also important that Wike reins in his media aides, unless he authorised the gibberish which they tried to pass off in their paid adverts, as explanation for his faux pas.

    The attempt to denigrate and impugn the integrity of the reporters who exposed his secret visits should be condemned. If we may ask, did the visits not take place, or did the governor not go to the CJN’s office without official information as to his motives? Or was the governor expecting the reporters not to report that the clandestine visits took place; or is it a lie that Governor Wike’s election is hotly contested by his opponent in the last general elections?

    Going forward, we expect that the governor would not make another attempt to visit the CJN, as long as he has a case pending in court. We also expect that if he insists on another round of visits, the CJN would rebuff him. If the governor wants to communicate with the CJN, he should do so in writing. We also urge the CJN to guard his reputation jealously, in the overall interest of our judicial process, regardless of the desperation of those seeking his attention.

  • Wike urges major oil firms to develop host communities

    Wike urges major oil firms to develop host communities

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has urged major oil companies in the state to give their host communities a sense of belonging.

    The governor enjoined the Management of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to include Rivers State indigenes in the sale of its oil wells to investors.

    Wike spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, during an audience with SPDC management. The governor noted that the nonchallant attitude of some oil companies to the development of their host communities bred distrust and conflicts.

    He said records showed that SPDC had not been partnering the state government to develop projects for its host communities.

    Wike advised the company to change its approach to enhance better community relations.

    He said: “It is imperative for oil companies to contribute to the development of their communities. Some people say these companies are not interested in their host communities because they are more concerned about themselves.  Let the communities living around the areas where you operate have a sense of belonging.”

    Wike said he had received unconfirmed reports that SPDC workers paid their taxes to another state.

    The governor said it would be unfortunate if that was true, adding that SPDC should resolve any issue in such areas.

    He assured the management of SPDC and other companies operating in the state of tight security to enable them carry out their legitimate businesses.

    According to him, the state government had concluded plans to ensure the receipt of the two armoured helicopters ordered by the previous administration for aerial surveillance of oil fields to prevent crude theft.

    Wike said it was important that qualified indigenes were  given the opportunity to buy into SPDC, since the company sells its onshore oil wells  to go offshore.

    The governor noted that the involvement of Rivers State indigenes in the ownership of SPDC would strengthen the bond of both parties.

    SPDC’s Managing Director Osagie Okunbor called for the sustenance of the 50-year-old relationship between the company and the state government.

    He urged the governor to enhance the security of the company’s workers and investments across the state.

    Okunbor assured that SPDC would continue to invest in its host communities to promote a better working relationship.

  • Wike: I’m not desperate to complete projects without quality

    Wike: I’m not desperate to complete projects without quality

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said he is not desperate to complete projects that will lack a high quality.

    The governor said he wanted to mark a successful 100 days in office.

    Wike spoke at the weekend at Iriebe, in continuation of his projects’ inspection and supervision.

    The governor said there must be a high quality for the projects his administration would give the state.

    He noted that the vagaries of weather should not be an excuse for poor quality of work.

    Wike directed Housing Commissioner Emma Okah to monitor government housing programmes and ensure their safety.

    The governor said some government houses were being illegally occupied.

    He also directed Okah to serve quit notices to such illegal occupiers to enable the government legally allocate them.

    Wike toured the new Irebe satellite community housing scheme, being built by the state government.

    Okah said the 50 bungalow flats of two bedrooms each, still under construction, would be ready in 30 days.

    The commissioner drew the attention of the governor to illegal occupiers of government’s houses.