By Ignatius Chukwu
Former governor of Rivers State has scaled through as minister but a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State says it amounts to murdering integrity.
He was referring to the famous banter in which ex-Governor Nyesom Wike had told his guest, Godswill Akpabio who had invited him to move over to the APC that he would not leave a malaria party to a cancer party.
Now, Wike not only worked for an APC presidency but has worked hard to become a minister in an APC government.
His critic-in-chief, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze of the APC, has berated the ex-governor, and called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to allow the Department of State Security (DSS) submit its report on Wike to the senate.
The one-time national publicity secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) recalled that the former Rivers governor had at several fora described the APC as a very dangerous political party suffering from stage four cancer which he said is without cure and as a result he preferred to remain in the PDP which according to him was suffering from ordinary malaria which he said was curable.
In a statement made available to the media, the APC chieftain said it smacks of gross unreasonableness with a tincture of impaired pattern of thought resulting from personality disorder, for Wike to be so unreliable to the extent that he would say one thing and do exactly the opposite.
He went on: “Wike had also in another fora boasted that he didn’t have any interest in becoming a Minister after being governor. The former governor said this during the inauguration of the newly constructed lounge at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.
“Again, in a recently held event in Port Harcourt, Wike was heard saying “Only one person can be a minister from a state, I will not be a minister. I will not. I am not a liability, Rivers State is an asset.”
Eze said the above statement was made by Wike at a time he was busy persuading high profile politicians in the Tinubu circle to be considered for an appointment.
Chief Eze said: “Indeed, the former governor must have killed shame. If not, how would he turn around to spend so much on lobbying and scheming to be considered for Ministerial appointment under a cancerous party; this whole drama has again justified the assertions that Wike is a man lacking in integrity and moral decency.”
Eze noted with sadness that after all the facts made to President Tinubu on the none qualification of Wike to hold public office in today’s Nigeria, the president still went ahead to submit his name to the Senate even when security checks on him returned with a damaging report that inhibits him from being appointed.
The party Chief appealed to Tinubu to submit the DSS report on Wike to the Senate to avoid imposing a fellow indicted by the European Union Observatory report, as a Minister at this crucial period Nigeria he is struggling to reclaim credibility within the international community.
According to the APC chieftain, the European Union(EU) Election Observatory report for the 2023 election singled Wike out for indictment.
‘His interest in lobbying for a Ministerial slot is not pure; not for the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians but definitely for a clandestine purpose as his custom is,’ Eze stated.
He said Nigerians have set target for the President and they know that Wike does not fit into the caliber of people needed to help the President meet the expectations and yearnings of country people as he lacks the minimum record and character prescribed for people who should hold public offices in the present day contemporary Nigeria.
Eze recalled with sadness the antecedents of Wike during his eight-year-reign as the Governor of Rivers State. “The state recorded zero investment all through that period. He undermined all the basic areas that required attention to grow the state and only channeled energy to building 12 overhead bridges at very exorbitant costs and with great media fanfare; the biggest media show in the annals of history just to gain cheap popularity.”
Eze said Wike has a case with the anti-graft agency as former minister which he said remains a liability.
