By Omeiza Ajayi

…Says, Amaechi tried to frustrate him as minister

….You won’t take back power, Wike fires ex-Rivers Gov

By Omeiza Ajayi 

Over three months into the 6-month long state of emergency imposed on Rivers state by President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has promised that the National Assembly will help resolve the political crisis in the state.

Akpabio made the pledge on Thursday in Abuja when he represented President Tinubu to commission the Kugbo Bus and Taxi Terminal.

He said; “Rivers State is one state that we cannot joke with and that is why we are going to do everything possible to ensure that there is peace and tranquility. And all the ants that would have disturbed us in 2027, my brother, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman, is prepared to smash them before that period and Almighty Allah will guide you as you do so. Can we shout Amen?”

Earlier, Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike had praised Akpabio for his uncommon transformation of Akwa Ibom State as governor for eight years and now his sterling contributions to national development as Senate President.

Wike however said he could not adjudge Akpabio’s performance as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration because he was not apprised of the facts.

Reacting, Akpabio said he did well as minister, and that Wike would not want to speak on his ministerial achievements because Wike did not like the then administration due to the presence of a “local content” from Rivers State in the cabinet.

Addressing Akpabio, Wike had said; “You were governor for eight years, a successful governor for that matter. A governor who can go back home today and say yes, and people will follow you.

And now you are a successful Senate President. I don’t want to talk about when you were a minister. I don’t want to talk about it. The one I know very well, you did very well, is the one I am talking about.

“As governor, I have the facts. I was a Minister of State, Education. I came there and I saw. So, I can talk about that. As a Minister and a Senate President, I can see, I can talk about it. The one I do not know, I cannot talk about it.

You can talk about it anywhere, not me. I won’t talk about it. You are doing well. This administration is doing well”.

Responding, Akpabio hinted of how his colleague in the Buhari administration, Rotimi Amaechi who was Minister of Transportation, tried to frustrate him.

He said Wike did not want to comment on his performance as Niger Delta Affairs minister because he (Wike) was not comfortable with Amaechi in that administration.

Akpabio said; “I am here principally to represent Mr President, but I have also noted all the comments by the Minister of FCT, my brother, who himself was a Governor of Rivers State, and I dare say in his time he learned from me and he was a very successful governor. I must say so.

“I like to tell the truth. I know that because of small local politics in Rivers, he would not be able to rate me high in my tenure as Minister of Niger Delta, because he did not like that administration, because of the local content from Rivers in that administration.

“He is also aware that even the local content in that administration from Rivers had tried to frustrate my efforts but the Managing Director of NDDC is here. He can confirm that for 26 years, in fact, since 1994, when the then Oil and Mineral Producing Areas Commission OMPADEC, headed by our eldest statesman, Chief A.K. Horsfall, started the permanent structure for the that Commission, it was not completed until I became the Minister. And within two years, I brought the 13-storey building to a completion. I moved the NDDC from the temporary head office on Port Harcourt Road, that they were paying N300 million a year, and which was not connected to the national grid. They were giving contracts for supply of diesel every week to very young, pretty men who came there, and women.

“At the end of the day, today, they are in their robust 13-storey building, completed under my own watch as Minister of Niger Delta. So, like the Agama lizard, if I jump from the Iroko tree and land well on the ground, even if the Minister of FCT did not see it, I would shake my head and say, I have done well, considering the height of the tree. So, as Minister, I also had a successful stint as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs”.

Nothing for you

Wike also took a swipe at Amaechi who had recently scored the Tinubu administration very low on all developmental indices and concluded that like ordinary Nigerians, he was also hungry.

According to him, the former Rivers governor was simply looking at getting back to power, declaring that he will not get it.

While he didn’t directly mention Amaechi, Wike said; “Like somebody said, they are hungry. He was Speaker for eight years, he was not hungry. He was governor for eight years, he was not hungry.

He was minister for eight years. Only when he left that office, he became hungry, and you are telling Nigerians that? Are you being fair? You Nigerians too, should be able to ask, why are you talking to me like this? My mother said that even if she didn’t go to school, she understands ‘shut up’. No, you don’t tell me these kind of stories. I don’t need to be a PhD holder for me to understand that you are telling lies.

“You are hungry for power. You want how you will take power, then you will not take the power. You will not take it. Because we can’t give power to those who tell lies, those who provide Crystal (champagne) in their houses and come out and say, ‘we don’t need this, we don’t need it. Nigerians are hungry’. So,that’s why I tell those kind of people, these things are not going to work. We must learn, we must see those who are sincere, who are faithful, who said, we will do this and we will do it. Yes, there could be some challenges and that is the essence of leadership. No leader can succeed without taking some decisions”