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By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt
As the Rivers State administration and its supporters within and outside the state roll out the drums to celebrate the Presidential Award on Infrastructure Delivery bestowed on Governor Nyesom Wike, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has questioned the authenticity of the projects earning the governor the award.
In a statement released Thursday in Port Harcourt, the APC expressed misgivings on the qualification of Wike’s projects to earn him the award.
In the statement signed by Darlington Nwauju, publicity secretary of the Rivers APC, the party declared; ” the state government under Governor Wike has never published adverts of tenders for any or all of the major projects undertaken by his administration, the status of these projects with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) is hardly verifiable as Certificates of No Objection are hardly ever disclosed to certify that these projects indeed went through the due process of law and are in full compliance of the 2017 Public Procurement Act”.
It added that Governor Wike has no moral justification to accept, talk less of celebrating an award from the Federal Government he spent millions of naira from the state coffers to demonise.
“The irony in all these is that while the Federal Government will be offering Governor Wike an award of recognition, Governor Wike is back home dishing out all sorts of decrees that narrow the democratic space and offer his own political party an undue and unmerited advantage over other political parties”, the APC declared.
The statement went on; “The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State is surprised at the rush by the governor of Rivers State and his handlers to seize the media space in celebration over his recognition by Mr President for an Infrastructure Award.
“Our surprise stems from the fact that while the governor is doing everything possible to score very cheap political point out of this investiture, he has unwittingly not told himself the truth about the fact that there is a lesson in leadership he needs to inculcate. Having jumped at any given opportunity to bash the APC and Buhari administration for non-performance in time past, a Gov Wike would not dare bestow such a recognition on his political opponent(s) were he in the shoes of President Buhari as he would have marked them (his opponents) for derecognition as in the case of Sir Celestine Omehia.
“We have gone through several clips and newspaper reports of the governor’s sweeping comments against the Buhari administration and now believe that the outgoing governor of Rivers State should in humility subject himself to serious lessons in democratic ethos and practice that teaches democracy as governance for the people; accommodation of voices of dissent and pluralism not coercion, force and suppression.
“In Wike’s Rivers State, criticizing policies of his administration are viewed as offences against the state. Instances abound where agents/appointees of the governor badged into radio stations to disrupt live interviews and until today, no investigations or punitive measures were taken against such overzealousness.
“State owned media houses have remained inaccessible to voices and opinions opposed to the all-knowing-administration in the state, which is a clear danger signal for totalitarianism.
“All sorts of strange laws are being introduced in the state in order to stifle the opposition. A ready example is the introduction of the so-called Executive Order 21 which imposes a N5 million non-refundable cautionary fee on political parties seeking to make use of state owned public facilities for rallies/campaigns. This order is targeting the opposition especially the APC in Rivers State, as succumbing to the governor’s ‘decree’ puts us directly in breach of Section 88 of the Electoral Act which gives a ceiling on political campaign spending.
“This is aside the fact that the so-called Executive Order 21 is an affront on Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which guarantees freedom of association, and Section 91 of the 2022 Electoral Act (as amended) which gives powers to the commissioners of Police to intervene on the issue of venue and time for rallies if there be clash in the schedules of political parties”.
The APC explained that no state government has powers to set aside either the constitution or the Electoral Act but regretted that they were all being trampled upon in Wike’s Rivers State.
“Curiously, most of the public facilities for which Gov Wike is bent on obtaining N5 million for were built by his predecessor but abandoned by his administration”, the party stated.
It added that “another signal to confirm the Governor’s lack of readiness to allow the opposition to thrive is the attempt to use state resources to engage in vote buying with the appointment of Polling Unit Special Assistants without recourse to the provisions of Section 196 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“Our party has been asking questions as to where monies shall be sourced to defray the obligations that shall arise from such a breast pocket appointment.
“The moral lesson for those in Rivers State who query the rationality behind the opposition mounted against the policy excesses and anti-democratic principles of the governor of Rivers State, we say to them – they are the governor’s worst enemies”.
“Without equivocation, those buying up airtime in the media to congratulate Governor Wike for being listed for the Infrastructure Award are all hypocrites and enemies of democracy. They are the same set of persons who clap whenever the governor denigrates the Buhari administration and yet the same persons do not want opposition political parties to campaign or sell their manifestos to Rivers people. They are the same persons offering all sorts of anti-democratic strategies to the governor in order to silence the voice of opposition in Rivers State. They are the same persons recruiting thugs and planning to perpetuate an unpopular party in power beyond 2023”.
