Ex-Governor of Rivers state, RotimiAmaechi, yesterday took a swipe at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), NyesomWike, implying that they are not on the same level and that he won’t exchange words with ‘children’.
Despite holding back consistently from talking politics or mentioning Wike, under pressure during an interview on Arise Television, Amaechi stated that as someone who hired Wike as chief of staff, he could not trade insults with him in public.
Earlier, launching a scathing attack on his long-time rival and predecessor, Wike had dismissed Amaechi’s widely circulated remark, “We’re all hungry”, made during his 60th birthday celebration last week, claiming the former Rivers governor is not hungry for food, but for political relevance.
But Amaechi also disputed Wike’s imputation that he was instrumental to him (Amaechi) becoming governor, stressing that God, former Governor Peter Odili, the judiciary and the Rivers state people were responsible for his election.
He urged journalists to press Wike on how he contributed to him becoming governor, even though he refused to mention the FCT minister’s name throughout the conversation. “I was once his boss. Whether he likes it or not. I hired him. I could have said no,” he added.
Amaechi also stated that he made Wike his chief of staff so as to be able to supervise him closely, despite pressure to make him a commissioner of finance, noting that it’s Wike that never acknowledged that anyone ever helped him.
“I wanted him as chief of staff so I could supervise him. I didn’t offer him commissioner for finance. You see, I’m saying this because I don’t want to join issues with children. You know, he made himself chief of staff. He made himself governor. He made himself minister. He made himself local government chairman’, he said mockingly.
While pointing to the lack of ‘maturity’ in Wike’s conversations, he noted that politicians no longer care about their family names, reason they behave without thinking about the implications.
He argued that he (Amaechi) built several flyovers as governor without making any noise, expressing surprise about the media attention on the flyovers built by Wike in Rivers.
The former minister also expressed disgust over the abandonment and destruction of the projects he completed, stressing that it distresses him each time he sees the projects he built being vandalised.
Amaechi also threw jabs at the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), MahmoodYakubu, comparing him to the discredited one-time INEC head, Prof. Maurice Iwu.
“The current chairman of INEC, if he was the chairman of INEC in 2015, we would not have won. That’s an important point. May God bless (Attahiru) Jega. It’s a very interesting point. Because the ground rules were clear. The current chairman of INEC can only be compared to Iwu.
“When we were to register APC, Jega opened the door and we complied with the registration requirements. He got APC registered. The current man, if you comply with all these, he would not register you. Already INEC is biased.
“So, the only thing I can tell you now is that looking at the way Nigeria has run the election, even the option A4 led us forward. At least a lot of transparency. You were sure of what was going on. Then we came back to meet people like Iwu and others and the current one and things got worse.
“So, you don’t know whether to say we are progressing or we are regressing…There’s a state capture using the electoral institution as a machine,” he added.
Describing Jega as a man of conscience, he argued that the current INEC chairman has already said that he’s not registering new parties.
“Already he (Yakubu) is stopping parties from being registered. Already, INEC has taken sides. INEC is no longer the umpire,” he added.
Amaechi also accused the Bola Tinubu administration of not obeying the rule of law, and that the judiciary was losing its respect.
“One funny thing about the current government is that they don’t even obey laws. They don’t obey the constitution. They’re not allowing the opposition to register political parties. I was 34 when I became Speaker. The process was a bit more transparent than you have now,” he emphasised.
Amaechi also reiterated his opposition to the suspension of the elected Governor of Rivers state, SiminalayiFubara, arguing that the constitution does not give the president the power to suspend any governor.
Besides, the former Rivers governor called for accountability in the spending of the savings from fuel and electricity subsidies.
“The president removed the subsidy. Where is the money? The president removed the subsidy on electricity. It got to a point where oil subsidies got to N8 trillion. If we deploy N8 trillion into this economy now, it will feel the impact.
“Let me also tell you, do we need the coastal road in the manner that it was awarded? Yes, the south-south needs the road. But fix the east-west road. I don’t know how many trillions. If we deploy that money to the economy, it will change our lives. Who is collecting that money? The president needs to tell us,” he maintained.
