2019: APC accuses Gov. Wike of extorting from students in Rivers to fund election

The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the Governor of the State, Nyesom Wike, of plotting to levy students of all tertiary institutions in the state with various sums of money.

The party said the Governor was trying to achieve this through the heads of such institutions to support the 2019 campaigns of the governor.

This claim was made by the State Chairman of the APC, Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree in a statement forwarded to DAILY POST
by the state Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone.

Flag-Amachre said that the scheme had already commenced by the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, IAUE, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt in a circular by the school authorities requesting each student of the institution to pay a dubious entrepreneurship training levy of N20,000.

The statement added, “The collection of this fee of N20,000 is part of a grand design by Gov. Wike to use the heads of tertiary institutions in Rivers State to raise funds through sundry levies to support the governor’s 2019 campaigns. Already, students of IAUE have been served a circular to that effect.

“The plan includes levying each student to submit their typed projects with a payment of N20,000 each for the binding of such projects. You can imagine how callous this governor can be,” Ojukaye declared.

Speaking further, the APC State Chairman wondered why the governor should compound the problems of students and their parents in Rivers State when families are going through rough time to survive.

“In most other states in Nigeria, governors are alleviating the burden on students and their parents through scholarships and bursaries but here in Rivers State Gov. Wike is heartlessly inflicting pains and anguish on students and their parents.

“It is disheartening how we got to this sorry pass. Elsewhere, caring governors in many states are paying students bursaries and awarding scholarships just to lessen the burden on students and their parents. But here, Gov. Wike withdrew young men and women the previous administration placed on foreign scholarships and now he is levying students in local institutions in the State to raise money for his 2019 political campaigns. This is wickedness at its highest level.

“Most saddening is that this whole thing is happening at a time the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has uncovered fraudulent withdrawals of over N117bn of our money by Gov. Nyesom Wike since he assumed office in 2015 with no explanation or purpose.

The APC State Chairman called on students and parents to resist the various suspect levies tertiary institutions are demanding from them as such spurious levies were meant to fund the insatiable lust for money by Gov. Wike.

“Let me appeal to our students and their parents not to succumb to the fraudulent levies Wike is using heads of tertiary institutions to request from students.

“Students and parents should vehemently reject the levies; they should refuse to pay those illegal levies as they are only meant to fund Wike’s 2019 campaigns.”