2019: Rivers cannot be like Lagos – Wike dares Amaechi

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has told the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, that the state was not the same as Lagos State.

Wike said that no one man can dictate what happens in Rivers.

He said this while declaring that no amount of blackmail and propaganda will alter the termination of sale of valued state assets to Sahara Energy Limited, a company belonging to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the state, Tonye Dele Cole.

“No amount of blackmail will change the situation. The courts are there for them to seek redress.

“Rivers and Lagos States are not the same. No single man can dictate what happens in Rivers State. We have different ethnic groups and culture”, he said.

According to Wike, the termination of sale of valued state assets to Sahara Energy followed due process.

The Governor called on those aggrieved to seek redress in court.

He spoke on Boxing Day during the 2018 Ogbakor Etche December Convention at Obiri Etche, Umugwu, Okehi.

Wike added, “The Rivers State Government was not vindictive in terminating the sale of valued state assets to Sahara Energy Limited. One company used three subsidiaries to illegally acquire state assets.

“If there was any vindictiveness, it was on the part of those who used the State Government to deny Rivers people their valued state assets.

The governor said that the Rivers State Government resolved to implement the White Paper on the recommendations of the Justice Omereji Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the sale of valued state assets because there is no stay of execution stopping the administration.

He said that the godfather of Cole and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, lost at the High Court and Court of Appeal when he tried to stop the implementation of the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.

Governor Wike said the Minister of Transportation and his business partner illegally bought over State assets with a plot to install Tonye Cole for the purchase of more state assets.

“Rivers people have come to know that only one person bought all their assets. He came and took what belongs to the entire state. Now they want to acquire more,” he added.