Peterside kicks as Wike’s man raises allegations

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State during the 2015 election, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has accused Governor Nyesom Wike of being economical with the truth.

Peterside, who is also the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), during his 48th birthday celebration in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on December 31 last year, accused Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of poor performance.

The NIMASA chief said during his birthday celebration: “Nyesom Wike is a terribly bad governor. If we do not do anything, we will be in the wilderness for another four years. There is no guarantee that after the four years of being in the wilderness, that we will still not be roaming about in the wilderness. God forbid. So, I want to plead with my friends in the APC in Rivers State, please, let us allow peace to reign. No sacrifice is too great to make.”

Wike, in his reaction through his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, on Wednesday, described Peterside’s remarks as the sad lamentation of a bruised houseboy.

Nwakaudu said: “If not for the senseless nature of the APC brand of politics, the 2015 defeated Rivers State APC governorship candidate would  have taken wine to Governor Wike for connecting his Opobo Kingdom to the rest of Rivers State via the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo-Nkoro Unity Road.

“Instead, Dakuku Peterside resumed his forgotten cries of gubernatorial deprivation, just to please his Oga, the failed Minister for Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

“Peterside played a major role in the total failure of his Oga, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. As Works Commissioner, Peterside had no visible achievement anywhere in Rivers State. He could not even complete the road to his hometown.

“Even at NIMASA, Peterside has failed to deliver. Instead, funds have been diverted and the House of Representatives has indicted him for mass fraud in the parastatal. Peterside has not attracted any form of development to Rivers State since he was compensated by President Muhammadu Buhari for joining Amaechi to betray the entire Southsouth by using Rivers funds to finance the APC national campaign.”

The media aide also stated that Rivers people were happy with Wike and they would re-elect him in March this year.

Peterside, through his media team, yesterday in an online statement, declared that Wike and Nwakaudu needed help, in view of their careless and senseless remarks.

The media team of the NIMASA chief said: “If Nwakaudu is close to average in his intellect and thought process, he would have known that not even his master, Wike, has the credentials to question the depth, intelligence, posture and being of Dr. Peterside, who is a symbol of integrity and performance in public service. As at today, Dr. Peterside speaks for Africa, as far as maritime activities are concerned.

“In his latest ranting, Nwakaudu chose to focus on statements made by Dr. Peterside during his birthday celebration, where he spoke truth to Wike to rise above being petty, visionless, deceitful and work towards a peaceful and prosperous Rivers State.

“Dr. Peterside spoke the minds of Rivers people, including high-ranking members of Wike’s government, who are visibly tired of an administration that is owing pensioners for the past three years, not promoted a single civil servant since 2015, that has abandoned Rivers students abroad, that awards contracts against all known procurement laws of the state, that has some of the highest unemployment figures in the country, among others. Wike, he said, represents everything but transparency and accountability.

“It is on record that no commissioner in Wike’s government knows the value of any project under their respective ministries, just as no one has seen the state’s budget since 2016. Contracts are awarded by the fiat of the governor, an action that has stalled many initiatives and rendered cabinet members as mere appendages. The Rivers governor has absolutely no programme to address job creation in the state. These were the issues for which Wike had no response and he cannot have a response.”

Peterside also stated that a proof of Wike’s rejection by PDP members in Rivers state and beyond was the abysmal failure of his preferred presidential aspirant, Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto State, during the party’s convention in his backyard (Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt).

He declared that Wike and Nwakaudu’s generation could never rise to the stature of Amaechi, a former Rivers governor and Transportation Minister, whom he said performed excellently while at the helm of affairs in the Niger Delta state.

The former member of the House of Representatives (Peterside) also said Rivers people knew that his tenure as Commissioner for Works in Amaechi’s administration remained unparalleled and also receiving accolades from President Buhari, other world leaders and international organisations, among others, for his impressive performance in NIMASA.