Rivers governorship: Wike, Lulu-Briggs in hot exchange of words

THE governorship candidate of the Accord Party in Rivers State, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs and the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike who is also the standard bearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the governorship election are currently engaged in hot exchange of words.

Lulu-Briggs, an oil magnate, while addressing a ‘world press conference’ in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, berated Wike for poor performance and allegedly deceiving Rivers people with the sobriquet of “Mr. Projects,” while declaring that from May 29 this year, Rivers people would be calling him “Mr. Jobs,” promising to perform excellently and much better than the incumbent governor.

However, Wike, on Thursday, through Rivers Commissioner for Informa tion and Communications, Emma Okah, a lawyer, who doubles as the Director of Information and Communications,  Rivers PDP Campaign Council, described Lulu-Briggs as a comedian, who knew nothing about good governance, insisting that his ‘world press conference’  was a jamboree. The Rivers State Governor also accused the governorship candidate of Accord Party of ignorantly spreading falsehood, while challenging Lulu-Briggs, whom he described as a joker, to mention anything that he had contributed to the development of Rivers state, besides telling lies and blackmailing leaders of the ruling PDP, knowing full well that he had already failed in his governorship bid, especially without having structure in any of the 23 local government areas of Rivers, but merely making noise.

Lulu-Briggs while replying  through his campaign organisation’s Director of Media and Communications, Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo, yesterday said: “It is most disheartening that we should react to the weightless statement by the PDP campaign council. Our discomfiture stems from the realisation that such an empty statement is the product of the minds that currently govern our beloved state. “If Mr. Okah had ended his poorly-thought-out response with the usual eulogy for the mediocre achievements of the ‘workaholic governor’, then we would have ignored him as merely engaging in the trademark political narrative known to them in the PDP.

In his zeal to impress, Mr. Okah went on to de scribe the contents of a well-received, factual and clearly articulated press conference of the Accord governorship candidate as ‘mere street talks.’ “Worrisome to us is the display of crass ignorance or is it a case of deliberate misrepresentation (as is their custom). Otherwise, how could a Commissioner for Information fail to understand the holistic and integrated development plan as enunciated in the Chief Lulu-Briggs’ press conference speech and the attached policy document? If the comprehension of such a lucid presentation by Dumo Lulu-Briggs is a challenge to the PDP, is it any wonder that Rivers State has been going round in circles under the watch of the Wike-led administration?”