Botched PDP Convention: How Taraba Governor, Others Were Starved

Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State had arrived the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa on Thursday, May 17, on an Aero outbound from Abuja. He was in town for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Convention.

The Rivers State capital was hosting the party jamboree that reportedly gulped over N10billion in state revenue. Gov. Wike had reportedly borrowed N10bn from a bank under the guise of using the said amount for infrastructure.

In Gov. Ishaku’s entourage were some personal aides but before his arrival, a batch of such aides had arrived Port Harcourt. As a governor, the Taraba State Chief Executive was entitled to first-class protocol and accommodation. Part of such official largesse was a cosy room at the Presidential Wing of the Rivers State Government House.

He was to enjoy international cuisines prepared in-house by chefs serving Mr. Ezebuwon Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, at the state Government House. But the case was not so as Gov. Ishaku was handed down an order – you must go to Gov. Wike’s private residence for each meal, or, feed yourself. The alternative was to starve.

At the airport Protocol Lounge, a Rivers State Government official was on hand to receive Gov. Ishaku who, soon as he made his way to the Lounge, chatted briefly with a Federal Minister who was also at the facility but on a national assignment.

The Governor drove off to the Government House no doubt full of expectations of a warm reception by the host. He must have expected good rounds of meals prepared at the seat of government by domestic personnel. But his expectations ended with the wind as Ishaku later came to terms that he either fed himself or starved.

The Rivers State Government had packaged a plot that would force every distinguished guest at the convention to go line up at Mr. Wike’s dining table at his palatial private home. To achieve that, the State Government reportedly released only N10 million for the Government House Canteen. The ridiculous amount was nowhere close to what was needed to feed the guests.

The Neighbourhood gathered that those who had the meagre sum of money could do nothing. Other guests who were lodged in hotels were also to daily line-up at the Governor’s private dining room. But it was gathered that Gov. Ishaku preferred to eat off his pocket than accept the condition. Quickly, he sent his aides to the market to buy foodstuffs but at least, for the first night, he starved until the next morning of the convention.

Aside the feeding conundrum, Wike had barred hotels along Aba Road, the Old and the new GRA, from lodging guests other than PDP delegates. So, guests who never knew about the Governor’s order and had flown into Port Harcourt got stranded. Except for Thursday night, Wike, according to a hotelier who spoke to The Neighbourhood, had warned of instant closure of any hotel which lodged other guests. The Neighbourhood Reporter who moved around some hotels in the Old GRA and Aba Road Thursday night saw stranded guests caught in the Governor’s fiat.

A group of mourners from Lagos who had arrived the Rivers State capital the previous Wednesday and checked into a hotel in the Old GRA was forcefully checked out of their hotel rooms. A hotel official who spoke to The Neighbourhood said they were obeying the Rivers State governor’s order “to avoid the governor’s trouble”. The guests took the whole night searching for another hotel and were yet to find alternative place until The Neighbourhood Reporter left that particular hotel.