DISHONESTY IN GOVERNANCE: Gov. Nyesom Wike Learnt Nothing In 2015

The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC notes, yet again, with disappointment that the Rivers State Governor, Barr. Nyesom Wike learnt nothing in 2015 when it comes to honesty in governance.

This belief stems from the largely self-gratifying New Year message the governor broadcast to Rivers people and the world today. In the said message, Gov. Nyesom Wike claimed that he was working in line with a developmental blueprint for Rivers State. Nothing can be more primitively dishonest than that statement.

During the election campaigns, on January 26, 2015 Candidate Nyesom Wike formally presented to the public what he called his development blueprint aimed at repositioning Rivers State. While making that presentation which he reportedly titled “A new Rivers State, new vision, new thinking, better possibilities”, Nyesom Wike said that the blueprint was expected to guide the incoming administration and address development challenges that had crippled the state.

Wike further described the blueprint as a social contract between him and the people, declaring that the blueprint was premised upon employment generation which will drive infrastructural development, inclusive governance, administration of justice, education, roads and healthcare delivery.

Surprisingly, a couple of weeks after the swearing in of Gov. Nyesom Wike on May 29, 2015 the APC and Rivers people were stunned when the governor announced that he was setting up a Steering Committee on Development of Blueprint for Rivers State headed by Barr. Nimi Walson-Jack as the Chairman. Subsequently, the Committee was inaugurated by the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Chief Kenneth Kobani who named members of the committee to include Prof. K. F. A. Ebeku, Prof. Gloria Obuzor, Engr. Deinabo T. Horsfall, Dr. A. J. Beredugo and Engr.. Joel Rowland Ibiabere.

It was at that point that it dawned on honest Rivers people that Nyesom Wike had pulled a fast one on everybody. His earlier launch of a blueprint at the start of the campaigns was a mere ruse laced with big, big talk signifying nothing.

The question remains: If Nyesom Wike launched a blueprint during the campaigns on January 26, 2015 which other blueprint did he set up the Nimi Waltson-Jack Steering Committee to draw up for Rivers people in June, 2015?

In the past seven months of Nyesom Wike administration in Rivers State, kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and other dangerous crimes have become the order of the day. The government has not started a single project or programme suggesting that it had a blueprint of any sort.

The Nne Kurubo Model Secondary School at Eleme has been shut down with no hope of reopening. Youths of Rivers State on overseas scholarships have been disgracefully repatriated because the Wike government decided to levy group punishment on them, not necessarily because the government cannot dig deep to sustain their stay to finish their studies. Similarly, the RSSDA and the various projects and programmes the agency operates have been abandoned by the administration. The Banana Farm at the Ogoni axis has even been burnt down by suspected government arsonists while the Buguma Fish Farm and others have been abandoned by the State Government. The list is virtually inexhaustible.

The APC is grateful to God that Rivers people have seen through the deceit of Nyesom Wike and have decided to make earth-quaking moves beginning from this January. Indeed, Rivers people have realised that they have been duped because Barr. Nyesom Wike is ready for anything but responsible governance.

We are convinced that even if Nyesom Wike declares every card-carrying PDP member in Rivers State as Commissioner, Special Assistant or whatever, Rivers people have taken a stand and Nyesom Wike will soon discover that he is standing alone. The real Rivers people are proud people who choose their company carefully and would not, for whatever pecuniary reasons, choose the company of Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike because the different peoples and enclaves that make up Rivers State have age-old rich history that has no place for mediocre characters that we now find.

Chris Finebone
State Publicity Secretary
Fri, January 1, 2016