Amaechi, Wike At War Over Insecurity In Rivers

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…Curfew in Rivers, the result of Wike’s failure
…Amaechi indicting his boss, Buhari, Says Wike

The Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, and the
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, have disagreed over the
security challenge in the state.

Amaechi, the former governor of the state, while receiving some
decampees from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, into the All
Progressives Congress, APC, said the curfew imposed in the state by
Wike was a sign that his (Wine’s) administration has failed.

The minister blamed the level of insecurity in the state to
alleged high level of unemployment, saying that he (Amaechi) led
every operation to chase criminal elements out of the state

Amaechi said the state was in danger, expressing regrets that
governor Wike was acquiring the whole properties in the state
without considering the safety and welfare of the people.

He stated that when he was a Governor, he did not only built
roads but schools, Health Centers, farms, industries, employment of
different categories of people and as well send Rivers sons and
daughters to study overseas which helped in tackling security
challenges then.

Amaechi, however, enjoined members of APC to go home and
mobilise new members into the party and avoid creating room for
continued fighting in the party,

But, Wike in a swift reaction said it was disingenuous for the
minister of transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, to attribute
insecurity in the State to unemployment.

He questioned: “Is unemployment fuelling insecurity in Kaduna,
Plateau, Borno, Yobe, Ondo, Ebony, Imo, Niger States governed by
the All Progressives Congress (APC)?”

Wike in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin
Ebiri, said if the minister, who is the immediate past governor of
the state has any modicum of sincerity, he will attest to the fact
that security is the sole responsibility of the federal
government.

Wike said: “Is he (Amaechi) trying to indict his boss, President
Muhammad Buhari, who is the Commander in Chief of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, and who is constitutionally saddled with the
responsibility to provide security for Nigerians.

“It is a well-known fact that Amaechi is the one who allegedly
appoints every Commissioner of Police that has been posted to
Rivers State since 2015. So, if there is any security failure, he
is to blame.”

Governor Wike described the minister misguided utterance on the
current imposition of curfew in the State, following the recent
attacks on police formations, as rather unfortunate.

“Perhaps, the minister is happy that members of the proscribed
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are killing innocent policemen,
who were protecting lives and property. Is Amaechi happy that the
weapons of this slain security personnel were carted away by the
hoodlums? Amaechi, from all indication, has lost focus and is now
frustrated,” he said.

The governor declared that his administration has offered a
scholarship to over 500 Rivers State students to study medicine and
other related courses at the PAMO University.

Reacting to the allegation by the minister that he is acquiring
property in the State, the governor said it better to acquire
property in Nigeria than to do so in Ghana.

Governor Wike said Amaechi jubilation over the defection of his
former Commissioner of Urban and Rural Planning, REASON ONYA, who
was indicted by a Judicial Commission of inquiry, is a pointer that
he is politically irrelevant in Rivers State.

The governor further urged the minister to return to Abuja and
resolve the financial malfeasance rocking federal agencies under
his watch and desist from destroying the homes of others.