Amaechi, Wike renew hostility over Rivers insecurity

\Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, on Sunday, renewed their hostility over the worsening insecurity in the state.

The duo had been at loggerheads since 2015 when Amaechi left office as governor of Rivers State.

The Minister of Transportation, who spoke while receiving two former commissioners and other persons who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Port Harcourt on Sunday, blamed the insecurity in the state on unemployment.

He also accused Wike of acquiring properties and buildings everywhere in the state.

Amaechi insisted that Rivers State was in danger.

He said: “Rivers State is in danger, completely. A state where properties are collected and somebody is busy building everywhere and nobody is talking.

“When I was governor, God knows, I did my best. I did not build only roads, I built schools. I did not build only roads, I built electricity. I built farms. I created employment. Rivers State was not among the highest unemployed community in Nigeria.

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“I felt that you employed me. I was not your master; I was your servant. I was not a contractor. I paid contractors so that they can pay their workers and the money will circulate.

“The reason why crime is high in Rivers State is that unemployment is very high. That the reason why we had the Songhai Farm. Today, the Songhai Farm is gone. That is why we had the Banana Farm that they stopped in Khana (Ogoniland).”

But in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, Wike faulted the minister for blaming the security challenge in the state on unemployment.

He insisted that the failure of the APC-led federal government was responsible for the prevailing insecurity in the country.

The governor said Amaechi was indicting President Muhammadu Buhari because the President was constitutionally empowered to provide security for Nigerians.

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

“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 appoints every Commissioner of Police that had been posted to Rivers State since 2015. So, if there is any security failure, he is to blame.”

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