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RELEASE OF EXXON-MOBIL STAFF: Wike is not as brave as people think -Ex Rivers APC spokesman

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A former publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Mr. Chris Finebone, has demanded more explanation from Governor Nyesom Wike on why he released the 22 staff of ExxonMobil who were arrested for flouting his executive order on COVID-19.

Finebone, who frowned at the official reason given by government as the intervention of well eminent Nigerians, demanded that the governor be made to tell who were the Nigerians, where and when they made such interventions.

According to him, the governor is not as brave or as naive as many people think, and that he mostly “huff and puffs”, but knows “how to cow, beg, throw in the towel and scamper to safety with style”.

Read also: COVID-19: NUJ decries mismanagement of information in Akwa Ibom

The former party official stated this in a statement in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Monday.

The statement reads: “I feel happy that the innocent oil workers have regained their freedom from what I consider hostage taking. You see, the governor is not as brave or naïve as people think. He knows when to huff, puff and threaten in front of the camera to rally his base and enjoy momentary applause. And he also knows when the real hammer is about to fall and how to cow, beg, throw in the towel and scamper to safety with style.

“One day he will tell the real story why he hurriedly released the 22 Exxonmobil staff.

“Forget the story about eminent persons intervening. Okay, can he name those eminent persons who intervened, how they intervened, where and when?”

It would be recalled that Governor Wike had, in his Executive Order, closed all entry points into the state through land, sea and air, with a provision that the COVID-19 status of anyone entering the state must be confirmed, even when on essential services.

It was on the strength of the order that a security team led by the redeployed Rivers Commission of Police, Mastapha Dandaura, had on April 16 arrested the 22 Exxon Mobil staff as they entered the state through her borders with Akwa Ibom in violation of the State Executive Order.

However, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Professor Zaccheus Adangor, in a statement on Sunday, announced their unconsitional release, adding that the state would also not press charges against them, after what it said was the intervention of well meaning Nigerians.

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