Again, Wike courts trouble, knocks FG over ‘pretentious’ war on graft

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has again scolded the Federal Government. He accused the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of making mockery of the graft war which, according to him, was orchestrated to cow and silence opposition.

The governor stated this in a keynote address he delivered during the 12 General Synod of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, St Paul‘s Cathedral, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.

Wike said that apart from Senate President Bukola Saraki, who he said was harassed by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government because he contested the number one office in the Senate against his party arrangement, every other member of the party, including those who decamped from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are now too clean to be probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Wondering why the only people with allegation of corruption since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office have been PDP members, Wike asked, “How can the Federal Government justify the situation where former public office holders from PDP are continuously harassed, hunted and hounded with corruption charges by EFCC, while at the same time sparing those other members who defected to APC of similar investigations and treatment except the pure vendetta against Saraki for daring to contest the office of the Senate Presidency against the wish of the cabals in his party?”

The governor therefore called on the church not to shy away from condemning alleged lopsided anti-corruption war of Buhari’s government as well as purported acts of corruption bedeviling the present Federal Government.

He said, “People say power of any kind corrupts, but political power can be more vicious if exercised unchecked and in disregard of democratic norms.

“While we all support the Federal Government’s much-vaunted, but pretentious fight against corruption, it is patently wrong to fight corruption with corruption and double-speak or by side-stepping the rule of law, disobeying court orders and blackmailing the judiciary to submission. Unfortunately, this is the order of the day under the current democratic dispensation.

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“What has become of the case of those who were arrested for printing fake ballot papers with INEC’s authentic serial numbers to be used to rig the December 2016 legislative re-run elections?”

Wike has remained one of the fiercest critics of Buhari’s administration. He had only recently, while speaking during a thanksgiving service at All Saints Cathedral, Bori, Khana Local Government Area of the state, berated Buhari’s government over fighting “hate speeches with fluid definition” while leaving what is more important like resolving electoral challenges in the country.

The Nigerian Police Force also recently came under Wike’s hammer when he alleged that operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, (SARS) were the ones responsible for most of the kidnapping and armed robbery in the state.

 

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