Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has described former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, as a total failure.
Wike said that was because as far as Rivers State was concerned, Amaechi was unable to attract any meaningful project to the state in seven years while he served as a minister.
Wike made the remarks while reacting to comments by the former minister that the Rivers State government refused to give state burial to late Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, who was laid to rest last weekend.
He used the occasion of the formal inauguration of the reconstructed former Riv-Bank Insurance building in Port Harcourt on Monday, to lampoon the former minister.
Governor Wike stressed that a man who had failed in attracting projects to his state and had exhibited poor leadership within his depleted party, should hide his face in shame and stop talking about Rivers politics.
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“We have taken all your people. Nobody is in your party again. Why not manage and stay quiet because of your poor leadership.
“Tell Rivers State people, as Minister of Transportation, what did you do for your people? Seven good years, all you were interested in was doing business with CCECC, doing standard gauge and the other gauge until now, we have not seen anyone in Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.”
Wike boasted that while he was a junior minister, he attracted the Faculty of Law to the University of Port Harcourt, and established the Oil and Gas Polytechnic in Bonny.
He said he also made grants available to Kenule Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic in Bori and Ignatius Ajuru University, while renovating several secondary schools in Rivers State.
“Tell us, as a grade A minister, what you brought. You think you can deceive Rivers State again?”
Governor Wike said the state government stayed away from the burial activities because it was politicised and he did not want to be associated with such trivialities.
“I saw you people have brought politics to the man’s burial. I said, okay, let me withdraw myself. I don’t want to be involved in this kind of politics,” Wike said.
Governor Wike stated that if people had gone to bury the dead, they would have focused on that mission of honouring the dead and not involved him in the talks around the event.
“Let me use this opportunity to say that I am very disappointed that the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, will still come to the state to talk about this government not giving late Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas a state burial.
“It is unfortunate. I asked him, when Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas was sick, where were you? This state government committed so much amount of money to make sure Chief Alabo survived.
“I want to challenge anybody, we did not spend less than N50m to make sure our elder statesman survived. It was survival we wanted, we wanted him to be alive.
“When his late son had an accident, and was flown to London, this state government bore the cost of it. Go and ask people.”
Governor Wike recalled that it was Chibuike Amaechi, who is now showing he loved Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas more, that refused to honour him while he was alive.
The Rivers State governor said Amaechi declined to grant the request of Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas for the elevation of the Abonnema traditional stool to first class and construction of Abonnema ring road.
But, on assumption of office, Governor Wike said, he had granted those requests.
