By: Ifeanyi Izeze<\/p>\n
The widely reported donation of N500 million to victims of the Sokoto
\nmarket fire by the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike was nothing out of
\nthe norm as we know it with those who have ruled the state since 1999.<\/p>\n
In the chronicle of sacrificial givings by those you ruled the state;
\nPeter Odili came first and did very well at it. Rotimi Amaechi followed
\nand even introduced some new dimensions to it. Now Wike is at it dancing
\nreal naked in the market places even as far as Sokoto main market.<\/p>\n
Rivers people seems to be terrible students of recent history if not,
\nhow do you explain that all the governors who ruled the state since 1999
\nended up doing the same things the same way even when they want the
\npeople of the state to believe otherwise?<\/p>\n
Is there actually a spell cast on people who rule the state? It sounds
\nvery extreme to actually say but the behavioural pattern always
\ndisplayed by makes it difficult to think otherwise.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, they all start very well and manage to carry serious
\ngovernance through their early years in office. And that may be because
\nfunny enough, they usually come into office the same manner and
\ncircumstances. And just because of the circumstances of their emergence,
\nthey usually are always compelled to work for the people to see at least
\nin the early years of their administrations.<\/p>\n
However, the worrisome pattern has always been that immediately they get
\nthe chance to do a second tenure, Rivers state stop being priority in
\nmost things they do, that\u2019s when they suddenly start seeing themselves
\nmore as national figures than local administrators.<\/p>\n
In the beginning, it was Governor Peter Odili who as result of the
\npressure from the \u201cAnti-Christ\u201d and his group that clearly defeated
\nhim at the first run of the governorship election in election in rivers
\nstate in 1999, was forced to do things to convince the people that he
\nwas a better choice. Most of Odili\u2019s projects and programmes in the
\nhousing, transportation, education, power and several other sectors were
\nvery remarkable.<\/p>\n
He even took issues of stomach infrastructures to a level that even his
\nenemies till today find it difficult to accuse him as being corrupt
\nbecause he \u201ccarried everybody along\u201d including women _Oyeeeee_. Then
\nall that changed the day a dreamt of being the next president after
\nObasanjo. He became the nationally acclaimed \u201comeogor\u201d (Mr Charity)
\nespecially in northern and western Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Then Chibuike Amaechi came with his \u201cK- Leg\u201d issues though the
\nSupreme Court was able to orthopedically straighten everything that had
\nto do with that deformity. He did very well also in terms of his
\nprojects and programmes in his early years in office. Amaechi drove
\nhimself either in a car or power-bike unannounced to project sites for
\nfirst hand assessment of what contractors were doing on almost every
\nsite. As an Ikwerre man, he also went into Mile 1, Mile 3, Town and, Oil
\nmill markets to buy _moi moi_ and \u2018manpower\u2019 even cowries and native
\nchalks at times just to relate with the his people.<\/p>\n
Whether anybody wants to hear this or not, whosoever that says Amaechi
\ndid not work in his first tenure is an enemy not only of progress but
\nalso of Rivers state.<\/p>\n
His humility in service was exemplary until he became the Chairman of
\nthe Nigerian Governors\u2019 Forum (NGF) and then, _phewww_, he caught that
\n\u201canointing\u201d that made him think he has become as powerful or even
\nmore than the President of the Federal Republic who happened to be his
\nfriend and brother. That was when he remembered that his middle name is
\nRotimi. He no longer bothered about any friend in Rivers state. People
\nfrom the Southwest posing as all sorts of adviser, contractors and
\nconsultants overran the state. The governor became airborne as he was
\nalways in Abuja, Lagos, or London.<\/p>\n
He literally took over the funding of the NGF with monies from the
\ncoffers of Rivers state. To crown it all, he doled over N60billion of
\nRivers money, as alleged, to fund Buhari\u2019s presidential campaign of
\n2014-2015 as the _Maigaskya_ had no two coins to rub each other and the
\nJagagban was not ready then to stake a dime on a man who sees and
\npublicly berated him as very \u2018_kwaraupt_\u2019.<\/p>\n
Now with Wike who also came as \u201c_Ogbuagu_\u201d under the camouflage of a
\nriverine Boer constrictor also did well in his early years. He stood out
\nby making sure there was no abandoned project anywhere in the state. He
\ncompleted with the resilience of a \u201c_yewali_\u201d all projects initiated
\nbut abandoned by his predecessor in office except the Monorail. Well
\ninto this his second term, he says he is still working at least with his
\n\u2018bridge affair,\u2019 but whether the Rivers people see it as such is
\ndiscuss for another day.<\/p>\n
He was in Edo state to produce Governor Godwin Obaseki for his second
\ntenure, a job he executed with the fineness of an _Nyerishi_ all with
\nhundreds of millions or even billions from Rivers state coffers.<\/p>\n
So it is very clear that Wike\u2019s going to Sokoto to dash traders 500
\nmillion of Rivers money was nothing outside what Rivers governors were
\nknown for except that it\u2019s coming when economic distress is well
\nwritten everywhere and on everything in the state.<\/p>\n
Tragically, as if the dole was not enough progress in error, the
\nexplanation by the State Government justifying the N500 million dole to
\nSokoto traders was even more of an insult to the sensibilities of the
\nRivers people. It may have been ignore or rather swallowed by the people
\nif not that it was done in the governor\u2019s usual ill manners and
\noutright arrogance.<\/p>\n
Hear the government: \u201cThese unfortunate outbursts have largely been
\nuncharitable, ill-mannered and indeed a very poor and sad reflection of
\nwho we are as Rivers people and our proud national image and recognition
\nas \u2018our brothers keeper\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Rivers People, we have our challenges but that doesn\u2019t mean we
\nhave lost our sense of humanity and this is what Governor Wike
\nepitomises with great equanimity and humility.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter seeing the level of destruction, he was moved with compassion
\nto announce the misconstrued donation. It is therefore with an even
\ngreater sense of deep sadness and disappointment that we read how some
\npeople described the gesture as evidence of financial recklessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do we need to educate the governor that what he did was senseless and at
\nthe same time reckless? You don\u2019t use our common wealth to service
\nyour friendships. It is not right by any reasoning of it especially as
\nthis Sokoto largess is just one too many. _Haba_ bros, think am naa!
\nThis money is not Wike\u2019s own o but the collective wealth of the people
\nof the state just that he is sitting at the helm at this point in time.<\/p>\n
Just as earlier said that all the governors follow the same pathway,
\nWike should reminded that\u00a0 just as Amaechi did Kayode Eso\u2019s Panel
\nagainst Odili and Wike himself instituted the Emereji Court Marshal
\nagainst Amaechi, whoever that\u2019s coming after him may also drag him
\neven to \u2018Ogwugwu Ozuzu\u2019 Panel.<\/p>\n
Governor Wike, no doubt, is a very good guy by my honest assessment but
\nhe needs to be guarded always to prevent him from self-destruct.
\n_Walahi_, bros talks anyhow (by his nature) and this attribute seem to
\nalways erode his genuineness and sincerity in service delivery to his
\npeople. _Abi_ _Oga_ _de _\u2018high\u2019on something before coming out to the
\npublic? God bless Rivers state!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Ifeanyi Izeze The widely reported donation of N500 million to victims of the Sokoto market fire by the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike was nothing out of the norm…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n