Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has criticised the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, over his recent comment that the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress in 2023 has been zoned to the riverine areas of the state.
Wike said Rivers State was not Amaechi’s property as no one, not even him as incumbent governor, had the power to determine who becomes a governor in Rivers.
The governor spoke this at the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party local government campaign rally in Bori, the headquarters of the Khana Local Government Area of the state on Saturday.
“I don’t want to talk about politics of who is from here, who is not from here. At the appropriate time, the Peoples Democratic Party will sit; the leaders will seat and look at everything together and then take a decision. Not one man, even me as a governor, can say this is where I will zone (governorship). You cannot say that. It is not your father’s property,” the governor said while making a reference to the minister’s comment.
He added, “Nobody should panic. Somebody said he was going to give governorship (ticket) to the kalabari. Now, it is no longer kalabari. It is now in the riverine area. People play wayo (trick) games every day and every day. You say one thing yesterday. You don’t know what you said; you said another thing today. Does it make sense? People should be known for being consistent.
Wike also accused the APC-led Federal Government of not keeping its promises to Nigerians, despite the country’s increasing unemployment rate in Africa.
He added, “One thing in life and that is what I want to remind the candidates, you have to be careful of the promises you make. You have to fulfil the promises you make. Time has come that we cannot listen to empty promises like what the ruling party is doing today. When they came in 2015, they told us the naira and the dollar will be equal – One naira to one dollar.”