In a clear case of pot calling the kettle black, the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticized the state Governor,Nyesom Wike for not inaugurating his cabinet 3 months after assumption of office.
This is in spite of the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC is yet to do the same. Asides the president, no APC Governor in the South West has set up a cabinet,including Rauf Aregbesola of Sun State who was sworn into office in 2014!
Speaking via a statement issued by its State Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, the APC said: “As someone who is focused and with a clear plan for governance, President Muhammadu Buhari shortly after being sworn in as President announced that he would appoint Ministers in September. Despite the curiosity expressed by some Nigerians and following recent appointments by Mr. President, it has become clear to many that President Buhari has clear strategic and tactical plans of what he is set out to do as the President of Nigeria. The same cannot be said of Chief Nyesom Wike.
“As a sign that the governor was not ready to deliver good governance to the people, he constituted a committee to write a blueprint for his government weeks after having been sworn in to office.
“Again, one hundred days after being sworn in to office, Governor Nyesom Wike is unable to name a single project or programme his government will undertake for the people.
“Does he have any explanation that some of these projects were awarded to him in the past and he abandoned them after collecting huge sums? Indeed, does Nyesom Wike tell anyone that most of those projects are being executed by his companies using fronts? In all the scenarios painted, the answer is a big ‘No’.
“The APC is aware of the grand plan by Gov Nyesom Wike not to ever constitute the state cabinet by appointing Commissioners on the excuse that he would prefer the petition over the sham election that brought him to power to be dispensed with first. Knowing full well that he will not survive the tribunal, Governor Wike is determined to govern alone as a sole administrator for the period his government will last with himself as the Commissioner for Works, the due process office and everything else.
“The ultimate objective of the governor is to use the period of his short reign to corner all the Federal allocations due Rivers State to line his pocket. This will be in addition to the numerous high interest bank loans he is garnering from Nigerian banks. At the end of the day, he will have sufficiently lined his pocket while his motley band of acolytes end up with crumbs by the time they will be chased away from Government House Port Harcourt by the tribunal.
“The APC is also aware that, as part of the grand design by the governor, nearly all the functions usually performed by the office of the Secretary to the State Government have been formally moved to the office of the Chief of Staff, Government House, leaving his SSG to superintend over an office that is more or less as dry as Siberia for which he is already frustrated and complaining to confidants.
“From all indications, Governor Wike is focused on providing whatever he can to only 4 LGAs out of the 23 Rivers State has. Let us leave this aspect of our misery story for another day.”
