Wike (left) Amaechi (right)

Okafor Ofiebor /Port Harcourt

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the Governor Nyesom Wike led administration in Rivers of killing all institutions established to generate employment  for the people of the state.

Amaechi who was a former governor of Rivers said the killing of the institutions which he established while he was in power has led to high level of insecurity in the State .

Amaechi spoke on Sunday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Secretariat at Aba Road, Port Harcourt while officially welcoming some top members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who decamped to the APC.

He added that lack of job opportunities, inadequate security Intelligence, insensitivity to the plight of the people, among others, were responsible for the high rate of criminality in the state.

He claimed that during his administration as governor, he deployed a full arsenal of security operatives on criminals and chased them away, adding that he never locked any Police Station or slept in the army barracks.

“I created employment opportunities. I brought contractors and paid them so that they could pay the people. I established Songhai Farm, Banana Farm, Buguma Fish Farm. I employed over 13,000 teachers. But today all those things have been destroyed, he said.

The former Rivers Governor said he also made the Rivers electorate understand that they were his employer while he was their servant.

He charged the people to know that they are superior to political leaders because they elect them, warning that the moment they lose sight of this, political leaders would take them for a ride.

The transport minister congratulated the decampees for deciding to join the APC.

Some of the decampees include former Commissioner for Urban development and town planning, Dr.Reason Onyia; former PDP chieftain in Akuku Toru, Austin Bob-Manuel, Charles Nwaorgu, Worlu Joshua, Miebaka Nabiebu, Alaye Eremie, Asitoa Charles Horsfall, Emma Ajikeru, Ebelogu Chinasa Sampson, Newton Gordon Kpasa, Peter Bob, Bethel Chigozie Ernest, Nkechi Anyike, Lawrence Thompson, among others.

However, in a swift reaction, Governor  Wike said that it is disingenuous for the Minister to attribute insecurity in the state to unemployment.

In a press Statement signed by Kelvin Ebiri, his Special Assistant (Media) to Wike asked: “Is unemployment fuelling insecurity in Kaduna, Plateau , Borno, Yobe, Ondo, Ebony, Imo, Niger States governed by the All Progressives Congress (APC)?”

He said if the Minister, who is the immediate past governor of the state has any modicum of sincerity, he will attest to the fact that security is the sole responsibility of the federal government.

“Is he (Amaechi) trying to indict his boss, President Muhammad Buhari, who is the Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and who is constitutionally saddle with the responsibility to provide security for Nigerians.

“It is a well-known fact that Amaechi is the one who appoints every Commissioner of Police that has been posted to Rivers State since 2015. So, if there is any security failure, he is to blame.”

Governor Wike described the Minister comment as “misguided utterance” on the current imposition of curfew in the State, following the recent attacks on Police formations, as rather unfortunate.

“Perhaps, the Minister is happy that members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are killing innocent Policemen , who were protecting lives and property. Is Amaechi happy that the weapons of these slain security personnel were  carted away by the hoodlums? Amaechi, from all indication has lost focus and is now frustrated.”

Governor Wike declared that his administration has offered scholarship to over 500 Rivers State students to study medicine and other related courses at the PAMO University.

Governor Wike also reacted to allegation by the Minister that he is acquiring property in the State. He stated that it is better to acquire property in Nigeria than to do so in Ghana.

Governor Wike said Amaechi jubilation over the defection of his former Commissioner of  Urban and Rural Planning, Dr Reason Onya, who was indicted by a judicial Commission of inquiry, is a pointer that he is politically irrelevant in Rivers State.

The governor further urged the Minister to return to Abuja and resolve the financial malfeasance rocking federal agencies under his watch, and desist from destroying the homes of others.