…. Says governor uses name of the state to borrow loans to service blind ego
… Lists frittering conduits: Borrows N2Bn from CBN, Doles out N0.5Bn the next day
…. Gives half a billion to Sokoto, half a billion to PAMO University, N200m to Benue, (N1.7Bn in all), then uses N300m to handle healthcare
… Offers 500m to Bayelsa, while civil servants are owed several months salaries with our Pensioners dying in droves
Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, calls attention to unbridled donations by Gov Nyesom Wike even donating one quarter of the amount he borrowed same week from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Chief Eze says the riddling anti-people policies and financial recklessness of the Rivers State Government under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Gov. Nyesom Wike constitute a critical threat to the oil-rich state, her economy, and people if not checked.
Reacting to the routine and unsolicited flow of the Governor’s largesse especially his recent N500 million bounty to Bayelsa State, Chief Eze said such donation is grossly wasteful, unnecessary, and ostensibly out of place and contributes substantially to the abysmal failure of the State Government to meet its constitutional responsibilities to Rivers people.
He said he is sure the mindless donation has embarrassed even the benefitting state governor because Diri will not donate such amount of Bayelsa State treasury to another state.
An appraisal of the disturbing trend clearly reveals that funds meant to be conserved and channeled towards programmes that prioritize basic amenities are almost always diverted to trivial areas that matter less to the survival of the people but profit the Governor who now places emphasis on his expensive lobby to secure a safe landing ahead of 2023.
It is disturbing to realize that in about one year, he has donated N2.2Bn thus: N500m to Sokoto State, N500m to PAMO University in 2018 and N500m again in 2021; N500m to Bayelsa State; and N200m to Benue State. These are apart from PDP events he bankrolls, invitation and hosting of the biggest political figures and their entourages for commissioning of projects every year that takes over 60 days with hundreds of millions paid for live television coverage hours un-end.
More to the public concern about Governor Wike’s squander mania is the fact that aside owing pensions in arrears, the state government under his watch is gradually reducing the economic status of Rivers to such that depends solely on federal allocation for survival, having failed to heed the calls for diversified investment, especially when smart Governors of states like Ebonyi, Lagos, Oyo, Akwa-Ibom, Edo and others have taken advantage of the situation and converted the challenges of the time into opportunities for their people.
It is even grossly flustering to the sensibility of Rivers People to learn that the state borrowed N2 billion from CBN a day before the Bayelsa bounty, to fund healthcare and from the borrowed sum, N500 million has been diverted to gift in the pursuit of the selfish private vendetta of Gov. Wike.
On the N2Bn, a government house statement said: “Rivers State Executive Council has received a brief that only N2 billion and not the requested N2.5billion, was eventually released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as its Healthcare Intervention Fund support to the State. The briefing on CBN was one among the wide range of issues and approvals considered and given by the council at its meeting that was presided over by Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike at Government House in Port Harcourt on Thursday evening.”
In a statement made available to media houses in Port Harcourt, Eze said it is shameful to learn that activities that beget financial recklessness are still part of the priorities of the administration of Governor Nyesom Wike, when frugality and financial discipline are supposed to be the order of the day.
Eze recalled that similar unbidden gifts and donations have also been made to Sokoto, Benue, Akwa-Ibom, Pamo-University and others – most of who received N500 million. “In fact, the Governor had to construct a road in Benue State to display the hollowness of his brain” Eze said.
“All of these donations have been going-on yet the Wike administration cannot boast of providing one job for anybody in Rivers State.
While responsible governments borrow to invest in economically viable projects, Rivers people are so unfortunate to have a mentally hollow Governor who borrows to build flyover and make unsolicited donations here and there in a bid to fit himself into the stream of relevance and that is idiocy”.
The party Chief warned that a string of financial misadventures such as the Governor’s unbidden gifts and donations may eventually collapse the economy of the state and called the sleeping State House of Assembly to wake up from its embarrassing slumber and be a bit responsible and responsive to issues of public concern to save the situation.
He pointed at the suspicious motive behind these donations which may look like dumping money to soften grounds for his political campaigns anywhere he felt the need to.
Eze called on Rivers people to prepare to make the necessary changes come 2023 required to secure the future of the state in all aspects.
