Wike, Peterside disagree on APC ticket

Wike during a thanksgiving on Sunday alleged all the verbal attacks against him by Peterside was to convince Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi to give him the governorship ticket.

He said despite the criticisms, Amaechi did not only deny him the governorship ticket but also refused to give him a second term at NIMASA.

Wike said: “And somebody, who cannot even get the ticket of his party, whom I defeated since 2015, he thinks if he abuses me they will give him ticket but they didn’t give him.

“Now you have abused me and your master refused to give you the ticket. Your master refused to give you a second term at NIMASA.

“Now they have promised to make him a Minister. Who will be president and give you Minister? I will be the President of Nigeria, so I can’t make you Minister”.

But in a swift reaction, Peterside explained his criticisms of Wike over the years were neither driven by personal ambition nor pecuniary comfort.

Peterside, who said his criticisms were borne out of his love for Rivers, described Wike as a colossal failure whose only legacy was unbridled tyranny.

He said: “Maybe Wike expected that I kept silent while he shamelessly and brazenly raped Rivers State that our founding fathers laboured to achieve, some with their blood?

“Or, he expected me to have remained silent, or hailed him as he continued his unbridled and unexplainable greed exhibited in his continual, forceful seizure of developed and undeveloped public and private property which he converted into personal use?

“Or, Wike thought that he had conquered Rivers State and reduced her citizens to zombies and mannequins that nobody would raise their head to ask him appropriate questions on accountability?”

Peterside continued: ” He said that I have been criticizing him for the past seven years so I can get APC governorship ticket. Nothing can be more run-off at the mouth than this statement.

“Proud to say I am a patriotic stakeholder who cannot fold my hands and watch Wike’s maladministration and corruption in the past seven years. His incoherent and uncouth statement in the church shows clearly his poor upbringing and that he was under the influence of alcohol, as always.

“I have consistently and constructively engaged Wike in the past seven years not for any personal ambition but strictly for what he represents – gross incompetence, corruption, greed and lack of vision.

“All through my history of political involvement, I have never been driven by personal ambition. I have lived above board and laboured for the people. Maybe Wike wants me to keep quiet for his making Port Harcourt the dirtiest city in Nigeria; making Rivers people personification of poverty; visiting untold hardship on our pensioners or abandoning education.”

Peterside, who added that posterity would rate Wike Rivers’ worst governor, said he would continue to admonish him until the expiration of his tenure in 2023.

He said: “If Wike thought that his guttersnipes and tantrums against me would debar my informed and topical reviews and criticisms of his failed administration, he better goes to hire more lecterns and turn every day in the week a Sunday because I shall not stop unless he turns from his draconian style of governance.”

He asked the Governor to pay pensioners their legitimate entitlements, show practical commitment to the development of education and healthcare; resume the payment of bursary to Rivers’ students as well as revive and fund the State Scholarship Board

He said until Wike allowed open democratic society where his opponents were not framed, gagged, and slammed with frivolous charges, he would not relent in bringing him before the torchlight of good conscience.

He said: “Let Wike put his ears down. He will hear how Rivers people are ashamed of having him since 2015 as their governor. Let him put his ears down and he would hear how no sensible Rivers native takes his word for anything.

“Wike should stop chasing shadows and see if he can use the ten months left to redeem
whatever is left of his battered image. One assurance I can give Wike is that his days are numbered and Rivers people cannot wait to see the end of this nightmare”.