SpicyTricks

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State has raised the alarm that Governor Nyesom Wike has launched what it described as an official policy of nepotism. The party which said it had warned Rivers people about the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate during the campaigns leading to the last general election, lashed at Wike for appointing a direct cousin and brother-in-law into top government jobs. APC has condemned the appointments, saying they manifest nepotism.

APC, in its reaction to the appointments, in a statement on Sunday by Chris Finebone, State Publicity Secretary, noted that Wike, in his first major appointments since being sworn in as governor of Rivers State, “is living up to his threat to give choice positions to his family members”.

The party further recalled that a couple of days ago, Gov. Wike announced the appointment of a Sole Administrator and Board for the Greater Port Harcourt Development Authority which was created by Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers State, after sacking the former board. “In constituting the board, Chief Wike appointed his immediate cousin, Surveyor Okas Wike of Emma Wike & Partners, a direct cousin of Governor Wike to the board of the GPHDA”, APC noted. Continuing, APC said, “Not done, governor Wike also appointed his direct in-law, the immediate direct younger brother to Dr. Obuzor, his father in-law, Architect Nnamdi Obuzor, to same board of merely 8 members.

APC added, “While Rivers people may be aghast at the unbridled display of contempt for the people of Rivers State and their sensibilities, the APC is sad that exactly what it warned Rivers people about is now playing out in the open.

“We recall with sadness that Chief Wike has defied all decency to appoint his direct cousin, Okas Wike whom he and Dr. Tammy Wenike Danagogo used to siphon a lot of money during the waterfront compensation and demolition issue in Port Harcourt at the last dispensation.

“The APC is still of the conviction that more of such nepotistic tendency by Nyesom Wike will unfold in the days to come until he is swept away by the slow but sure wheel of justice by the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Abuja.

“It is of note to recall that when a few voices questioned the appointment by Nyesom Wike, who is Ikwerre, of Justice Daisy Okocha, another Ikwerre, and Barr. Emma Aguma, an Ikwerre too, as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the response of the governor was that he would give more positions to his people(the Ikwerre), after all, no one from other parts of the state contributed to his quest for governorship of Rivers State”.

While saying it was not surprising that Gov. Wike had so far preferred the Ikwerre for lucrative jobs, APC expressed shock that Wike regards persons from the riverine and other parts of Rivers State as fit as hewers of wood and drawers of water.

In continuing, APC observed that “what is unfolding clearly shows that the governorship of Rivers State is way beyond and above the mediocre personage of Nyesom Wike”.