Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Prince Chibudom Nwuche has assured the people of Rivers State that patriotic and eminent stakeholders in the state will never abandon the political and economic fortunes of the state in the hands of misguided malcontents and corrupt charlatans.
Hon. Nwuche, who was reacting to statements credited to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State in a recent publication in an online newspaper – Daily Post, wondered why Governor Amaechi considered the launch of a book fair an appropriate platform to indulge in his well-worn tirades of falsehood and blackmail against prominent Rivers sons.
Noting that ordinarily he would not have dignified the Governor’s vituperations with a response, but for his fears that the man may have lost it, as well as the need to forestall the tendency of people believing a tale so often told, he maintained that unlike Governor Amaechi who was nothing before politics, he has always been a thriving entrepreneur, insisting that politics is a sacrifice for the nation. He stressed that the Governor can not, on account of his lack of background, despise those who out of no fault of theirs have a name to protect. He said Rivers people and indeed Nigerians should not be too distressed over Governor Amaechi’s nauseating penchant to denigrate prominent Rivers sons or resort to cheap blackmail whenever he is called to order in his unholy enterprise of diverting Rivers State government resources to his ill-conceived misadventure to undermine President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and scuttle the collective will of the South-South people for equity and justice of which Amaechi is a major beneficiary.
The former lawmaker noted that for a change, Governor Amaechi was honest enough to acknowledge that he successfully went through reputable academic institutions with degrees in Politics, Philosophy, History and Astronomy as well as Bachelors and Masters degree in Law, unlike some persons who were sadly expelled from school as a result of one misdemeanor or the other, and eventually managed to leave university with an ordinary pass degree in English. This may explain the desperate attempt to appear intellectual by organising book shows and hobnobbing with intellectuals, noting that one does not become learned simply by mixing with the learned.
He said he was amazed to hear Governor Amaechi go on to acknowledge his rich background in one breathe and in another breathe accuse him of not building on the wealth and not practicing law, “even when he is fully aware that I have a very successful law practice with offices in Lagos and Abuja and that I have also been very active in the oil and gas business as a major player in the mid and up stream sectors of the oil industry since 1991, but unlike him we do not blow our trumpet and are not loud.
“As a matter of fact, before the advent of the present democratic dispensation when I was already a key player in the oil and gas sector, Governor Amaechi was living from hand to mouth at the mercy of friends, and had his modest belongings stowed in the boot of peoples’ cars. By his own admission, Amaechi has never tried his hands at any private enterprise, and has always been a parasitic charge on the state. If he has suddenly become so wealthy that he now derides others,then he must explain his source of such wealth.
“He knows that I do not lack for much having visited me in Abuja and my home town Ochigba. Rivers people know my pedigree and also know that of Governor Amaechi – who is now one of the richest governors in Nigeria. He knows that during my tenure at the National Assembly I brought pride and respect to Rivers State.
“He knows that ten years after serving this country as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, I have never been invited by any of the anti-corruption agencies for questioning on my conduct while in office. I hope Governor Amaechi will not be a permanent guest of the anti-graft agencies when he leaves office in view of his newly found stupendous wealth and jet set lifestyle , thanks to Rivers State funds”, he declared.
Governor Amaechi,s elementary understanding of politics reduces it to the art of sharing and misappropriting state resources,hence his penchant of accusing others of attempting to do what he is already steeped in.This propelled his failed scheme to retire all his superiors from governance and institute a regime where the one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind.
He pointed out that while many Nigerians from all over the country hold him in very high esteem as a result of his dignified conduct and stellar performance in public office, Governor Amaechi instead of being proud of the achievements of fellow prominent Rivers men, chooses instead to be envious and hostile towards such persons while worshipping persons from outside the State who are, to all intents and purposes, inferior to them.
Hon. Nwuche, who revealed that the sole architect of the crisis in Rivers State is none other than Governor Rotimi Amaechi, said: “the Governor’s penchant for stoking crisis and lampooning prominent Rivers sons and daughters is legendary and is a distractive attempt to hoodwink and deceive the unwary from the real issues of the massive looting of Rivers State under his watch.
“The real issues are the questions he must inevitably answer concerning the deployment of the over N3 trillion he has received as statutory allocations in the past six years.
“Also to be accounted for are State owned investments and ventures such as the Olympia Hotel, Risonpalm, Abonema waterside, Supabod stores, Catering Rest House, the fleet of aircraft left by former Governor Peter Odili’s administration and so many other assets that were procured for public good but have now been sold off in a manner that was not so transparent, to cronies or diverted to private use. “Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital city is today a glorified village lacking in water, light,roads and other infrastructure, and yet the Governor fritters away the State funds in sponsoring clandestine political junkets and acquiring private jets and other luxury items.
“It is indeed very difficult to judiciously justify honest utilization of these accruals with only a few over publicised school buildings and health centers. Is that all he has been able to achieve in six years? As I have said at several fora, Rivers people demand an account”, he averred.
“How can a man who openly admits to not having engaged in any meaningful employment prior to politics explain his sudden and stupendous wealth held in trust by known cronies.No wonder the lack of capacity to govern,and the conversion of statecraft to village style wrestling and quarrelsomeness.
Hon. Nwuche said he sincerely wished Governor Amaechi would devote more time and energy to delivering good governance in Rivers State and not to persist in his futile political adventure with strange bed fellows and co-travelers to undermine the administration of his brother – the President, as well as impugn the integrity of prominent persons from Rivers State.
He said notwithstanding the Governor’s show of bravado and loquaciousness, people are very much aware that it is a gimmick to portray himself as a political victim with a view to seeking asylum outside the country after his disastrous tenure in office. He however, assured the people of the State that the long arms of the law will surely catch up with their traducers wherever they go.
