PDP, APC in verbal war, intrigues as Osinbajo visits Rivers again

 

Why was the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, in Port Harcourt on a one-day visit? Governor Nyesom Wike and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supporters said he came to commission road projects executed by the state government. The All Progressives Congress (APC) lords said no, it was rather to commission the largest urea plant in the world built by Indorama-Eleme Petrochemicals Limited.

Intrigues and ‘politricks’ took it from there. The first time the Ag President visited the state was on the consultation trips across the oil region to save the drifting economic mainstay, oil. In Port Harcourt, it took a dirty turn as the Ag President was allegedly hijacked by the state government in the Brick House for PDP loyalists. The APC said they and their leaders such as Minister of Transportation (former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and senator, Magnus Abe) were crowded out. They had to stage another consultation forum the next day to give ‘alternative voice’ to the people of the state.

Now, to commission the fertilizer plant, another round of intrigues erupted, right from the PH International Airport. It seemed to be a matter of two visits in one. Governor Wike was said to have prepared a posh car to take the Ag President but a chopper was whining too, ready for same august visitor.

 

The Governor had prepared for road commissioning right away and other commissioning events later but the Ag President was flown straight to Indorama-Eleme for the fertilizer plant, and other matters later. So, at Indorama, Wike claimed the day, saying it was happening during his time, but the Indorama MD agreed but added thanks to Amaechi, under whose tenure the plant was built. Also, applause was partisan, depending on whose name was mentioned for praise by speakers.

Some APC media gurus claimed the day too, saying the PDP Federal Government under Goodluck Jonathan refused to attend the much expected ground breaking ceremony until the N600billion ($1.5billion) project was completed and is being commissioned by an APC FG. The likes of Chris Finebone and Eze Chukwuemeka Eze pointed to failure to start Ogoni clean up by the PDP FG, stalling of NLNG Train 7, failure to push PIB through, etc as evidence of economic strangulation of the Niger Delta.

On the other hand, the PDP in the state has accused the APC of what the Government House media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu, termed politics of underdevelopment, saying blocking the Ag President from commissioning some projects was bad politics. The state government however, said the FG has endorsed Wike as ‘Mr. Projects’ due to the numerous projects lined up for commissioning. The political logic is that if APC FG commissions projects executed by Wike, the state’s APC would have no moral right to keep drumming that Wike was not working.

Nwakauda wrote a day after the visit: “If anyone was in doubt about the threat that Governor Nyesom Ezenwo  Wike poses to the evil that raped Rivers State blind for eight years, such doubts were cleared after the visit of the Acting President.  The actions of the Rivers APC days to the visit of the Acting President unmasked their desperation for mischief and anti-development politics.

“The defeated Rivers APC slipped into its worst mood, desperately churning out mischief. They wrote to the Acting President pleading with him not to visit the state on the invitation of Governor Wike. This is a paragraph of the Rivers APC letter to the Acting President: “The reference to the governor as ‘Mr. Project’ jokingly made by the Ag. President the last time he was in the state is still being used by Gov. Wike to continue to ridicule and insult APC and its members in Rivers State to this day. We cannot encourage him with further materials to continue his anti-APC propaganda against us”.

Fineface, the APC publicity secretary, said in a statement: “We deplore the tantrum being thrown at the APC by the governor, alleging that leaders of our party put pressure on the Acting President to decline commissioning his market and motor park projects. The governor should understand that no President in Nigeria goes about commissioning local government projects such as markets and garages. The Acting President, pressed for time, managed to commission the only two road projects that appeared to be of some significance – the Chokocho-Igbo-Etche- Rumuokurushi Road and Chokocho-Umuechem-Ozuzu Road.

“Ordinarily, we expect Gov. Wike to show appreciation that the Acting President squeezed in the commissioning of those two projects into his very tight schedule and not accuse the Ag President and APC of playing politics. If anyone played politics over the visit, it was Gov. Nyesom Wike. We urge him to take the advice of the Acting President that public office holders should pay more attention to governance than playing politics. The governor should have cleared the projects he wanted commissioned with the office of the Acting President prior to commencing his media propaganda instead he put the cart before the horse. Instead of taking the blame for mismanaging the process and deliberately lying to the people, he resorted to blaming the APC. Gov Wike should own up that his attempt to continue fooling the people crashed in his face this time around.

“In the beginning, Gov. Nyesom Wike and PDP told Rivers people that the Acting President was visiting Rivers State to commission his projects. They never mentioned the fertilizer plant at Eleme. On the other hand, APC told Rivers people that the major assignment the Acting President was coming to perform in Rivers State was the commissioning of the ultra-modern world-class fertilizer plant built by Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited. With the visit having come and gone, we believe that Rivers people now know who tells them the truth.”

 

Ignatius Chukwu