Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, took a swipe at the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) for failing in defending the rule of law in the country.
Making particular reference to the disqualification of Governor Godwin Obaseki by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Wike described the NGF as a toothless bulldog.
He lampooned the governors’ forum for consistently not speaking out against the abuse of the nation’s constitution, such that governors had become beggars.
According to Wike, the governors’ forum has been captured and has lost its voice on national issues.
Wike stated this on Monday at a media parley held at Government House, Port Harcourt.
He lamented wanton impunity by the APC-led government such as withdrawal of his security aides as governor of Rivers State, and the use of force and security agencies to sway elections in its favour.
According to Wike, the APC was out to unleash terror on Edo people in the forthcoming election as it did on Rivers State during the 2019 rescheduled election.
He bemoaned the disqualification of Obaseki from pursuing his re-election bid on the platform of the APC as epochal, unimaginable and the height of impunity.
Wike further lamented that the disqualification was a stain on his integrity of Obaseki.
“Before 2015, the Governors Forum used to be very powerful as symbols of their respective states but APC killed it because they were protecting the interest of the ruling party.
“During one of the rerun elections in this state, my security aides were withdrawn thus exposing me to danger, the Forum did not say anything because the chairman was a member of APC.
“I told them then that what they were doing was wrong. Now, they have become a Beggars Forum even when there are constitutional infractions.
“You can see that APC governors say that they are progressive. You can see how progressive they are when they keep quiet when a fellow sitting governor is disqualified from contesting elections.
“Practice what you preach. The APC governors, up till now, cannot come out to say, we can’t take this. It is not that you disqualified an aspirant, he is a sitting governor. His integrity has come to question. Tell me any party in this world that will disqualify a sitting governor.
“There is this impunity that APC has, like the way they unleashed terror on Rivers people in 2019, they will also unleash that terror on Edo people in September using security agencies.
“If that impunity is not there, there is no way any right-thinking person will ever contemplate or implement the disqualification of a sitting governor. If not, what they actually believe that they are in control of government.
“They can say, we have the army; we have the police; we have INEC; so, we can disqualify him and then unleash terror using the soldiers, police, arrest every PDP person and then ask INEC to announce the result and nothing will happen.
“They tried it in Rivers State, but God gave us the will to say no. I hope Edo people will also say no to their impunity.
“Adams Oshiomhole campaigned for Governor Obaseki four years ago. The same man has turned around to say that Obaseki has a defective certificate.
“Has Oshiomhole apologised to Nigerians that he supported someone with a defective certificate? Who is saying that a sitting governor has a defective certificate? Is it a man that does not have a certificate?
“Oshiomhole should be told to practice what he preaches. APC wants to perpetrate impunity in Edo State the way they unleashed terror in Rivers State in 2019.
Speaking on Governor Obaseki’s speculated defection to PDP, Governor Wike said though he will glad to receive him, there was no guarantee of an automatic ticket.
He noted that Edo people had a role in deciding the fate of Obaseki.
The governor debunked insinuations made by the State Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr Obelebra Adebiyi about the state’s response towards COVID-19, asserting that the state government had given the Ministry of Health all that it required to fight the pandemic.
The governor stated that the increasing number of COVID-19 cases were as a result of more tests conducted on persons.
“Obelebra, who is in charge of the state treatment centre, cannot politicise the fight by creating unnecessary panic to score cheap political points,” Wike said.
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