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Wike attacks Amaechi over state burial for Graham-Douglas

By Ann Godwin, Port Harcourt
13 September 2022   |   3:48 am
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said the state government stayed away from the burial activities of former Aviation Minister, the late Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas...

Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said the state government stayed away from the burial activities of former Aviation Minister, the late Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, because it was politicised and he (Wike) did not want to be associated with trivialities.

While condemning the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, for allegedly criticising him for not giving state burial to the late statesman, Wike described Amaechi as a total failure.

The governor claimed that Amaechi was unable to attract meaningful projects to the state in seven years as a minister. Wike spoke during the inauguration of the reconstructed Riv-Bank Insurance building in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

The governor, in a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, stressed that a man (Amaechi),who failed to attract projects to his state and has exhibited poor leadership within his depleted party , should hide his face in shame and stop talking about Rivers politics.

“We have taken all your people. Nobody is in your party again. Why not manage and stay quiet because of your poor leadership.

“Tell Rivers State people, as Minister of Transportation, what did you do for your people? Seven good years, all you were interested in was doing business with CCECC, doing standard guage and the other gauge until now, we have not seen anyone in Port Harcourt.”

Wike boasted that while he was a junior minister, he attracted the Faculty of Law to the University of Port Harcourt, established Oil and Gas Polytechnic in Bonny and made grants available to Kenule Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic in Bori and Ignatius Ajuru University, while renovating secondary schools in Rivers State.

He said: “Let me use this opportunity to say that I am very disappointed that the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, will still come to the state to talk about this government not giving the late Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas a state burial.

“I asked him, when Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas was sick, where were you? This state government committed so much amount of money to make sure Chief Alabo survived.”

He claimed that Amaechi refused to honour Graham-Douglas while he was alive by declining to grant his request for the elevation of Abonnema traditional stool to first class and construction of Abonnema ring road.

Commenting on the Riv-Bank Insurance building project, Wike appealed to Mr. Herbert Wigwe, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank PLC to consider buying the seven-storey office complex and use it as the regional headquarters of his firm. He also called on other investors to consider investing in the property.

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