As the Federal Government and some state governors celebrate their one year in office with different activities including the commissioning of landmarks and other projects, the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has rated the state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara zero in its performance in the past 365 days.
This is despite the hundreds of billions of naira the governor recently declared he had spent to commission some landmark projects and the flagging off of many others spanning infrastructure, education, health and agriculture.
Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the APC, Tony Okocha, in a media parley with journalists Tuesday in Port Harcourt rated the governor zero on the scale of 1-10.
The APC Chairman argued that his assessment was based on the fact that the governor was implementing what he described as at best an “illegal budget” as according to him Governor Fubara has no budget approved by the state House of Assembly for the year 2024.
Okocha, who has been very critical of Fubara’s administration and calling for impeachment since March 2024, dared the governor or his handlers to show one project he initiated, supervised, and commissioned since he came into office claiming that all projects commissioned by the governor were initiated by his predecessor, Wike.
He went as far as accusing the governor of plagiarism for not crediting the Minister of FCT, as the initiator of most of the projects he commissioned.
He said; “I want to say to you clearly that the administration of Rivers State under Governor, Siminalayi Fubara is a sham. Taken on a scale of 1-10 he got -0 (Minus zero), in other words, it is apt to say that we have relapsed to the days of primitive administration in our political history.
“There’s nothing to show and I challenge the governor and his handlers to show me just one project that he initiated, commenced and completed in 365 days. The moment I hear and I see that, I will immediately recant, what I mean by recant is that I will withdraw and then publicly, not surreptitiously congratulate the governor.”
When reminded that Fubara initiated and completed the N6.4Bn Elelenwo-Ebubu-Eleme Road, Okocha claimed it was conceived by Wike and that after commissioning by Fubara, the road was washed away by a single rainfall.
He also claimed that all the mega roads amounting to about N501.2Bn, namely the Trans-Kalabari, PH Ring Road, Omoku Egbeda-Elele Road, among others, were all started by Wike saying “so Fubara has no right to claim them as his projects”.
He, however, admitted that there was nothing wrong in continuing or completing inherited projects, so long as the governor would give credit to the previous administration for the ones it initiated.
The APC Caretaker Committee Chairman also dared Governor Fubara to go ahead with his threat to probe the administration of the former Governor Nyesom Wike even as he reminded him that as an integral part of that administration as the then accountant-general ‘that he who goes to equity must go with clean hands’.
He opined that no public office holder should think he would not face a probe after office telling the governor to be ready to first drop his immunity before starting a probe because if Wike mentioned him as a witness, the law might not allow him to appear because of the immunity clause.
He laughed off the probe talk saying Fubara was yet to vacate the court order that had prevented state governors and former governors of the state from being probed.
He also said it was obvious Fubara was targeting Wike as he said Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi targeted his predecessor (Peter Odili) while Wike targeted Amaechi.
Okocha also took time to address a recent report claiming that he had fallen out with his political ally and Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike describing it as a lie from the pit of hell.
He declared; “I make bold to categorically, unequivocally, say that what I just read as a government that emanated from the pit of hell and it puerile, it’s arrant nonsense and it’s fake.
“I could not have congratulated a government that is in ICU not as Tony Okocha, worse case as chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC, Rivers State. And by that very fact, the leader of the opposition political parties and the leader or the voice of the voiceless in Rivers State. I couldn’t have done that even at the point I was going to breathe my last. I couldn’t have done so.
“So this document should be thrown to the thrash can and in fact, as a concoction of purveyors of wickedness whose is an attempt to malign my name by showing me off as one who speaks from both sides of my mouth. That is not my character trait. So I just dismiss that document as useless.”
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