The former Rivers East Senatorial District Senator, Andrew Uchendu has a seven-day ultimatum to Governor Nyesom Wike to retract his statement against him on Africa Independent Television, AIT, or face legal actions.
The Senator in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday denied claims by Wike that he was awarded a contract for the construction of Mgbuitanwo road in Emohua Local Government Area by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, but failed to carry out the contract after collecting funds.
Uchendu denied ever being awarded any contract by the NDDC. He also said he did not collect any money for the said contract.
“The true position is that NDDC has never awarded any contract to me and I collected the money without discharging the contract. This is the height of executive recklessness for someone who is occupying a respected office. If he has been getting away with smearing the image of others then, he has reached his last bus stop with me. I give him seven days to retract his statement against me on electronic and print media or I will refer to my lawyers for further actions”
He, however, urged the general public to discountenance Wike’s statements as they were misleading, reckless and intended to soil his hard-earned reputation.
Uchendu added that Wike’s claims of being his classmate were a contradiction and an indication that he speaks from both sides of his mouth.
He maintained that in his entire educational career, he had never met Wike and wondered how they became classmates.
“It is a pitiable contradiction that the same Governor who called me an 80-year old man a few years ago turned around only last week in Etche to call me a boy, claiming to be my classmate.
“For the records, I was at County Grammar School, Ikwerre/Etche; Hope Waddel Training Institute, Calabar; University of Ibadan and even all through my short programs in Harvard and Oxford, I never met anybody called Wike not to talk of Nyesom Wike. Wike’s claims that he was my classmate is an honour he does not deserve because I know my classmates and they are respectable members of the society” he concluded.
