The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has said that the credibility and integrity of the Zamfara State governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle is now at stake following his defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wike said the preoccupation of any governor who means well for his State ought to be the delivery of dividends of democracy to the citizenry and not to join the APC that has failed Nigerians.
The governor stated this during the inauguration of reconstructed Rumuigbo, Chief Johnson Amadi, Igbodo, Finima, Rumuopareli, Bauchi, Ohia and Isaac Boro streets in Old Government Residential Area of Port Harcourt on Tuesday night.
He said, “People must have respect for themselves. There are things I cannot do for the sake of my children. In 2019, Matawalle said I will never leave PDP.
“I will never disappoint PDP. If I disappoint PDP, I will never have peace in my life. Today, what has happened? Is everything politics? It is not true. Everything cannot be politics. Your credibility, your integrity is important in life. I will never betray my people.”
He added that it is rather unfortunate that those who laid the foundation for cultism in Nigerian universities have gradually found their way into the country’s political sphere.
“Who are those who laid the foundation of cultism in Nigeria? It is those who went to University. Dakuku Peterside was a cultist at Rivers State University. Dakuku Peterside was stripped naked in Rivers State University. I have never been a cultist from the University of Port Harcourt to Rivers State University and to Law School. How can a cultist tell me what is good.”
Governor Wike stressed that it was because of the cluelessness and lack of focus of the immediate past administration in the State, in which Peterside served as Commissioner for Works, that projects like Abonnema Ring Round awarded by Governor Peter Odili, Rumuolumeni-Rumuepirikon road, Woji road among others were abandoned. But, he has since completed these projects in the interest of the State.
The governor described the former NIMASA DG as a political neophyte because PDP has won all the elections in his Opobo Local Government Area since 2015.
Governor Wike maintained that curfew imposed in the State in the wake of attacks on security formation will only be relaxed when he receives a security brief from the State Security Council.
“I will not lift the curfew until the security people tell me it is time to call off the curfew. Only criminals complain against the curfew. I prefer to protect life and property.
