… Commissions 5km road in Ogu
By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has warned that nobody can intimidate him or Rivers people.
He made this statement on Friday at Ogu Community in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area where he had gone to flag off a road.
Governor Wike said: “There’s nothing they have not done to us in this State but we have continued to survive. When they come by right, God takes us to the left. When they come to the left, God takes us to the right. So we have survived it.
“This government (the Buhari government) is ending the day my own government is ending. Buhari is leaving 29th of May, 2023; me, I’m leaving 29th of May, 2023. So there’s nothing anybody will tell me, two of us are leaving at the same time.
“How can anybody frighten or intimidate me, a whole Rivers son, that God has protected?”
He charged Rivers people to be proud of who they are, adding that they are not second class citizens.
“So, I want all Rivers people to be firm and carry their shoulders high. We’re not second class citizens in this country. If anybody should make noise in this country, Rivers people should make the noise. We should be the royal people,” Wike said.
He again emphasised that his government is not borrowing money to do projects. Rather, his government, he further noted, had paid all the debts incurred by the immediate past administration.
“For six weeks now, we have been commissioning, flagging off. They’re no longer talking where’s this money coming from? They can’t know. But I can tell you that I’m proud. I’m not indebted to any bank. Rivers State Government is not. Any money they say Rivers State Government is owing must be money borrowed by the former military administration.
“When I came on board, the former administration was indebted. I paid all the money they borrowed from the bank. The money the former administration was owing, I paid all to Zenith Bank. The money they were owing workers for five months, I paid all. The money they were owing pensioners for five months, I paid all,” he said.
Earlier, Special Adviser to Governor Wike & Head, Special Projects Bureau, Alabo George Kelly Dakorinama, said the road was more of a virgin one and had a total length of 5.33 km.
“Where I’m standing now is Chenege 0.350. The total length of the road is 5.33km. The total lake of crane is 5.81km. From Chenege 00 to Chenege 1+350 is inside Ogu Community here and we have two side drains by them. From Chenege 1+360 to Chenege 4+850 is virgin forest and therefore we’re going to have a filling of about 750 mm above ground level after removal of unsuitable materials,” he said.
The member representing Rivers East in the Senate, Thompson Sekibo, applauded Governor Nyesom Wike for his developmental achievements.
Sekibo said: “There is a word we know: ‘impossible’, ‘impossibility’, ‘it can’t work’, ‘it is not possible’, ‘we cannot do it’. Today, as a people of this local government area, we have seen that you have dociled those words. You have put them to shame.
“You have taken a bold step and you have given us this road. Until a man gets something from an impossible situation, he will not know that there are impossible things that can be turned to possible.”
Special Guest of Honour and former governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu, described Governor Nyesom Wike as a proactive politician.
Recalling how Wike demonstrated his proactivity during his time as minister of state for education, Dr Sam Egwu urged the Rivers Governor to maintain the tempo.
Egwu, after his speech, officialy flagged off the road project.
