Name one election you’ve won since I ditched you, Wike dares Amaechi
By Omeiza Ajayi
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, has dared his predecessor in Rivers State, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, to name a single election he has won in the state since the two parted ways in 2011.
“Since I left him in 2011, after 2011, mention one election that he has ever won in Rivers State,” Wike said.
He also asked Amaechi to account for the $39 million reportedly paid for the Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte Specialist Hospital and the N68 billion monorail project, both initiated under his administration.
Wike spoke in Ahoada, Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, at an interactive meeting with the Uzugbani Ekpeye National Executive Council and leaders and stakeholders of Ahoada East and Ahoada West Local Government Areas, held at Ekpeye House.
He was reacting to Amaechi’s appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where the former Minister of Transportation criticised the Federal Government’s record of project delivery and challenged the administration to name the major projects it had completed.
Wike turned the challenge back on his predecessor and asked supporters of Amaechi to examine his electoral record.
On the hospital, Wike asked to know what became of the money committed to the project, since the facility was never completed.
A Rivers State judicial commission set up under Wike had investigated the payment of $39.2 million to a contractor for the project and its failure to materialise. He also asked what happened to the monorail, one of the major infrastructure schemes of the Amaechi administration.
Wike dismissed a malaria control project executed with Cuba as a scam.
“Ask him about the fumigation of Rivers State with people from Cuba in which $10 million was spent. Ask him whether mosquitoes have stopped biting us in Rivers State,” he said.
The minister told the gathering that such matters should count when the records of politicians seeking higher office are assessed.
He noted that Amaechi spent eight years each as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, governor and minister.
“Someone was Speaker of the House of Assembly for eight years, Governor for eight years, and Minister for eight years, that is 24 years in top leadership positions. What can anybody point to that he attracted to Ekpeye Land in all those 24 years? Nothing! Not one single thing!” he said.
Wike urged the people of Ahoada East and West to demand evidence of the projects and political empowerment Amaechi allegedly attracted to the area while in public office.
According to him, leadership should be measured not only by the offices a person occupies, but by the people empowered, the projects delivered and the structures left behind.
He contrasted this with his own efforts to empower people and groom political successors, saying leaders should not deliberately stop others from rising.
Wike also criticised what he described as the use of personal and family tragedies for political purposes. He said political disagreements should not degenerate into the exploitation of private grief, particularly matters surrounding the death of family members.
The minister recalled his past relationship with Amaechi and their disagreements, including controversies over appointments and business interests involving federal maritime agencies.
He compared what he described as Amaechi’s approach with the Tinubu administration’s creation of regional development structures and its appointments of people from the South-South.
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