PDP vs APC: Wike, Peterside in hot exchange
Dr. Dakuku Peterside and Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike have resumed their verbal war.
Peterside, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), had on December 31 last year, accused Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of poor performance.
Reacting, Wike through his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, on Wednesday, described Peterside as a bruised houseboy.
Nwakaudu said: “If not for the senseless nature of the APC brand of politics, the 2015 defeated Rivers State APC governorship candidate would have taken wine to Governor Wike for connecting his Opobo Kingdom to the rest of Rivers State via the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo-Nkoro Unity Road.
“Instead, Dakuku Peterside resumed his forgotten cries of gubernatorial deprivation, just to please his Oga, the failed Minister for Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
“Peterside played a major role in the total failure of his Oga, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. As Works Commissioner, Peterside had no visible achievement anywhere in Rivers State. He could not even complete the road to his hometown.
“Even at NIMASA, Peterside has failed to deliver. Instead, funds have been diverted and the House of Representatives has indicted him for mass fraud in the parastatal. Peterside has not attracted any form of development to Rivers State since he was compensated by President Muhammadu Buhari for joining Amaechi to betray the entire Southsouth by using Rivers funds to finance the APC national campaign.”
Firing back on Thursday, Peterside, lambasted Wike and his spokeaman, Nwakaudu.
A statement by his media team, said: “If Nwakaudu is close to average in his intellect and thought process, he would have known that not even his master, Wike, has the credentials to question the depth, intelligence, posture and being of Dr. Peterside, who is a symbol of integrity and performance in public service. As at today, Dr. Peterside speaks for Africa, as far as maritime activities are concerned.
“In his latest ranting, Nwakaudu chose to focus on statements made by Dr. Peterside during his birthday celebration, where he spoke truth to Wike to rise above being petty, visionless, deceitful and work towards a peaceful and prosperous Rivers State.
“Dr. Peterside spoke the minds of Rivers people, including high-ranking members of Wike’s government, who are visibly tired of an administration that is owing pensioners for the past three years, not promoted a single civil servant since 2015, that has abandoned Rivers students abroad, that awards contracts against all known procurement laws of the state, that has some of the highest unemployment figures in the country, among others. Wike, he said, represents everything but transparency and accountability.
“It is on record that no commissioner in Wike’s government knows the value of any project under their respective ministries, just as no one has seen the state’s budget since 2016. Contracts are awarded by the fiat of the governor, an action that has stalled many initiatives and rendered cabinet members as mere appendages. The Rivers governor has absolutely no programme to address job creation in the state. These were the issues for which Wike had no response and he cannot have a response.”
Peterside also stated that a proof of Wike’s rejection by PDP members in Rivers State and beyond was the abysmal failure of his preferred presidential aspirant, Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto State, during the party’s convention in his backyard (Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt).