The Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN says it is shocked to read of what it described as an unnecessary contraceptive by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State, to purge itself of a myriad of financial misappropriations among which may include the N500m intervention fund to each of the state owned Institutions of higher learning Rivpoly, Bori and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt by declaring itself a suspect in an affair it ought not have anything to do with.
The ACN came out with this in a press statement by its Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam reacting to the attempt by the PDP Publicity Secretary to deny a public statement by the Minister of State, for Education, Nyesom Wike while featuring on a live Radio News and Current Affairs Programme on which the ACN predicated its position to demand for the whereabouts of the N1bn fund.
The ACN in its comment, only drew the attention of the public and the relevant authorities to the startling revelation by the Minister who happens to be a son of the soil and could not possibly be speaking to the gallery so that the funds if not received could be recovered as a right and applied to contain the rapidly depreciating infrastructure in these institutions.
Barrister Nyesom Wike had no water in his mouth when he made the statement and has not denied making the statement, neither has any of the affected institutions reacted to the contrary.
The ACN, even in its widest imagination could not have expected the PDP to respond to the observation moreso, when the State government has more vibrant and enlightened personalities as both Information and Communications Commissioner and Chief Press Secretary to the governor respectively, than the so-called PDP Publicity Secretary.
“Not even the Radio Station, Rhythm 93.7 FM on which Nyesom Wike blew the lid off the bottle had complained of any misquotation or representation of their Guest. I still find it difficult to decipher what point Mr George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, a busy-body and political jobber who claims to be the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Rivers State is trying to make.
Could he be trying to hold brief for Nyesom Wike or the affected institutions or does he mistake the two Institutions as the property of the PDP? This, I think is the highest display of ignorance in action.
Sorry, the ruling PDP is to blame for all this, by creating occasions that are dreaded by the varieties of knowledge available and leaving only monsters bred by ignorance to manage them.
The ACN has no time to indulge in idle talks or trading of words but in ensuring that the attention of those entrusted with the resources of the State is drawn to areas of need for the overall interest of the people. We are not playing politics but concerned with good governance”, Jerry Needam insisted.
The ACN reminded his PDP mouthpiece that gone are the days of “let the people be fooled” as a Publicity Management device, advising that though ignorance is a voluntary misfortune the issues the ACN is concerned about are verifiable issues like the parlous state of our roads, inflated contract costs given out on party lines, political affiliation and relationships etc, reckless management of public funds by those in charge of the councils and political aides to the governor in their respective offices, non-payment and reward for hardwork as is the case with pensioners, insecurity of lives and property despite huge sums being spent as security vote, high rate of youth unemployment and frequent rendezvous overseas trips by government officials, the rubber stamp posture of the State House of Assembly and irrelevant legislations, etc.
The ACN maintains that it’s only a person or group of persons bereft of ideas or inundated with mischief that can describe the aforementioned facts as non-issues, people like Mr George Ukwuoma-Nwogba. To such people, it becomes imperative to tell that poverty of the mind and idleness are incompatible.
We are however gladdened by Mr Ukwuoma’s admission and belief that there had been cases in the past where the chief executive could be kept in the dark over certain public funds that ought to be part of his oversight functions.
What we cannot comprehend is what made him think that the minister’s revelation is not or could not be one of such. What investigation did he carry out before his hasty reaction? If the money is recovered will it be paid into the ACN coffers? These are the questions that ought to agitate the minds of curious readers and followers of ACN principle.
The only rational reason deducible from this hasty and uncalculated reaction by the PDP Publicity Secretary is a ploy to cover up and forestall a possible probe. Perhaps, the party knows something about this fraud, the more reason why Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) should not be discouraged by this pre-emptive and hollow reaction to probe deeper into Nyesom Wike’s startling revelation.
As a PDP chieftain in the State and at the federal level, Hon Wike should and definitely knows better and cannot be kidding.
The ACN insists that the N500m intervention fund to each of the two institutions in the State must be accounted for. Nothing less, nothing more.
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