Governor of Rivers State , Chief Nyesom Wike, said on Sunday that the
insecurity in the state was inherited from the previous administration.
Wike stated that the killings and kidnappings in Rivers started during the administration of former governor Rotimi Amaechi.
The
governor made the comments during the thanksgiving service at Saint
Andrew’s Anglican Church in Okrika to commemorate the rescue of Patience
Tam-George, the octogenarian mother of the Commissioner of Information,
Dr. Austin Tam-George, who was held hostage for six days by kidnappers.
But
the All Progressives Congress in the state disagreed with the position
of the governor, insisting that Rivers was safe under Amaechi’s watch as
governor.
Represented by the Secretary to the state
government, Mr. Kenneth Kobani, the governor said, “We are happy that
our mother, Ma Patience Tam-George, did not die in the hand of the
kidnappers. The issue of security challenges we are facing was
inherited, it is not from us. That is why the governor has encouraged
the security agencies to fight crime.
“The governor has
zero tolerance for crime. The Amnesty programme, which is also one of
the approaches, is to give the cults a second chance.”
Wike
called on clerics to tell the youths to shun violence, even as he
enjoined the people of the state to support the efforts of the state
government in the fight against crime.
Reacting, the
state Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Chris
Finebone, described as preposterous the statement credited to the state
government that kidnapping and killings were inherited from the
immediate past administration.
Finebone said contrary to the position of the state government, Amaechi fought crime to a standstill during as a governor.
He
said, “That is the most preposterous story to tell. Anybody who lived
in Rivers State when Amaechi was governor agreed that Amaechi gave his
all to fight insecurity in the state.
“It is possible
that Kenneth Kobani (representative of the governor), who had gone on
self-exile, did not come down to Rivers to experience the quiet and safe
Rivers State then.
“He (Kobani) never lived in Rivers during the time Amaechi was governor. So, he spoke from the angle of lack of experience.”
Source: PUNCH.
