INTERVIEW; RIVERS STATE SPEAKER SPITS FIRE!

The political turmoil in Rivers State took a different dimension, as the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi pulled out with his supporters from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to join All Progressives Congress, APC.

The Hon. Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, spoke to some journalists about the political situation in Rivers State and some national salient issues.

Excerpts:

In your opinion, what necessitated the defection of the Governor to another party?

Nobody drove him away; he became power drunk, obsessed by the little money he had seen and decided to dance naked in the market square. So we have no other alternative, but to make the party unbearable for his maladministration, foul language usage and mannerisms.

We all know that Amaechi has been a mole in our midst before now; cross carpeting is good for democracy, especially only if the opposition is constructive and has an alternative idea. Amaechi’s exit from PDP has been long overdue; he had insulted elder statesmen of the party in Rivers, even at the national level, including his mentors who brought him to politics, believing that he would be given a plum job by the bunch of strange bed fellows whose only interest is to grab power at all costs for their bellies.

Show me one progressive in their midst?  Show me one progressive in Nigeria? They are all crying foul because the present administration of Goodluck Jonathan is not only focused but determined to change the destiny of Nigerians through various reconstructions within the economic spheres of our nation.

I am saddened and pained when people refer to Amaechi glowingly with regard to the development of Rivers State. Amaechi right from day one has not meant well for the Rivers people; he had harmed the people, starting from demolition of the waterfronts, to people’s houses and shops, and yet he is consistently buying the press over and feeding the public with propaganda. Can you call his actions achievements? Or is it the monorail you can call an achievement when it has no economic value to state?

With every sense of duty, Amaechi had done more harm than good! Rivers PDP was one of the strongest in the South-South before he became governor. But look at what he had succeeded in doing to the party that took him to a place he never imagined in his life-time. He has failed the people, polarized the people across ethnic, religious and geographic boundary lines, but we are ready to re-build the party to where it was before. His exit is a good riddance to bad rubbish.

Now that the governor had gone, how can you rate the party?

We are very strong at the grassroots and with leaders like the former governor of the state, Sir Peter Odili, elders, senior party faithful, stakeholders and the present Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, the party is right back to recovering its lost glory. We are more than focused, united in our common goal and objectives and ready to face any splinter group, whose sole and only purpose is to castigate every policy and plan of government, including throwing stones at or name calling the President.

Amaechi and his ilk are so lucky that he is the most educated, forthright, God fearing and good natured person, Nigeria has ever had as a president. If not, by now all these rogues, criminals in government stealing the people’s wealth, would have been rotting in jail. Could they have tried this during the OBJ’s days?

Their only ideology is their stomach and the ‘I and my family’ slogan. None of them is a nationalist in approach, not to talk of ideals. Nigerians know them very well. They are no alternative to the PDP led government but a bandwagon of people who have pauperized their people for their own benefit and self-aggrandizement in their various leadership positions.

The governor said recently that the PDP has failed the nation. What is your opinion?

How has the PDP failed the nation? When people like them go about funding different groups to disrupt development and change the focus of government. We thank God that in spite of all their plans the government is focused and on the path to recovery from the security challenges which are not only peculiar to Nigeria but across the world. The present government is just two years in power and has done a lot for Nigerians in terms of agriculture, power, education, economy, among others. And if not because of the flurry of their planned and systematic distractions, by now the Jonathan administration will have taken Nigeria to Eldorado. But all is not lost, as the administration is daily working on some national issues to see how Nigeria can be better compared to what we inherited.

The governor insinuated that the Federal Government had never given him free hand to govern the state, how true is this assertion?

 I had said this before that the President has a lot to cope with at the national level and will not bog himself with small issues of Rivers State. Instead of blaming himself for not being able to govern a state successfully, he goes about looking for people to hang his ineptitude on. All the stories emanating from Rivers today, if the governor was mature, forthright and steadfast, the problems should have been all resolved by now. But because he does not have leadership qualities, he is busy governing Rivers on the pages of newspapers, and on television, and throwing stones at the President for his personal failures. Up till today, has the President said a word or replied to him? The answer is well known to all Nigerians.

Amaechi is the cause of all the problems confronting Rivers State; nobody has held him down, but he has held himself down due to his nonchalant attitude and disrespect for superior authorities, and his vituperations against the elders of the party both at state and national levels. Looking at the body language of Amaechi, do you think he is mature? The answer is capital NO! He does not have what it takes to be a leader. He had been weighed in the scale of governance and found wanting. He cannot give what he does not have.

The bomb blast at the courts was instigated by you according to the governor.

For Christ’s sake, I am still the Speaker of the House, and as a noble man from a good background. You do not expect me to behave in an uncivilized manner like Amaechi. I will never do such a thing, not to talk of contemplating doing it or sending people at my level to do it. It takes a minute to destroy but years to rebuild or build anything that is tangible, so how can I decide to bomb the court, my last hope, which is the conscience of the common man? The people should ask the governor because he is the Chief Security Officer of the state. He is the person orchestrating all you are seeing in Rivers State just to elicit sympathy and public support, all in a bid to achieve his selfish ambition and to satisfy his paymasters.

I want to say this for all to hear: how many governors do you see fighting with their Police Commissioners, and shouting everyday on the pages of papers? There must be definitely something wrong with Amaechi, that people should pause and take a second look at! You cannot see a single respected elder in the state behind him or supporting him because he is fighting a lost battle and cannot be trusted. Look at how my other colleagues hurriedly passed and assented to the budget behind closed doors. It was a sad day indeed for democracy; it is very unfortunate and undemocratic. The governor is treading on a path very alien to the state and I say it with all sense of purpose that he shall surely crash.

Knowing full well, what I intend to do next, they went bombing the court. On the day of the bombing, I was supposed to have been heard at the court. Then how can I stop myself from getting victory or how will I plan against myself? So it was Amaechi and co that bombed the courts to disallow me from getting a fair hearing and justice in my case.

Look, let me tell you – all the drama going on in Rivers State including the bombing, the melodrama acted by the Senator, about tear-gas or not, and everything you see today, is being orchestrated by Amaechi, all in a bid to paint the President in a bad light. The police in Rivers State do not use rubber bullets and I thank God you heard it from the Commissioner of Police himself. Magnus Abe is just acting a script written by the APC because he is being promised a governorship slot, all to drag the good name of the present administration into the mud. But they will certainly fail because the truth cannot be hidden for long.

Can you comment more on the passing of the budget in an office in Government House?

What a rape of democracy, trying to get legitimacy for fleecing the state funds, the budget approved by the house is null, void and illegal! You cannot pass a budget without the Speaker on seat. I am still the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly; Nigerians can attest to that and the fact that it was conducted in a Kangaroo office in Government House shows you the desperation of Amaechi to fleece the people’s wealth at all costs. So whosoever has financial dealings with Amaechi as regards the budget is doing so at his/her own risk. The endorsement is a private arrangement and a grand gangsterism by Amaechi and his rubber stamp loyalists, who do not mean well for the people. Where have you seen that brazen act by any governor or President endorsing a budget outside the hallowed chambers of the State Assembly or National Assembly and without the presence of the Speaker? It is unacceptable, unlawful and inconsistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is ultra-vires, null and void and cannot be acceptable to Nigerians.

Where in the world have you ever seen a governor presenting a budget in his residence or office? It then means the President of a country can as well present a budget in the Presidential Villa. You can see people condemning it from far and wide and prominent lawyers and persons across the country have castigated the illegal approval in its entirety. But you can see how silent APC has become as regards this shameful act. Lai Mohammed and others known for always shouting nunc dimitis and crying foul, are now shamelessly silent. But because it concerns them, they have all kept quiet so as to continue to rip off Rivers people.

We will not accept it and whatever money that is spent out of this illegal budget will be returned by Amaechi and his co-travellers. You can see the mass exodus of commissioners from his cabinet. It shows that he is leading them to nowhere. The will of the people will prevail over Amaechi’s maladministration in Rivers State and he will be made to account for every kobo he spends in Rivers State.

Mark my word. We have decided to challenge him in the court of law. Amaechi has failed the people who elected him to power. He has exhibited his real melancholy to the people and he can do anything and everything to corner the funds meant for development of the state to his personal use and for cronies in APC.