The Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Engr. Emeka Woke has declared that there was no meeting in the Rivers State Government House to kill anybody.
Engr. Emeka Woke, who was speaking on Saturday at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area during the grand finale of the state-wide Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, Permanent Voter’s Card, PVC, collection sensitisation rally
He described the allegation by Senator Lee Maeba, In the Punch newspaper on Saturday, that a meeting was held at the Government House, Port Harcourt to clampdown on him and others as false.
The Chief of Staff further stated that there is no plan to clampdown or eliminate any person in the State as, according to him, such character is not in the DNA of the present administration.
He urged those who are not popular and vast in grassroot politics, to leave it for those who know the game, rather than making frivolous claims.
“On my way here, I read from Punch newspaper, one man that is unable to come home, called Ledogo, saying he will not come home again to campaign for PDP presidential candidate. He said the reason that he will not come was because I held a meeting in Government House that anytime he comes to Rivers State, he should be killed.
“My brothers, such thing did not happen and it will not happen. Any person that cannot come to Rivers State should look for a better excuse and not killing excuse.”
Woke further added: “This government, we don’t kill anybody. We have never and will never kill anybody. Please if you don’t have strength, tell your people that you don’t have strength.”
The Chief of Staff also took a swipe at the former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who hails from Opobo for claiming the governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike’s administration has done nothing for the council.
He wondered why Dakuku, who served as a Commissioner for Works under the Chibuike Amaechi’s administration and never made any effort to advance work on the Opobo axis of the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Unity Road, from the point the administration of Dr. Peter Odili stopped work, would turn around to lie against a governor who provided road for the people of Opobo.
“Before he became commissioner, the former governor of the State, Dr. Peter Odili, had initiated this laudable project, the Unity Road to run from Ogoni, Andoni and Opobo and then he stopped in 2007.
“From October 2007, when your son became Commissioner for Works until May, 2011, four good years, he did not add one meter to the road.”
“The same man said Wike did not do anything for Opobo people. Yes, let us agree, because the lawyers will say, assuming though not conceding that Wike did not do anything. From that time in 1999 when he started politics until Wike became governor, Dakuku was not able to drive a car to Opobo. Even if Wike has not done anything, the road he gave to Opobo is it not something.”
He noted that all Dakuku said during a gathering of few APC members in Opobo last week, was his usual tantrum against governor Wike, in order to gain relevance in the political space.
“If you adopt one strategy to achieve something and it doesn’t work, the proper thing to do is to change strategy. Dakuku needs to change his strategy, since they no longer work”, he summed.
In his remarks, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, lauded members of GDI for sensitising Rivers people in the 23 Local Government Areas, on the need to collect their PVC, which is their power to elect the rightful leadership during the 2023 general elections.
Fubara, who hails from Opobo, said he is confident that his kinsmen will overwhelmingly support his governorship ambition.
The event was graced by dignitaries across the state, including the Chairman of Rivers PDP, and Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Ambassador Desmond Akawor and his Executive Council, Chairmen of LGAs, members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, members of the State Executive Council, Special Advisers to the State governor as well as members of the GDI, led by its President-General, Mr. Bright Amaewhule, amongst others.
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