A supporters’ group for Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, the Inter-Ethnic Network For Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (INCRA), has said Rivers State residents do not have any reason to celebrate yesterday’s Democracy Day because of Governor Nyesom Wike’s alleged non-impressive performance in the last two years.
INCRA felicitated with Nigerians, especially those it called non-sycophantic Rivers residents, on the celebration of 18 years of unbroken democracy, after the transition from military to a civilian government on May 29, 1999.
The pan-Rivers group has interest, progress and development of the state at heart, according to a member of its Interim Management Team, Achor Omodu.
In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, INCRA said it was displeased by the state of affairs in Rivers.
But Wike, while addressing stakeholders yesterday at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt, as part of activities markng Rivers at 50 and Democracy Day, urged the residents to ignore the destructive criticisms by opposition politicians.
The governor said he remained committed and focused to transform Rivers, adding that he would continue to spread development across the 23 local government areas.
INCRA said: “It is regrettable that apart from the fact that Democracy Day serves to remind us of our liberation from the stranglehold of decades of military junta, Rivers people do not seem to have enough reasons to celebrate.
“We (Rivers people) have continued to witness a sharp deviation from what governance truly entails. There is a noticeable departure from the set standards of governance in the history of Rivers State and an increasing level of misdirection and mis-governance.
“Two years in the saddle, the Wike-led government has failed to produce any development blueprint. The state is run without a budget or what can accurately pass for a ‘phantom budget’. There has been a rapid rise in insecurity.
“Two years down the road, our state-of-the-art educational and health facilities are now experiencing decadence, occasioned by deliberate abandonment by the present government, mainly for political reason.”
“It is sickening to note that there is no presence of any form of constituency project anywhere in Rivers State, executed by the members of the House of Assembly, of which Wike is the 33rd member.”