Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has criticised his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday, September 12, describing the former Minister of Transportation as a “total failure” who no longer has access to Aso Villa in Abuja.
Wike made this assertion during the commissioning of a remodelled former RivBank Building in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
“This should be the last time that you (Amaechi) will talk about this state…You are a total failure as far as this state is concerned. A total failure. Even what is supposed to come to us, you blocked it but we didn’t bother.
“You think you will not finish as a Minister. You have left. I hear he can’t even enter Villa now. All those periods you intimidated police people and Army people are over. You use to tell them, ‘The President is angry with you’. Now, go and tell them,” Wike said.
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Wike and Amaechi have been at odds for many years while they vie for control of the state’s political landscape.
Amaechi was Rivers’s governor from 2007 to 2015. He was Minister of Transportation for seven cumulative years. This was until mid-May 2022 when he resigned to pursue his presidential ambition. However, he lost to ex-governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.
On the other hand, Wike, who has been governor since May 2015, is a staunch member of the Peoples Democratic Party. He also contested his party’s presidential primary but lost to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from Adamawa State.
Amaechi had on Saturday took a swipe at Wike at the funeral of a traditional ruler, Alabo Graham-Douglas, in the Akuku Toru Local Government Area of the state.
The former minister had knocked Wike, who was absent at the funeral, saying he thought the state government would take responsibility for everything concerning the Kalabari chief and recognise him.
However, Wike on Monday, replied Amaechi, saying he chose to stay away from the burial because it was politicised.
The governor went on to detail how he constructed the roads leading to the residence and palace of the traditional ruler when he was alive.
