Former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has
assured that all those involved in the brutal killing of
Rivers people on New Year Day will face the wrath of the
law.
Amaechi gave the hint in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of
Rivers State on Saturday, when he paid a condolence visit to
the bereaved families of those killed.
The minister, who wept when addressing the people, said: “The only thing I can assure you is that the perpetrators of this act will be brought to justice. They cannot run away from it. They can’t get away with this. I was at the hospital to see a little boy that was shot, and his father and mother killed. How do you want that little boy to live? How would he cope in life? They must pay for their actions”.
The minister also accused the Governor Nyesom Wike administration in Rivers State of failing to protect the lives of Rivers people.
He spoke in Isiokpo, same day, at a grand reception held in his honour by Ikwerre Youth Movement (IYM).
He said: “The first responsibility of a leader is to keep his subjects alive. The reason the constitution puts every governor on oath, to swear that you will protect lives and property, is because if there are no lives, there will be nobody to lead. If there is anybody on earth that said that I have met
with him as a cultist to take lives, let him come forward.
If there is anybody on earth that will tell you that I have
sat with him in a meeting and we planned to go and kill
people to win election, let the person come forward, and let
me tell you why I will not do such. It is not because I’m
afraid of anybody. It is because I’m afraid of God.”
He said that God would not want those who sponsor killing of Rivers people to get back to power.
Amaechi said: “I doubt that God was happy the day they
killed 23 persons in Omoku. I doubt that God was happy the day they killed people in Omerelu or at Egbeda or at Andoni or at Ogbunabali or wherever”.
He said that as governor, he provided employment and foreign scholarship to youths through the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) but regretted that Wike, on assuming office, failed to continue with his job creation programme and foreign scholarshipscheme.
He appealed to the people to register in the voter registration exercise to vote out the PDP-led government in the state in 2019.
Earlier, the President General of IYM, Sir Azubuike Chikere Nwanjoku, said that the reception was organised to honour the minister, fondly called the Lion of the Niger Delta.
He said that Rivers State should be saved from crime and cultism and appealed to Amaechi to take their plea to President Muhammadu Buhari that they want to live and work in peace in Rivers State.
The senator representing Rivers East
Senatorial District, Senator Andrew Uchendu, in his goodwill
message, said that Amaechi is a man of character and likened
him to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
According to him, the minister had led the people of Ikwerre ethnic nationality since 2000.
He described those whom Amaechi had helped but have now deserted him as traitors.
The representative of Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mrs Loretta Onochie, described Amaechi as the hero of democracy.
She urged the people of Rivers state to support the Federal Government to bring dividends of democracy to all Nigerians.
The reception was attended by chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), IYM leaders from Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Port-Harcourt City and Emohua Local Government Areas and leaders of the APC from Eleme, Tai, Khana and Gokana Local Government Areas of the state as well as women and youths.
