*Condemns attack on campaign ground, tells Opobo-Nkoro to vote competence over clan
Immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has condemned unwarranted attack on the campaign grounds of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Opobo/Nkoro local government area.
He has also described Governor Nyesom Wike as a man “lacking courage, tact, reason and finesse.”
Peterside, an illustrious son of Opobo, who expressed deep reservations over the incident, accused the local government chairman, Enyiada Cookey-Gam, of introducing violence into an area that has been insulated from political violence since 1999.
According to him, “it is a shame that the local government chairman will go the extent of attacking his fellow Opobo people because of politics, something that has never happened in our political history. This is a new low for a chairman who has largely been incompetent and a stooge to an equally incompetent governorship candidate.
“Opobo people have been known for political tolerance, diplomacy, exposure and decency but the chairman, acting on the instruction of his gods, has now joined the home of our forebears to the list of flashpoints in Rivers State; this is reckless, irresponsible and disgraceful to say the least.”
The 2015 governorship candidate of APC in Rivers State counseled the people of Opobo and Nkoro to choose only a competent “surgeon to perform surgery, competent pilot to fly plane and competent architect to draw houses,” rather than choosing a clan’s man who lacks the requisite knowledge to perform any tactical duty.
Said he: “We cannot choose our clan’s man who is not a doctor to perform surgery or who is not a pilot to fly plane; we cannot go for clan over competence and character. The APC has in Tonye Cole, a competent, graceful, intelligent, capable and read-for-the-job governorship candidate. Our people will vote for the APC from bottom to the top and not amount of intimidation will change that.”
Peterside stated that Nyesom Wike is not a man of courage, as he wants Nigerians to believe.
“Wike avoids difficult conversations, lacks vision and pursues personal interest above people’s interest. I dare Wike to tell the people the presidential candidate he is supporting if he is a man. He had promised his fans that he will unveil his candidate latest January but he lacks courage to take a position,” Dakuku quipped.
He described the governor as a multidimensional failure in governance, whose major accomplishment is investment in media to create false impression to hide his ineptitude in good governance delivery, nepotism and crude politics.
The Opobo/Nkoro APC rally was attended by the party’s governorship candodate, Tonye Cole; his running mate, Innocent Barikor; Rivers South East Senatorial candidate, Ambassador Orji Ngofa; House of Reps candidate for Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency; House of Assembly candidate, Hon Emma Taribo, among other thousands of party faithful.
