Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Prince Chibudom Nwuche has assured the people of Rivers State that patriotic and eminent stakeholders in the state will never abandon its political and economic fortunes in the hands of “misguided malcontents and corrupt charlatans.”
Hon. Nwuche, who was reacting to a statement credited to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, wondered why Governor Amaechi considered the launch of a book fair an appropriate platform to indulge in his well-worn tirades of falsehood and blackmail against prominent Rivers sons.
Amaechi had described his critics as lazy people who have failed in their careers and looking for means to get into the government house, with the sole aim of looting the treasury.
Amaechi had at the opening ceremony of the Port Harcourt Book Festival, advised Nwuche to stop playing politics of calumny for the good of Rivers State.
“There is a political crisis in Rivers State. What is the political crisis about? people who have retired from politics and those that are about to retire, they have failed. They are saying, if we don’t grab power, hunger will set-in. And I said, you are all graduates with degrees. If you don’t have a chamber to practice your law, tell us to open one for you so you can win cases for Rivers State,” he said.
Continuing, Amaechi stated that “Chibudum Nwuche is a lawyer. Why is he not practicing law and tell us what case he has won? Chibudum Nwuche is from a rich background; go and build on your father’s wealth.”
“Rivers people need to rise and say to themselves, no more god-fatherism. Let the Governor rule and make his decisions. Instead, you have had people who have served as Deputy Speakers, those who have served in one office or the other but they have refused to go.
“I will tell them how much they have stolen and let them show me the one I have stolen; we will start it from there,” he added.
Reacting to the comments, Nwuche in a statement sent to DailyPost, said that he would not have dignified the Governor’s vituperations with a response, but for the need to forestall the tendency of people believing the comments of the governor.
The former lawmaker maintained that unlike Governor Amaechi who was “nothing” before he joined politics, he has always been a thriving entrepreneur, insisting that politics is a sacrifice for the nation. He stressed that the Governor can not, on account of his poor background, despise those who out of no fault of theirs have a name to protect.
Nwuche urged Rivers people and Nigerians not be distressed over Amaechi’s penchant to denigrate prominent Rivers sons or resort to cheap blackmail whenever he is called to order in his unholy enterprise of diverting Rivers State government resources to his ill-conceived misadventure to undermine President Goodluck Jonathan and scuttle the collective will of the South-South people for equity and justice, of which Amaechi is a major beneficiary.
Speaking further, Nwuche noted that for a change, Governor Amaechi was honest enough to acknowledge that he successfully went through reputable academic institutions with degrees in Politics, Philosophy, History and Astronomy as well as Bachelors and Masters degree in Law, unlike some persons whmo he said were expelled from school and eventually managed to graduate with an ordinary pass degree in English.
He said he was amazed to hear Governor Amaechi go on to acknowledge his rich background in one breathe and in another breathe accused him of not building on the wealth and not practicing law, “even when he is fully aware that I have a very successful law practice with offices in Lagos and Abuja and that I have also been very active in the oil and gas business as a major player in the mid and up stream sectors of the oil industry since 1991, unlike him, we do not blow our trumpet and are not loud.”
“As a matter of fact, before the advent of the present democratic dispensation when I was already a key player in the oil and gas sector, Governor Amaechi was living from hand to mouth at the mercy of friends, and had his modest belongings stowed in the boot of peoples’ cars. By his own admission, Amaechi has never tried his hands at any private enterprise, and has always been a parasitic charge on the state. If he has suddenly become so wealthy that he now derides others,then he must explain the source of such wealth.
“He knows that I do not lack for much having visited me in Abuja and my home town, Ochigba. Rivers people know my pedigree and also know that of Governor Amaechi – who is now one of the richest governors in Nigeria. He knows that during my tenure at the National Assembly, I brought pride and respect to Rivers State.
“He knows that ten years after serving this country as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, I have never been invited by any of the anti-corruption agencies for questioning on my conduct while in office. I hope Governor Amaechi will not be a permanent guest of the anti-graft agencies when he leaves office in view of his newly found stupendous wealth and jet set lifestyle , thanks to Rivers State funds.
“Governor Amaechi’s elementary understanding of politics reduces it to the art of sharing and misappropriting state resources, hence his penchant of accusing others of attempting to do what he is already steeped in. This propelled his failed scheme to retire all his superiors from governance and institute a regime where the one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind.”
Nwuche pointed out that while many Nigerians from all over the country hold him in high esteem as a result of his dignified conduct and stellar performance in public office, Governor Amaechi chooses to be envious and hostile towards distinguished Rivers citizens while worshiping persons from outside the State who are, to all intents and purposes, inferior to them.
Hon. Nwuche, who revealed that the sole architect of the crisis in Rivers State is none other than Governor Rotimi Amaechi, said: “the Governor’s penchant for stoking crisis and lampooning prominent Rivers sons and daughters is legendary and is a distractive attempt to hoodwink and deceive the unwary from the real issues of the massive looting of Rivers State under his watch.”
“The real issues are the questions he must inevitably answer concerning the deployment of the over N3 trillion he has received as statutory allocations in the past six years.
“Also to be accounted for are State owned investments and ventures such as the Olympia Hotel, Risonpalm, Abonema waterside, Supabod stores, Catering Rest House, the fleet of aircraft left by former Governor Peter Odili’s administration and so many other assets that were procured for public good but have now been sold off in a manner that was not so transparent, to cronies or diverted to private use.
“Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital city is today a glorified village lacking in water, light,roads and other infrastructure, and yet the Governor fritters away the State funds in sponsoring clandestine political junkets and acquiring private jets and other luxury items.
“It is indeed very difficult to judiciously justify honest utilization of these accruals with only a few over publicised school buildings and health centers. Is that all he has been able to achieve in six years? As I have said at several fora, Rivers people demand an account”, he averred.
“How can a man who openly admits to not having engaged in any meaningful employment prior to politics explain his sudden and stupendous wealth held in trust by known cronies.No wonder, the lack of capacity to govern,and the conversion of statecraft to village style wrestling and quarrelsomeness.
He said notwithstanding the Governor’s show of bravado and loquaciousness, people are very much aware that it is a gimmick to portray himself as a political victim with a view to seeking asylum outside the country after his disastrous tenure in office. He however, assured the people of the State that the long arms of the law will surely catch up with their traducers wherever they go.
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