Governor Nyesom Wike on Monday said he was apathetic to establishment of more Rivers State owned universities because of the enormous challenge of adequately funding such institutions to effectively meet set development objects. Wike at the flag off of Emohua Campus of the Rivers State University (RSU) in Emohua Local Government Area said he was rather concerned about committing more funds to state’s existing varsities so they can offer needed holistic grooming for requisite man power for the country. However, a dissenting voice, Enefaa Georgewill of Rivers State Civil Society Organisation (RIVSCO) accused Wike of “expressing hypocrisy” in his disposition on ground that RSU multi campuses the state has embarked on under Wike amounted to building more varsities in disguise. Wike had stated,...
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has threatened to shut down the Bonny-Bille-Nembe Jetty in Port Harcourt which conveys travelers to various riverine communities in the state if cases of criminality or physical violence in the area continued. The governor said the zeal to provide an enabling environment for sea travelers and boost the marine economy of the state spurred his administration to remodel the once dilapidated jetty first built in the 1950s. Wike stated this at the commissioning of the remodeled Bonny-Bille-Nembe Jetty by the Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal on Saturday. The governor in a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri Wike, said he decided to remodel the once filthy and disused jetty because he firmly believes that the people of the state deserve t...
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has threatened to shut down churches if they fail to comply with the COVID-19 guidelines. Wike made this known during the thanksgiving service in celebration of the 90th birthday of Priscilla Mark, held at St. Martin’s Anglican Church, Omagwa in Ikwerre local government area of the state. He lamented the refusal of residents to use face masks, especially in churches and markets. “When you go to most churches, they don’t wear masks. Go to markets, they don’t wear masks. They believe COVID-19 is not real. It’s not real because it has not happened to you. Nobody has died whom you know that is very close to you. But if somebody has died and the person was close to you, you’ll know that COVID-19 is real,” he said. “I want to appeal to all of you that we have to...
Chris Finebone, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, claims he has uncovered plans by a group working in cohort with the Rivers government to use the state judiciary to destabilize the party. Finebone, a former spokesperson for the party in Rivers made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday. He alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers chapter of PDP hatched the plot to destabilize the APC nationwide by making available Rivers State courts to enemies of the party (within and from outside the State) to file all manner of cases against it with a view to destabilizing the party as politics of 2023 approaches. Finebone further claimed that he learned from sources he did not disclose that the decision to use Rivers Courts was hatched at the highest level of government directl...
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Saturday, warned Governor Nyesom Wike over the arrest of two of his members in Rivers State. Kanu warned both Wike and the Nigerian Army that nothing should happen to the two IPOB members. He issued the warning over the arrest of two IPOB members, Sandy Kufre and Akpan Magen in Oyigbo area of Rivers State. In a tweet, the separatist leader called on Wike and the Nigerian Army to release his members. According to Kanu, the two IPOB members were arrested for wearing ‘Kippah and Magen’. He wrote: “Army came to our Synagogue in #Obigbo and picked Sandy Kufre and Akpan Reuben when they saw them wearing Kippah and Magen – This SOS came from someone at the scene. “Well, let me warn @GovWike and @HQNigerianArmy that no harm must come...
Two alleged kingpins of proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) have been arrested by security operatives in connection with recent violence that left four policemen and six soldiers killed in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State. Governor Nyesom Wike disclosed this Tuesday when Rotary District 9141 Governor, Mrs Virginia Major led a delegation of Rotarians on a visit to Wike at the Government House, Port Harcourt. The Governor told the Rotatians, “If we did not take the steps we took by imposing curfew in Oyigbo, it would have been the Hausa and Igbo that will have been fighting and nobody knows what level it would have taken today. “I will not support criminality. I won’t because the soldiers don’t like me, then you go and kill them. And then, I will come out and clap, tha...
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the Chairman of the PDP National Campaign Council for the Edo Governorship election has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make sure the collation of the election is monitored and go well just like the election itself. Governor Wike who commended the commission and the security agencies during a press briefing on Saturday evening added that though they have done when during the voting, they must complete their jobs to the end. “We don’t expect the election to be 100 % perfect and there was no report of violence so far but I’m still worried. “So I’m calling on the INEC to move straight to the coalition Centre which is the critical aspect of this election before I can actually say INEC has done well or not. “We do not want a...
Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, has called on Governor Nyesom Wike to handover former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Joy Nunieh, to him. On Thursday, July 17, 2020, Governor Wike stopped police operatives from arresting Nunieh from her residence. The governor, who argued that the police had no arrest warrant, thereafter took Nunieh under protective custody in Government House, Port Harcourt. However, while addressing journalists at his office on Friday, July 18, 2020, in Port Harcourt, Mukan asked Wike to handover Nunieh to him, saying the former NDDC MD was under investigation. He said the police officers from the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit had been endorsed the Rivers State Police Command before going to Nunieh’s residence to arrest he...
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has expressed his desire for all Southsouth states to be under the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He spoke ahead of the September governorship election in Edo State where Governor Godwin Obaseki of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) got the PDP ticket. The Rivers State governor, who spoke on Arise TV, explained that as a loyal party man, he would want his party to win in Edo State. He said the PDP was happy to have resolved the disagreement that ensued in Edo State before last week’s governorship primary. “Sometimes there can be disagreements, but the ability to reconcile everybody is important. Particularly, as an opposition party, it is healthy to have division. There is no need to make people think that you don’t want them. I to...