The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Paulinus Nsirim, has berated a former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Dr Dakuku Peterside, for attacking Governor Nyesom Wike, for evicting 100,000 waterside settlers in Port Harcourt.
Recall that Wike last week ejected residents of over 10 waterfront settlements in Port Harcourt over alleged criminality.
Peterside, had in a statement on Monday, said the decision to sack the poor and vulnerable Rivers residents from their waterfront homes was ‘wicked, evil and inhuman.’
However, Nsirim, in a statement on Tuesday, said the state government was amazed by the “mischief, illogical and unsubstantiated attention-seeking allegations” from Peterside.
The statement read, “Dakuku’s latest bellyaching over the determined effort of the Rivers State Government to sanitize the waterfronts by removing all shanties and most especially, continue with its frontal and hugely successful war to rid the state of criminals and undesirable elements who have transformed these waterfronts into a den of thieves, flies in the face of rational analysis, especially by one who sees himself as a leadership expert.
“Dakuku Peterside will not feign ignorance of the fact that the demolition of waterfronts to rid Rivers State of criminals did not start with Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration. We are even at a loss to fathom how Dakuku Peterside could so quickly have forgotten that his APC government not only demolished Abonnema Water front, but also Njemanze, Elechi Beach and Nanka waterfronts.
“Of course, nobody accused the then governor of plans to convert those waterfronts to personal use, so why is Dakuku Peterside now speaking from both sides of his mouth? This hypocrisy by Dakuku and his ilk is simply getting too much.”
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