Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, have renewed their hostility.
Since 2014, the duo have been involved in heated exchanges and once clashed inside a police station in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Although there has been a calm from both camps in recent times, Wike fired the first salvo earlier in the week.
He had said the infrastructural development being carried out by Amaechi’s ministry has political undertone.
The Rivers governor said the current administration is developing the Eastern railway line because of the 2023 elections.
In what could be described as a veiled attack on Wike, Amaechi had said he does not take alcohol before talking.
Wike later responded by accusing the federal government of shielding Amaechi from being prosecuted for corruption.
He alleged that Amaechi sold a property of Rivers for $308 million but only accounted for $208,000.
Mocking the minister, Wike said although Amaechi overrated himself, he taught him a lesson in politics.
When he featured on an ARISE Television programme on Thursday morning, Amaechi was asked to respond to Wike’s allegations but he said: “I don’t think I want to address the issue of the governor, I have made my point, I have moved on. He was my staff, I can’t bring myself low. I was a governor, I was also a speaker, I’m a minister. I was two-term chairman of governors’ forum. The same when I was a speaker. Why should I be discussing about him?”
Amaechi governed Rivers between 2007 and 2015 and Wike was one of his allies.
Wike had served as Amaechi’s chief of staff before he got appointed a minister of state for education.
He fell out with Amaechi in the buildup to the 2015 election.
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