Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike says it is hypocritical for the All Progressives Congress to contemplate banning or regulating social media after using it to hoodwink Nigerians to attain power.
He argued that the APC-led government has miserably failed and wants to use its disagreement with Twitter as a false premise to suppress criticism of the administration’s appalling handling of the affairs of the nation through the dubious regulation of social media.
The governor, who made this assertion during the inauguration of nine reconstructed streets, including Nzimiro, Herbert Macaulay, Amassoma, Arochukwu, Atako, Ogoja, Akure, Yola and Chinwo in Old Government Residential Area of Port Harcourt on Thursday night.
The Governor in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri on Friday morning noted that APC, having become the butt of jokes on social networks, is desperate to trample on the freedom of expression of Nigerians.
“You have misled the country. You told us lies through social media. The same social media that you used to take over government, the same social media you want to regulate and ban. The same social media you used to tell Nigerians lies of how former President Goodluck Jonathan did not do this, how PDP did not do that.
“Now, you want the same social media to be regulated. You don’t want freedom of speech. Now, you want to gag them. Did anybody gag you when you were using them?”
Governor Wike said the kidnap of scores of students at Federal Government Girls College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State on Thursday, is a further demonstration of APC’s gross ineptitude to guarantee the safety of lives and property of Nigerians.
According to him, Nigerians are anxious for the APC to quit power and allow the more experienced PDP to once again restore stability in the polity and dignity of the nation.
“You wake every morning to hear 20 people have been kidnapped; 30 people have been kidnapped and people are telling us to keep quiet. Is it when they have kidnapped your own daughter?”
Wike also took a swipe at the presidency for berating PDP governors who demanded transparency and accountability in the way the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is managed, and that the APC-led government should be alive to its constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property.
“In Kebbi, 40 to 50 girls have been kidnapped, our young daughters. And then you are telling me we (PDP) have not proffered solution. Which solution are you talking about? The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is the president that appoints all the security heads in this country.
“No governor has the power or any role to appoint even a Commissioner of Police. And then you are telling me that we have not proffered any solution. What solution do you want us to proffer? When you have taken your oath of office that you are going to guarantee the lives and property of Nigerians.”
Governor Wike noted that even the President, Major General Muhammad Buhari (retd.), during his recent television interview, disclosed to Nigerians that he has nothing left to offer the country in terms of good governance.
“The president spoke to us the other day and Nigerians were happy the way he spoke to them, he told them the truth. And the truth is that whether you like it or not, I have nothing again to offer and that was the truth. And people must agree to that.
The governor said his administration has deliberately embarked on a massive urban renewal drive aimed at restoring the Garden City status of Port Harcourt.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Senator Walid Jubril, who inaugurated the nine streets, commended Governor Wike for transforming Port Harcourt, such that even the blind can attest to it.
Jubril said the entire board of trustees of the PDP was proud of Governor Wike’s steadfast commitment to the party, adding that PDP stalwarts across the country, are impressed with the governor’s remarkable achievements and leadership.
“Anybody from this state who is trying to go astray, I am not with him. I am with the people of this state and I will remain with you (Wike),” Jubril stated.
