How I Plan to Make Rivers State Greater in 2018

is not enough so that they take money from the ECA to augment what we have in the federation account? Like I said, inasmuch as I am in support of fighting insurgency, the manner the N1 billion was taken from the ECA leaves much to be desired. My concern is that as important as that is, you know the problem in Ogoniland, the Federal Government has assured us that it is a major project: the people there are hungry and cannot eat because the land and sea have been polluted. I am not even talking about other Niger Delta communities. The Federal Government should show concern. While you want to fight the insurgency, we should also be able to show concern for our people in Ogoniland.

When I read what Senator Ndume was saying I felt so bad. If Ndume was in our position, he would be one of those who would never allow that to happen. I know him: these are people who blow hot and cold because it affects him today. He forgets how he came to power as Senate Leader. When something suits them they defend it. When it does not, they come up with their numbers. Saying that only three governors did not support the ECA fund withdrawal is very insulting. He cannot sit down in his house and begin to insult people simply because he’s a senator. When he mentioned three governors, he was talking about three states. These are people who talk on behalf of their states and he reduced it to mere three governors. That is not fair. If Senator Ndume is from this area, he would fight. Who doesn’t know him? Now that it has affected him, what the government is doing is right. That is not the way to preach peace and unity in the country. Such people, with all due respect to them, cannot help this country.

There are rumours that you are supporting Governo Aminu Tambuwal to be PDP’s presidential candidate in 2019. How true is this?

Supporting him in which party? You see, people just plant stories. Tambuwal, in which party? Is he in PDP? At least somebody has to come to PDP first before you talk about if he has interest and if I am going to support him. Somebody is not in my party and you are talking about me supporting somebody who is a governor of another party. I cannot understand people. If you ask whether we are friends, oh yes, we are friends. I am not the type who will deny friends, I will never do that. But the point is that how do you support a man who is not in your party, who is in another party? The first thing he will do is to leave his party; secondly, he has to say he has interest in that before you talk about supporting him.

Neither of these has happened and you say I am supporting him. As I speak to you, Sule Lamido has the interest to run. Shekarau, I hear is also running. Atiku is also running. They are all doing their consultations. I think this year a lot of things will play out for us to know. But if anybody tells you today that as the governor of Rivers State I am backing somebody, I think that person is not being fair to me. And you know me that if I am supporting somebody, I will not hide it. I don’t play hide and seek. The day I make up my mind that I am supporting Mr. Z, Nigerians will know I am supporting Mr. Z.

What do you think of the N26 per litre being paid as subsidy by the government as revealed by the NNPC GMD?

That again is the character of the government. That is why I say Nigerians cannot continue with this government. You said you have removed subsidy, now the NNPC GMD is coming out to say that government is paying N26 per litre. Who approved it? Was it appropriated by the National Assembly? You see each time they say one thing and later they do a different thing. They have this tendency to believe that Nigerians will forget anything, that they have the tendency to forget; that Nigerians do not have the patience to withstand. That is the irony and why they do what they are doing: because Nigerians are not people that want to shed blood; they are not people that will want to say this cannot happen, we better die; Nigerians are not people who will want to face hunger. But they forget that it is pushing your luck too far. That alone is corruption. If indeed the Federal Government is paying N26 per litre as the subsidy, then that is corruption because you have told Nigerians there is no subsidy. So how did you come in? That is the question they have to tell Nigerians.

Occupy Nigeria was because of removal of subsidy. When President Goodluck Jonathan wanted to remove subsidy, they resisted him. Labour too was involved. That is why I do not respect the leadership of NLC today. Now you have seen the truth of the matter: that they led you because they planned it against the government of Goodluck Jonathan. Now the same people, who were crying at the time, are now calling for the removal of the entire subsidy. So, what kind of system is this? And Nigerians will say nothing and remain at home. Now having removed the subsidy, you said the fuel will come. Yet Nigerians are suffering under the same system.

There was public outrage that after it took two and a half years to appoint people to boards of federal institutions and agencies, the list of appointees included dead individuals. What do you think about that?

That is calamitous! It is terrible. I can’t believe this happening. Obviously, people submitted the names from the states. If they were dead, they ought to have written to inform the Presidency about the death of those persons with a view to substituting them. Yes, Mr. President may not have time to read through all those names but that is the reason he has aides. It is not easy for Mr. President to look at one thousand and more names. But he has aides to be able to identify some of these things. I hear one of the dead persons is from my state. That man died sometime last year. Assuming somebody from the state submitted his name, why not go back to make a substitution. That is how things are done. It is embarrassing to have on appointment nine dead people. How do you explain it?

What are people really criticising? They are working for Rivers State. When I came on board, I said what I have done for judges; whether those who are judges of the state or the federal level, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court or FCT, that you are from Rivers, you will get the same thing that those judges in Rivers State got. Are they not from Rivers State? They are representing the interest of state. The SUVs were given only to aid them in their work and it is not restricted to my party. I heard APC Senator Andrew Uchendu said I am not the one who started it. With all due respect, in the instance, he cited it was not given to every party. It was given even to members of the PDP. So, it was not true. What I did was to tell them not to talk about the party but to talk about the interest of Rivers State in the National Assembly. Now let me ask you: Assuming any of them is sick, can I save his life? Why? These are the kind of things we are talking about – simply because it is a car? Is this a problem? How does it affect development in the state? People always play politics with everything and it is not helping us. The way APC in the state has always done, they will never do this. They will never give to PDP. We have to show maturity in whatever we are doing and that is what we have done here. Have we not bought vehicles for House of Assembly members? What about the police, army, navy, air force and so on. I have built houses for the DSS. So, I cannot buy vehicles for our National Assembly members?

What is your 2018 message?

This year is a year of jubilation. It is a year of rejoicing. We will come out stronger this year than what we did in 2017. And I want to appeal to the Federal Government to help me in fighting the issue of security and not to support people to compromise the security architecture of the state; Rivers State is important to this country. Therefore, the Federal Government has to support me to see that we fight crime decisively. Like they are supporting other states, they should also extend that support to Rivers State. We should not politicise the issue of security. I have supported security agencies in the state. I don’t know any state that can be compared to Rivers in terms of support to security agencies. I want to tell Rivers people to be hopeful that this year, to the glory of God, will be far better than 2017.

You have a partnership agreement with Financial Times of London. Can we talk about that?

We are trying to project Rivers State for investors to know that it is a state that is peaceful and resourceful. Financial Times agreed to partner us. As I speak to you, this year, by the end of this month if I am not mistaken, we will have an investors’ summit to be anchored by Financial Times in London. These are the kind of things we are doing to attract investors to Rivers State. You must have people to project you. Financial Times is read all over the world. I think it is a major breakthrough for us to partner such a leading media organisation to project Rivers State and its investment opportunities. No money is involved.