50 Homicides In May: Peterside Asks Wike To Reconsider Second Term Oath

Arising from the reported 50 homicides in Rivers State in the first half of May, Nyesom Wike, has been charged to reexamine his capacity and consider whether taking or declining the oath of office for a second term.

Dr Dakuku Peterside, Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, handed down the challenge on Monday, in reaction to the deteriorating security situation in the state. He argued that as a governor, Wike’s primary duty is to secure the lives and property of the people, without which citing infrastructure and any other corollaries of development would amount to zero.

Peterside lamented that gradually, Rivers State was becoming a ghost state and a cemetery where terror runs riot round the clock and people live and move in daily fear of either kidnappers, daredevil armed robbers, or marauding cultists who kill and behead at will.

“Life, in Rivers State, has become a sort of jackpot as residents who wake up in the morning are not sure of living to see another night, just as those who eventually make it to the night are uncertain they would see the next morning. When such residents manage to snatch a morsel of sleep, they wake up amid the horrors of severed heads, decapitated bodies, and trails of blood. To Rivers residents, day and night have both become emblems of terror. In Wike’s Rivers State, people are killed while waiting for, or driving in traffic, on the streets, while watching a game of soccer and at homes. Both the poor and wealthy live in fear of each other.” 

The NIMASA Director General said that the latest figures emerging from the state are both frightening and capable of permanently shutting out Rivers State from the list of potential business destinations for investors, saying in April alone, no fewer than 46 persons were killed across Rivers State.

A Non-Governmental Organization, We the People and Rivers Civil Society Coalition he said, had recorded over 50 homicides in the state.

He advised Wike to learn to separate politics from governance, which he added, is what Rivers State needs right now.

“Wike has shown that the governorship office is bigger than his capacity. His first four years as governor are just enough for the trial-and-error jamboree he subjected the state to. I doubt that Rivers people will have the patience for another four years of circuit dance in the hands of Wike. Since the office is bigger than his capacity, Wike should call for help, and there are Rivers sons and daughters, eager to lend a hand for the growth of the state. Otherwise, Wike should reject taking another Oath of Office on May 29, 2019 which will be an honourable way to save his chequered legacy,” he summed up.

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