Buhari’s govt responsible for religious intolerance, ethnic division – Wike

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike said the next president of the coun­try will spend his tenure fixing the ethnic, religious and socio-economic problems created by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government.

The governor noted that since the APC administration assumed office in 2015, religious intolerance and ethnic division have deepened. And worst still, is the politicisation of security.

He stated this during the offi­cial presentation of letter of nom­ination to him for the ‘2020 Extra Ordinary Personality of the Year Award’ by the management of Sil­verbird Group at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Wednes­day.

Governor Wike said despite the glaring insecurity, religious and ethnic division in the country, the officials of the Federal Govern­ment have continued to live in deni­al that Nigeria is now more united and secure than ever.

The Rivers State governor main­tained that whoever becomes pres­ident in 2023 will spend his entire reign trying to resolve the various socio-economic and ethnic crisis caused by the present administration.

Governor Wike while ex­pressing his appreciation, noted that it was disturbing that the Nigeri­an media has failed in its responsibility to hold the present administration accountable for failure to provide much desired good governance.

“The problem in Nigeria which I have always said is that the press, the media is part of our headache. The media have lost their voice. I remember when Good­luck Jonathan was the president, it was as if the media wanted to pull down the whole of Nigeria.”

Speaking on the issue of insecurity, the gover­nor attributed the seem­ing inability of the mili­tary to end insurgency in the North East and other parts of the country to the involvement of sacked service chiefs, particular­ly former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Bu­ratai, in politics.

“You were witnesses to how under Buratai, the army was exposed to pol­itics, which have never happened in the history of this country. Army be­gan to carry ballot boxes. I have never seen that. Be­fore we used to talk about police, now it’s no longer the police.

“Professionalism is no longer there and that is why it is difficult to fight insecurity. Instead of them to concentrate and map out strategy, what they are in­terested is Rivers State. Who will we send there to make sure the election is rigged. The former Chief of Army Staff will even call INEC to cancel Rivers State election because of his interest. I have never seen this kind of thing in my life.”

The governor said it was regrettable that the former Chief of Army Staff failed to condemn his personnel who invaded INEC office in Port Harcourt a day after the Rivers State gov­ernorship election in 2019 in an attempt to subvert the wishes of the people, instead, he chose to shield them from prosecution.