By Kote Obe
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has accused the National Assembly of lacking the courage to stand for the people of Nigeria.
The governor, who spoke at the flag-off of the 27.12km Chokocho – Igbodo road in Etche Local Government Area of the state on Monday, said it was unfortunate that despite the desire of the people to have free and fair elections the National Assembly has always compromised to allow the President set aside amendments to the Electoral Act that would have assured transparent elections.
Wike said the reason why Mr. President has refused to assent to the amended Electoral Bill is that he was against the adoption of electronic transmission of results, which would expose the unpopularity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government.
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He said the mischief of including direct primaries for picking party candidates in the bill was done to make it look like it was the governors that were against the enactment of the amended Electoral Act.
“I told Nigerians three weeks ago that Mr. President will not sign the Electoral Act because they don’t want free and fair elections. Has he signed? Their problem is the electronic transmission of results,” he said.
Wike advised Nigerians not to repeat the mistake of 2015 and 2019 which brought the APC to power, in 2023. “What is important is that in 2023 you say, APC, pack your load and go,” he said, adding that APC has set the country back by 30 years.
The Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, who performed the flag-off of the project noted that though the road was a federal road the state government was reconstructing it because it was the local people that use the road.
Wike promised that the road, whose contract value is N14 billion, will be delivered in 12 months. He said 40 percent of the amount has been paid to the contractors, Setraco Nigeria Limited.
