Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has again slammed Senator Lee Maeba, the Director General of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council in the state.
Wike said at the commissioning of the Bori-Kono Road on Friday that Mbaeba’s alliance with Atiku Abubakar’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has yielded nothing tangible for his hometown of Ogoniland.
The governor also stated that Maeba, who served as a Senator from 2003 to 2011, did not bring any projects to Ogoniland during his tenure in the Senate and has not helped the area develop since.
Wike went on to say that as a minister, he made several projects possible in his community and the state as a whole, and he asked the former Senator to name one project he brought to the state.
He went on to say that as governor, he was not only bringing development to his community, but also to the rest of the state.
He said:
You (Maeba) were made a senator. Mention one project you brought to the people Of Ogoniland as a distinguished senator. When you were the senator, the presidential candidate of PDP was the Vice President and you said you are close to him. What project did you bring to Ogoniland? No, Ogoni, you people are here.
Senator Lee Maeba claimed, as a distinguished senator, he was one of the few senators that were close to the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is now presidential candidate of the PDP,” the governor said.
Senator Ledogo Maeba, with your closeness then, with your opportunity and privileges, what did you bring to the people of Ogoniland? Mention one project. I went to your community the other day, I saw the school you attended. I cried – how could a senator have attended this kind of school and yet, look at the shape that school is in? Go and see what that school looks like.
East-West Road, I gave it to you, Lee Maeba, to do. The only thing you got in the Senate was an oil block, which you sold at $15 million. Who has a calculator there? Convert it; come down to 700. Seven hundred (times) 10 is 7 billion, is it not? Seven hundred (times) five will be how many? 3.5! That is, 13.5 billion (naira) was what you got (and) was paid to you (sic).
Wike also challenged Maeba to mention one Ogoni son or daughter he put on a scholarship or one primary school in Ogoniland he had repaired since his tenure as a senator.
He added:
As a minister, my community never had a school. I brought a school to my community. As a Chief of Staff, I brought roads to my community. You were doing constituency projects. Where is your own in Ogoniland?
Stop using Ogoni people. Stop telling them lies. No amount of lies you can concoct can change the minds of the people because they know all you are doing is for your selfish interests.
You said I promised you, governor. I never (did). You said they were calling you here to the throne. Which throne? I don’t have a throne to give anybody. Telling people all kinds of lies. We are not people of violence.