Former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has assured that all those involved in the brutal killing of Rivers people in the state on New Year Day will face the wrath of the law.
Amaechi gave the hint in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State at the weekend, when he paid a condolence visit to the bereaved families of those killed.
The minister who wept when addressing the people said, “The only thing I can assure you is that the perpetrators of this act will be brought to justice. They cannot run away from it. They can’t get away with this. I was at the hospital to see a little boy that was shot, and his father and mother killed.
How do you want that little boy to live? How would he cope in life? They must pay for their actions.”
Meanwhile, the minister again, accused the Wike-led administration in Rivers State of failing to protect the lives of Rivers people.
He spoke in Isiokpo, same day, at a grand reception held in his honour by Ikwerre Youth Movement (IYM).
The transportation minister said: “The first responsibility of a leader is to keep his subjects alive. The reason why the constitution puts every governor on oath, to swear that you will protect lives and property is because if there are no lives, there will be nobody to lead. If there is anybody on earth that said that I have met with him as a cultist to take lives, let him come forward.
“If there is anybody on earth that will tell you that I have sat with him in a meeting and we planned to go and kill people to win election, let the person come forward, and let me tell you why I will not do such. It is not because I’m afraid of anybody. It is because I’m afraid of God.”
He said God would not want those who sponsor killing of Rivers people to get back to power. Amaechi said: “I doubt that God was happy the day they killed 23 persons in Omoku. I doubt that God was happy the day they killed people in Omerelu or at Egbeda or at Andoni or at Ogbunabali or wherever.”
He said as Rivers State governor, he had provided employment and foreign scholarship to Rivers youths through the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) but regretted that Governor Wike on assuming office, failed to continue with his job creation programme and foreign scholarship scheme.
He appealed to the people to register in the voter registration exercise to vote out the PDP-led government in the state in 2019.
Earlier, the President General of IYM, Sir Azubuike Chikere Nwanjoku said the reception was organised to honour the minister, fondly called the Lion of the Niger Delta. He said that Rivers State should be saved from crime and cultism and appealed to Amaechi to take their plea to President Muhammadu Buhari that they want to live and work in peace in Rivers state.
The senator representing Rivers East senatorial district, Senator Andrew Uchendu, in his goodwill message said that Amaechi is a man of character and likened him to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
According to him, the Transportation minister had led the people of Ikwerre ethnic nationality since 2000. He described those whom Amaechi had helped but have now deserted him as traitors.
The representative of Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mrs Loretta Onochie, described Amaechi as the hero of democracy. She urged the people of the state to support the federal government to bring dividends of democracy to all Nigerians.
The reception was attended by chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), IYM leaders from Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Port-Harcourt City and Emohua Local Government Areas and leaders of the APC from Eleme, Tai, Khana and Gokana Local Government Areas of the state as well as women and youths.
