Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to be more effective in securing the lives and property of Nigerians.
Commenting on the widespread insecurity in the country, Wike accused Buhari of attempting to shift his constitutional powers of securing lives and property to governors.
The governor spoke at the commissioning of the 21-kilometre Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road in Etche Local Government Area of the State on Tuesday.
Wike said the All Progressives Congress-led federal government has no idea of how to tackle the troubling security issues and make the country safe for Nigerians.
He enjoined the federal government to admit that it can no longer fulfill the promises it made to Nigerians, adding that admitting weakness publicly when there is failure makes a leader respectable.
“Mr President, you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You appoint Inspector-General of Police, you appoint the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, the Commissioner of Police, Director of Department of State Service, and other heads of security.
“Which one do we appoint? How can people appointed by Mr President be under me?
“It is not only to borrow money for Nigeria that you’re in charge. You must also be in charge of other things including security. Who signed order 10? Is it the governors?
“Mr. President was short of calling names of those governors who run to Aso Rock when they are supposed to stay in their states to see the needs of their states and people. Mr. President should have come out openly and said, my APC governors, stop worrying me. Go back to your states and do your work. On that, I support him.
“Thank God, Mr. President knows that I am not one of those that go to visit him over one problem or the other. I, as the governor of Rivers under PDP, you’ll never find me there.”
President Buhari had challenged governors to protect their states rather than runningbto Abuja to seek for help from him.
The President stated this in an interview with Arise TV.
He said, “Two SW Governors came to me to say cattle rearers are destroying farms in their states, I asked them what happened to the grassroot security panels from Traditional Rulers to Local Governments who meet regularly to identify the root of their problems and identify crooks within their environment and apprehend the criminals. Who destroyed this system? Go back and fix it, give your people sense of belongings. I don’t like it when people campaign to become Governors and people trusted them with their votes and after winning, they can’t perform, they’re trying to push responsibilities to others. ……..we have three tiers of Government, Federal, State and Local. We have killed the Local Government totally. We will send N300m as allocation to a Local Government, one Governor will ask the LG Chairman to sign that he collected N300m but he will give him N100m and the Chairman will keep quiet…..is that how we will continue?”
