News
Popularity test! Walk with me in streets of Port Harcourt, Amaechi dares Wike
Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State, on Thursday upped the ante in his dispute with Nyesom Wike, successor in office by throwing a popularity challenge – walk with me in the street of Port Harcourt.
The development is coming just hours after Wike, currently Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had dismissed him as a political nobody in the state at the moment incapable of winning any election in the state.
Recall that both political bedfellows, which led to Wike serving the former Minister of Transportation as Chief of Staff when he was governor, parted ways in 2015 ahead of that year’s general election, which led to a strong battle, which even became bloody at a point.
While Wike, supported by Goodluck Jonathan, then President, whom he served as Minister of State for Education, went ahead to win the governorship election in the state, Amaechi, who was clearly against the former President, by not only siding Muhammadu Buhari, his opponent, but even worked as his campaign director.
Continuing their battle, both appeared in the media on Thursday to continue the war of words, with Wike firing the first salvo earlier in the day, when he hosted reporters at his home in Abuja and told them that pointedly that Amaechi had since become a political failure.
Prompted by Amaechi’s participation in the coalition of influential Nigerians to oust President Bola Tinubu, as indicated by the unveiling of the African Democratic Party, the FCT Minister, had questioned the moral ground he had for claiming that Nigerians were angry with the President, when during his time as Transport Minister, he plunged the country into taking huge loans from the Chinese government.
But clapping back, hours later, Amaechi, a guest of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television dared the minister to take a walk with in the street of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, where both of them had sat as governors, to determine who was more popular.
Hear him: “Let the Minister of the FCT come, let’s take a walk from the airport to Port Harcourt – no police, no army, nothing – just the two of us. I don’t know why he doesn’t respect people like us. I am older. I brought him up in politics. Who is he?”
Pushing back on Wike’s scathing comments on the coalition arrangement and dismissing it as nothing, Amaechi, riposted: “If the opposition continues to focus on him, we would be distracted from making the people know that this 2027 election is between the people and Tinubu – there’s no party, no ADC, no ADA, not this – versus Tinubu’s government.”
He also spoke about the recent development, Amaechi said he remained silent in the feud between the FCT Minister and Sim Fubara, the state governor because he was aware of the likely outcome, saying: “Why should I intervene? Did you see the outcome? Don’t you get impressed by my reaction, that at the end of the day, somebody has surrendered? At the end of the day, you can see the looting going on in the government.”
The former governor, who confirmed his exit from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party he was instrumental in forming, also indicated his ambition to run again for the office of the President, though he stated that it would be put at bay at the moment, based on the agreement by the coalition leaders.
“Yes, I did. I think it was on Tuesday. I’d already transmitted my letter to the ward chairman. So, I directed one of my staff from my village to convey the letter to the ward chairman that I have left the party, if there was any party called APC, by the way.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
-
Columns4 weeks agoAbike Dabiri: Did Obi raise a monster or you’re drunk on Tinubu’s poisoned chalice?
-
News3 weeks agoJandor: Tinubu didn’t endorses Hamzat *I’ve briefed President on my ambition
-
Columns4 weeks agoBe the hero that saved Nigeria! Open letter to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: Makinde, Turaki, lose! *S’Court affirms Wike’s PDP leadership
-
Columns4 weeks agoNow VDM has become Sowore’s nemesis, does Peter Obi need anther advocate?
-
Features2 weeks agoJim Nwobodo: The Sun shines, thrills, at ‘The Vanguard Awards’
-
News1 day agoTinubu to African leaders: Copy Nigeria, produce your way out of poverty
-
News3 weeks agoADC: Fight, scatter them! *Presidency goads Kogi lawmaker on Mark’s leadership