Oshiomhole

Jethro Ibileke/Benin

Governor ‎Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has been advised to use the state’s slim resources to settle accumulated workers’ salaries, instead of wasting such resources to fund the governorship election in Edo that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was bound to  lose.

Edo state government gave the advice in a statement issued in Benin by the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Kassim Afegbua.

The statement partly reads, “We find it very ridiculous that Governor Nyesom Wike, the noisy Governor of Rivers state still parades some level of effrontery to talk about governance when he has been unable to pay Rivers state workers salaries for several months.

“In the circle of governance, where men are truly called men, someone like Governor Wike cannot muster any courage to be called a man when he has continuously held Rivers workers in scorn without paying them their due salaries and emoluments.

“Our advice to Wike is simple: rather than visit Edo to squander the “slim” resources of Rivers people on an election that the PDP is sure to lose, he should put such resources together and pay the backlog of salaries being owed Rivers civil servants so that Rivers workers can actually reap the reward of their collective sweat.”

Recalling that Governor Wike had told Rivers people that the state could not meet up with its commitments to them by way of salaries, the statement said there was no reason why such slim resources would be expended on Edo election out of sheer desperation to acquire regional powers.

“Even though Edo State is not economically viable as Rivers state, we do not only pay our workers salaries, we have since increased our workers minimum wages from N18,000 to N25,000. That this salary increase is happening at a time when Governor Wike is lamenting over paucity of funds, should explain in greater details our uncommon creativity and prudent management of resources.

“The last time we visited Rivers state, we were appalled by the plights of Rivers workers whose lamentations Governor Wike has consistently ignored. Our piece of advice to him as a younger brother was to properly guide him so he doesn’t go astray by the temptations of an election that his party is bound to lose.

“Rather than waste Rivers people’s money in Edo state, keep Rivers people’s money for them. Next time, we implore Governor Wike to learn how to talk to a Governor Oshiomhole that is performing and up-to-date with payment of salaries and not one, whose noise alone can cause further pollution in a Rivers environment that was already degraded, the statement added.

The Edo state government therefore reminded Wike “that Edo voters are not gullible like voters elsewhere and their level of sophistication would make the September 28th election a smooth sail for the All Progressives Congress, stressing “it is our responsibility to caution Governor Wike before he exports his gangsterism to Edo State.”