Rivers State has apologised for presenting Chief Nyesome Wike to President Goodluck Jonathan for appointment as a Minister. Wike, who is the Supervising Minister of Education, was an aide of Governor Rotimi Amaechi before he was sent to Abuja but later abandoned his political godfather, who has since left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

The apology for what Rivers described as Wike’s disastrous stewardship as minister, was contained in a statement issued late yesterday by Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya. The statement, a copy of which was made available to News Express, reads as follows:

“We sincerely apologise to all Nigerians but especially to students and lecturers in the country’s tertiary educational institutions for presenting Chief Nyesome Wike to President Goodluck Jonathan for appointment as a Minister. Never in our wildest imagination did we foresee that Chief Wike, the Supervising Minister of Education, would turn out to be such an unmitigated disaster. We never envisaged that he would represent Rivers State so badly and become a tool for the destruction of the country’s education sector in direct contradiction of the track record of the man that made him politically – Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who has achieved international fame for his zealous promotion of education in Rivers State.

“To put it mildly, we are shocked by the zeal with which Wike is going about his secret mission to completely ruin tertiary education in the country for reasons best known to him. He started with the universities, orchestrating a paralyzing strike that lasted some six months. While the country was yet to overcome the negative effects arising from that unfortunate development, Wike beat his own sordid record by ensuring that the country’s polytechnics and colleges of education have remained shut for even a much longer period.

“Any doubts about Wike’s wickedness became erased when he two days ago informed the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education through a representative, that the Ministry of Education under his watch made no provision for the salary arrears of striking polytechnic and college of education lecturers in the 2014 Budget of the Ministry. This, no doubt, has exposed Wike’s secret agenda to keep the country’s polytechnics and colleges of education permanently under lock and key, thus jeopardising the future of our youths – the leaders of tomorrow. It is very unfortunate that President Jonathan, an educationist, could sit idly and allow such a charlatan to ruin our education sector. To quote the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, President Jonathan and Minister Wike should remember that “there is God-o” and that He is watching.

“We wish to commend the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education for its determination to resolve the dispute between the Academic Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Federal Government, as well as between the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) and the FG. We urge them to finish their good work and not to rely on Wike, who prefers to be having nocturnal meetings with failed politicians in furtherance of his doomed 2015 gubernatorial ambition rather than concentrate on his job for which Rivers State sent him to Abuja.”

•Photo shows Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesome Wike.

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