Wike’s Real Madrid Academy Project, a Fraud

Interview

The former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), who was the 2015 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State talks to THISDAY on the state of Rivers State, particularly the performance of Governor Nyesom Wike

You recently accused Governor Wike of embarking on property acquisition spree and dashing off Rivers State property to his friends and cronies. Do you have evidence ? 

What other evidence are you looking for? The government of Rivers State has since admitted that it indeed sized government properties and criminally allocated same to those the government described as competent private individuals. Now, an interrogation of the response of the Rivers State Government to my statement exposed the criminal intentions of Wike and his team. His response raised fundamental questions. Who are the qualified private individuals and how were they determined? Who are those considered qualified? Did the Rivers State Government, by any means, prequalify Rivers indigenes before re-allocating those buildings? When and where was the process carried out?  The issues of transparency in selling off public asset become glaring. At what price did they sell our common wealth to these selected competent private individuals known only to Wike? The Governor is being clever by half.  

The governor’s landed acquisitions are known to everyone in Rivers State and even beyond. You may have heard of the ‘unknown investor’ buying up anything and everything in sight in Port Harcourt and Rivers State. You find out for yourself who this unknown investor is. 

Is anybody in Government of Rivers State the unknown investor? Is the same person responsible for acquisition of properties of Rivers State University of Education? 

You may have heard that the Governor has effectively acquired the University of Education’s staff quarters in D-line part of Port Harcourt and is set to dash it to his political cronies. The Vice Chancellors lodge at Olu Obasanjo has been sold to an unknown investor. A block of flats belonging to the same Rivers State university of Education located at GRA Port Harcourt also sold to the unknown investor. It is sheer madness and the people appear helpless. The Governor will soon find out that Rivers people are no fools. We are talking about common property and not his personal estate. 

The unknown investor is known to everybody in Port Harcourt except the Governor and officials of Rivers State government who are desirous of protecting their loot. 

But the Governor seems to be doing well. Any moment from now he will Commission the 10th, 11th and 12th fly rover built by his administration.

This is a classic case of misplaced priority driven by greed. The government is building multiple flyovers on the same road at the expense of health care, education, pensioners allowances, employment creation, rural development and human capacity development.  Now you and I know that bridges and flyovers are supposed to be catalyst for ease of transportation, economic growth and national competitiveness. All indicators in the case of Rivers State point to the contrary. Unemployment and poverty has hit roof top in rivers state. One firm, which is not a local firm is doing all the contracts and there is absolutely no linkage to the local economy. Two, all the projects are located in two LGAs in the state capital.  Three, you are building bridges with no traffic study, no future projections and no budgetary provisions. There is a crisis of governance in Rivers State. 

Wike recently said he would now focus on stomach infrastructure, now that he has delivered on his campaign promises. What do you make of this? 

This is another indicator of the hollowness and warped understanding of the actor in charge in Rivers State. The most important roles of government are security and welfare of the people. The import of his unguarded statement is that for seven years, he did not consider the welfare of the people of Rivers State as important. Now that he has finished building bridges and impoverishing the people, he is now saying to their face that he wants to give them a negligible portion of their wealth to assuage them and you think they are fools. It time for politics and he wants them to identify with his presidential aspiration. Our people are smarter than that. 

Recently, over 100,000 persons were displaced at Diobu waterfront area of Port Harcourt. You have been having exchanges with Wike over this. What is the situation now? 

You are right. Wike’s argument is that he is doing urban renewal. My position is that you can do urban renewal following International best practice that respects the rights and dignity of those who reside at the waterfront. Wike and his government displaced these persons without giving a thought to the social consequences. They were not served adequate notice, compensation not paid and no plans whatsoever to assist them resettle.  It is consistent with his trademark of impunity. 

You have said severally that Wike has no plan for the youths but he has done so much for young people using the likes of the Real Madrid Academy. 

Youth empowerment is not part of Wike’s agenda and this is in all ramifications. Education has been abandoned in Rivers State. If you want to see a people with no future, look out for a society that does not consider educating the next generation as important. The Real Madrid Academy project is a fraud. Rivers State Government is to pay Real Madrid Foundation and Interact Sports $2 million yearly to use its brand name to run a sports academy in Port Harcourt. Even more is the fact that the Real Madrid Academy has remained moribund; with no activity taking place there for more than three years. How do you explain that?  $2 million was enough to resuscitate most dilapidated primary schools in Rivers State and provide world-class ICT facilities to pupils. It is sufficient to provide scholarship to about 200 Rivers’ undergraduates in European universities and 800 similar undergrads in Nigerian universities. Wike should stop playing games with rivers people. 

The Rivers State Government has accused you of attacking her continuously because you want to run for governor and your leader wants to run for President. Is there any truth in these? 

I am a Rivers man qualified like any other to run. Is that a reason why Wike and his team will appropriate Rivers common wealth to themselves? Is it a reason why they don’t have an iota of feeling for the poor, weak and vulnerable? Does that account for the poverty, unemployment and mediocrity he is promoting in the state? The truth is that Wike is more interested in his personal agenda, which is primitive accumulation of wealth than tangible development of Rivers State. All the issues I have raised at various times are serious governance issues that a government that has the interest of the people at heart will not take lightly.

Most issues bother on lack of transparency and accountability and the fact that the government has absolutely no definite vision and plan for Rivers State. On weather Rotimi Amaechi wants to run or not, his options are limited. Nigerians are beaconing on him to provide leadership at a challenging time in the life of our country when we need energy of the youth, power of vision and a good dose of experience.  

Your party, APC, appears to be in disarray. What are its chances in next year’s general election? 

APC is still the party to beat. Today, it is the only truly national party in Nigeria. It is true we may not have solved all the problems in Nigeria but people should not forget in a hurry where we are coming from. The alternative party is worse in form, content and composition than the ruling APC.  The alternative party is today controlled by one rascal governor. The fringe parties have not shown any seriousness. Nigerians still prefer APC to any other party. The party has done well on railway and infrastructure generally. I am optimistic that when all issues are considered Nigerians will still want APC to continue.