[Opinion]: All Hail “Mr Projects”, Gov Nyesom Wike – Dave Agwalla

We salute Governor Wike for his courage, sincerity, doggedness, tenacity of purpose, love for humanity, strenght of character & effectictiveness in political leadership. He is a man no one can afford to dare or take for granted because doing so, is at the person’s peril. Whenever Gov Wike speaks, Nigerians listen. Not only that he says it the way it is & what the people want to hear, but he is pragmatic, & has so much wisdom, like never before. He says it when he means it & never says it if he does not mean it. One of a kind & man of the people indeed.

Those who challenged or criticised him earlier in his governorship, have been quietened by the magnitude & level of projects he embarked on, which will eventually tranform the city of Port Harcourt & give both the residents & numerous visitors who continue to flood in, a new lease of life/wonderful experience. Whoever thought these projects were possible in six years, is lying to himself.

Gov wike is in a leaque of his own when it comes to excercising constitutional political power & true leadership in this country today. Not only that he applies it in very positive ways to make direct impact on the people, serve the needed purpose of uplifting the common man, but both cynics/critics & unbelievers benefit as well. He will leave behind, solid physical legacies that will last till the end of time. He walks the talk & he is yet to go wrong on issues & has surpassed his campaign promises. What a guy!

Nigerians across this country have today come to know, love, cherish & take him for who he is & are always waiting to hear his take or opinion on most contemporary issues. He always yields on the side of the people & truth, can look anyone in the face & courageously tell them what he thinks & which about 99% of the time, is that of majority of the people. That’s leadership.

The Governor has actively & completely silencesed the hitherto loud voices of unneccessary decent & senseless opposition in the state, all by the level of his achievements, which are unprecedented & touch the hearts of the people, hence “Mr Projects”.

When an elected leader is surpassing his campaign promises, defending/protecting rights, lives & property, living seflessly for the people by providing them with the good things that make life meaningful & worth living, like never before, he unitentionally, wipes some names from the leadership history books. Leaders are only remembered by the achievements they leave behind, not abandoned or blue elephant projects.

Gov Wike has achieved & is achieving so much, by dint of hardwork, prudency in resources management, giving priority to & executing projects that have direct/immediate impact on peoples’ lives, standing by the truth at all times, providing vissionary leadership & being there for the people when it mattered most. That’s, infact, what we know as virtues of an effective leaders & there you have Gov Wike. He is by all development indices, leading the pack.

The current encouraging situation of development in Rivers state, becomes more interesting when one considers the difficult circumstance in which the Governor came to power & the fact that he has faced the worst opposition ever in the democratic history of this country. He has no political godfather & fights alone. He has our hearts as the strong man of Nigerian politics.

To say that federal presence in a state like Rivers, which contributes more than 25% to the sustainable revenue base of this country, is zero, is to sing like a brocken record. Befor now, only single lane flyovers where on Aba road, the busiest mid city federal dual carriege way in southern Nigeria & major oil producing state. Gov Wike is replacing them with four-span flyovers in addition to 3 new ones on the same road. All these are going to be completed within or in less than two years from commencement.

If you live in Port Harcourt, or visiting, wait until you have a need to go to Oyigbo, a surbub of the state capital, almost severed or from the city due to the nature of the worst federal highway in Nigeria, PH/Enugu expressway which a Chinese company, starved of fund, has been on forever. Try to leave PH through the lgbo Eche axis, you will weep for the people who live in this part of the country, an oil producing state. The road, an interstate highway, is so bad that criminality like robbery & kidnapping have become a very thriving business. Thanks to Gov Wike who recently came to the rescue of his people.

The railway system has become history, having totally collapsed or no longer existing in the entire Eastern Region, as Gov Wike rightly pointed out recently. Federal employments which would have provided for the jobless youths, sipport business, federal quotq appointments, schorlarships to deserving students of communities devastated by senseless oil exploration & deteriorated federal institutions in the state, speak volume of a deliberate neglect. Nothing is there to give or show for having one or any of their own at the helm in that sector or centre..

With the second & final tenure of the current federal, APC, administration & the opposition party in Rivers state, which came at a huge cost to Rivers people, fastly coming to an end, how will some representatives be remembered or face their people to account for their times & roles in office, at the center? Only history will vindicate the just like Gov Wike who has constantly, with the best of intentions & purposes, reminded & warned that people must be required to account for what they did, did not do or caused not to be done for their people while they served at the centre. Siting or supervising projects in other parts of the country that bring nothing to the table as revenue to the economy of this country while ignoring cries for help from home, is evil.

We can all see that there’s some wisdom in Gov Wike’s objective criticisms & warnings to those who are, surposedly, “part of the powers that be” , but has completely forgotten or abandoned their people or area they come from. Posterity will surely be hard on them

Governor Wike has our hearts & prayers in his selfless drive to perfection & excellence in service delivery to the people. He is positively impacting on the people of, not only his state of Rivers, but going beyond & setting standards or records that may never be broken.

He who has the people & the fear of God, has it all

My take.
Dave A.
A current affairs contribution.