Governor Nyesom Wike has made his threat at swearing-in moments to sack any aide who failed to meet his pace of governance. Apart from individual instances of removal and recall, the governor has carried out what looks like wholesale sack of aides.
Less than two weeks after threatening to sack his education commissioner, the governor has suspended four commissioners, the head of service, and a special adviser for three months.
In a terse statement by the governor’s special assistant on electronic media, Simeon Nwakauda, the governor named the affected ministries as chieftaincy affairs, culture/tourism, finance, and sports.
Members of the public have been asking questions to know what the commissioners did wrong because it is not common for principal officers of the state to be sacked every now and then.
Instead of getting any hints, Wike came up with the dissolution of the Caretaker Committees of 17 Local Government Areas of the state. A statement by the same Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media noted that the dissolution of the Caretaker Committees took immediate effect.
The following local councils were named: Abua/Odual, Akuku Toru; Ahoada East; Andoni, Bonny, Eleme, Emohua, Etche, Ikwerre, Obio/Akpor, Ogu/Bolo, Okrika, and Ogba/Egbema /Ndoni. Others were named as Omuma, Oyigbo, Port Harcourt City, and Tai.
The statement informed that all the Caretaker Committee chairmen were to hand over to the most senior officials in their respective councils.
The last hammer nearly fell on the commissioner for education, a professor, Kaniye Ebeku. Government said in a statement on Thursday, 18 August 2016, that the governor was dissatisfied with the pace of work at the Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokwuta in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state capital and that in fact, the governor had issued a threat to sanction Ebeku.
Wike is on record to brook no nonsense. He did not waste time to discard his first special adviser on media who quickly resigned before the hammer would descend. Next was the commissioner of finance who was suspended on a Friday but was pardoned on Monday.
The trend may have made it clear how Governor Wike wants to run his administration.
Ignatius Chukwu
