Renowned Nigerian cartoonist, Mike Asukwo has mocked the Rivers State governor, Barrister Nysom Wike after he was openly humiliated by the Nigeria’s president-elect, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his official visit in the state.
Tinubu who was controversially declared the president-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission was in Rivers state last week for a two-day visit.
Recall that Tinubu was in the State to inaugurate the Rumuola-Rumuokwuta Flyover and the Magistrate Court Complex delivered by Nyesom Wike.
The former Lagos governor while addressing supporters and party faithfuls thanked Nyesom Wike for contributing to his victory at the February 25 presidential poll.
He also reminded Wike who has been dubbed a notorious election rigger that he “owed him nothing” while responding to a request by the governor, who asked for refunds on federal projects undertaken by the state.
Justifying the request and why his administration has been able to deliver a number of major projects seamlessly, Wike had told Tinubu: “Part of why we are having uncompleted projects have to do with our procurement laws. If you follow the procurement law, it will take very long to complete projects.
“When you give a contractor 15%, inflation is rising almost every day; before you give another money, they will call for variation because of increasing cost of materials.
“In our own case, I call Mr Speaker, to say we can’t continue with this. We had to amend our own procurement law to give us the latitude to pay 70% to a company we know has the capacity to deliver within time.
“That is why today, no project being handled by Julius Berger (JB) is uncompleted. Recently we are dualising Ahoada to Omoku to Egbema, with to our boundary with Imo state.
“Julius Berger is doing that work. We also dualising from Emohua, East West, to Degema Junction, also by JB.
“How much did they charge us? About N80 billion. We fall back on our Internally Generated Revenue, to say every month, take N4 billion, finish this road in 18 months. That is why we have never failed in completing our projects.
“Unfortunately, these projects are Federal Government’s roads. We don’t want our people to suffer. I believe the Federal Government should say ‘let us refund these monies’.
“I assure you, as you enter office and approve to pay these monies back, other states will also do same thing. So that (refund) is the first request we are making to you.”
Responding, Tinubu told Wike: “On the demand you made for refund, I owe you nothing. It’s your road. You’re the one living on these roads. I commend your efforts. You have to lobby me to collect.”
Though, Tinubu’s response sent a lot of tongue wagging. Many commended him for his response, adding that Mr Wike who sold his party and backstabbed his allies just to remain relevant politically shouldn’t be trusted.
Mike who has been so critical about the Niger Delta-born politician created a caricature cartoon of the controversial governor, were he was serving Tinubu and Shettima food like a house boy.
Tinubu in the cartoon was also seen telling Wike that he owe him nothing despite the fact that he spearheaded the worst electoral heist in the State.
According to an exclusive report by Premium Times Newspaper, the results uploaded on INEC IREV so far, shows that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi won Rivers State point-blank but Tinubu was hurriedly announced as the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
However, these are some of the issues the presidential election petition tribunal which commenced hearing yesterday will definitely address.
