The Governor of Rivers State, Nyemson Wike and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi engaged themselves in verbal attacks at the burial of late Hon. Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in the Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the state.
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While expressing his thoughts at the funeral, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi described the state of insecurity in the State as worrisome, saying everyone is being silenced as the State is back to the era of Ateke Tom.
“You have lost your voice. The sage (the late justice) has gone under and nobody is speaking. When I was governor, I gave people voices, but they have blocked those voices.
“Everyone is scared. We are going back to when Ateke held sway. We are going back to the period where we run away from our people. We are back to a period when nobody could speak. But from next year, I will begin to speak, if nobody wants to speak.
“We are all here because we need to bury a man God has blessed. I have stopped travelling because of bad weather, but I told myself I must be here because of Justice Whyte.
“If you knew Justice (Karibi-Whyte) very well, you will know I was close to him. I was one of the few people he mentored,” Amaechi said.
Meanwhile, Wike who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Emeka Woke said the late Justice was integrity personified with dignity.
However, he described Amaechi’s comment as embarrassing because he is not in tune with the developmental strides in the State.
On security, he noted that adding that the launching of Operation Sting has made the security situation improved tremendously in the State.
“It is unfortunate for Amaechi to come to Kalabari land and accuse former President Goodluck Jonathan of not developing the area six years after he had left office.
“I wonder why the former governor will choose to make such embarrassing remarks at the funeral of late Justice Karibi-Whyte, a man he (Amaechi) claimed to be his mentor”, Wike said.
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