Chukwudi Nweje
The Rivers Government has faulted the newspaper editorial blaming the recent killings in Oyigbo area of the state on the Gov Nyesom Wike administration.
It said it was not the first time the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) would unleash what he called “its destructive fangs in the community, but it crossed the red line this time, by hiding under the guise of #EndSARS protests, to kill four policemen and six soldiers, burn down all the Court buildings and police stations and threaten the lives of other innocent Nigerians and bonafide residents in the community.”
Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, in a statement yesterday, described the editorial blaming Governor Wike for the crisis as “a campaign by all manner of relevance seeking-commentators and publications” and pointed out that the photograph that accompanied the Editorial was not that of the governor, but was captioned ‘Wike.’
“What happened in Oyigbo was not the first time IPOB had bared its destructive fangs in the community, but it crossed the red line this time, by hiding under the guise of #EndSARS protests, to kill four policemen and six soldiers, burn down all the Court buildings and police stations and threaten the lives of other innocent Nigerians and bonafide residents in the community. If the curfew had not been imposed comprehensively and in the nick of time, it would have exploded into a full-blown ethnic war in the community and across Rivers State. Let us place on record, for the avoidance of doubt, that the IPOB attack was against the twin institutions of the State government/Police and the Nigerian Army. Governor Nyesom Wike responded as the head of the state government by reinforcing the proscription of IPOB and its activities in the State through a legitimate Executive order and imposing a curfew on the community to save lives and secure property, after the first carnage unleashed by IPOB.
The commissioner urged the media to live up to its role by engaging in investigative journalism, as well as informing and educating the general public, rather than publish “unconfirmed reports.
“The very first lines of the Editorial which read thus: ‘Unconfirmed reports of brutality and killings in Oyigbo community of Rivers State following a siege by the military should ordinarily come across as shattering.’ The fact that the Editorial then proceeds, on the basis of this unconfirmed reports in Oyigbo, to reel out lengthy and utterly warped profiling of Governor Nyesom Wike’s personality as well as the pragmatic responses to the recent events in that community, leaves much room for the interrogation of Editorial integrity and objectivity.”
He said Governor Wike deserves praise for living up to his leadership responsibilities adding that the country deserves leaders like him.