I thank my dear Brother Dakuku for the response to my column of last week on Governor Nyesom Wike. I am always open to a critique of everything I write, and indeed, I am one of my own greatest critics, even if I say so myself. This is why I am often not fazed by abuse unless they are uncouth or scurrilous. I am quick to accept superior argument and facts when they are presented, but my emphasis is on those facts and arguments being accurate and superior. That is why my first reaction to this Right of Reply was one of pleasure and appreciation. However, I wish to emphasize the following points where I disagree with the riposte from Mr Dakuku Peterside in which he suggested I was misled by Governor Wike.
One. I must instantly correct the impression that Governor Wike was aware of my column on him before its publication, and that he somehow teleguided me with respect to it. Nothing could be far from the truth. I was given access to the projects of the Government and as I stated in my Column the views I expressed on what I saw were mine only. Other than the invitation to inspect the projects, nobody had any input into my column apart from me.
Two. I made no links, connections or comparisons between previous administrations and Wike’s, so Mr Peterside should have, at the very least, tolerated my observations. I was not concerned with the past, only with the present. If Governor Wike has earnestly completed work initiated by his predecessors, as Mr Peterside claims, then it is another feather to his cap, in a clime where the tendency is to rubbish the original and creative work of one’s predecessors. Everything I wrote is solidly backed by original pictures and videos.
Three. It is uncharitable and unfair to say Wike has done nothing in Rivers State or even to try and detract from his achievements. I know Mr Peterside to be a scholar and the hallmark of scholarship is acknowledgement of the good of others just as much as backing up negative assertions with proper and accurate facts which are borne out of research and empirical data. If you continue to insist on this jaundiced perception of events in your home State…
