Rivers State government says its determined to arrest and prosecute owner of any filling station accused of selling petroleum products supplied by artisanal refiners.
It said that no amount of blackmail will deter it from prosecuting the lawmaker representing Port Harcourt federal constituency II in the House of Representatives, Hon. Chinyere Igwe, whose filling station had been sealed for alleged illegal oil bunkering activities.
Emeka Woke, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, who disclosed this on Monday at Mogho community in Gokana local government area of the State during a Permanent Voters Card (PVC) sensitisation and mobilisation rally organised by the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) insisted that the state government has constitutional obligation to decisively deal with anyone involved in acts inimical to the Nigerian economy.
According to him “Anybody who allows his business premises to be used for illegal oil bunkering, that premises will be shut down. Whoever, allows his hotel to harbour criminals bent of destabilizing the State, we will deal with you according to the law.”
The Chief of Staff, who urged Hon. Igwe to submit himself to security agencies for interrogation, however, warned him to desist from misleading the unsuspecting members of the public with spurious claims that he was being politically victimised.
Woke further took a swipe at Hon. Igwe for making derogatory remarks about the State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
According to him, but for the governor’s benevolence, the federal lawmaker would have gone into political extinction.
Woke added: “I listen to Chinyere Igwe yesterday talking about ingratitude. A man who had been retired politically. This is the man who spent only one term in the House of Representatives and came back home.
“The immediate-past governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, chased him out of Port Harcourt and he ran to Abuja. He even contested on the platform of ACN then, and lost woefully.
“When we had mobilized GDI and had strengthened the party (Peoples Democratic Party), we brought him back and those of them whom he said he is speaking for now. None of them were foundation members of GDI.
“And His Excellency, the governor gave him platform, first as a Commissioner and then to the National Assembly, even though he didn’t win the primary. And today, he is talking about ingratitude.”
Meanwhile, Igwe has said he and others who worked to make Ezenwo Wike governor “made a mistake”.
In an interview on his media outfit, Atlantic Television, he apologised to Rivers people for the prominent role he played in making Nyesom Wike the governor of Rivers State.
He said that the governor was after his businesses because of his support for Atiku Abubakar, accusing him of killing businesses without creating any.
