…Says Solad must explain how he came about the people he is appointing since he is not from Rivers State
Rivers State-born Atedo Peterside, an influential investment banker and economist has opened up for the first time on the deepening crisis in his home state, saying the appointments being made by the sole administrator were adding fuel to the fire.
Speaking in an interview on Arise Television, the entrepreneur and founder Stanbic IBTC Bank as well as founder of ANAP Foundation, said the appointments showed who the man was.
He said the Sole Administrator must explain how he came about the persons we was stuffing into sensitive positions since he was not from Rivers State.
Explaining his silence since the State of Emergency, Peterside said: “It is true that I am from Rivers State and my grandparents to the fourth generation are from Rivers. So, nobody is more Rivers than me. It is unfortunate what is happening in the state at the moment, though I happen to live in Lagos.”
On his opinion about the state of emergency and the sole administrator (Ibok Ekwe Ibas) from Cross River State, Peterside said he believed in giving people time to act and show who they were and what they were about. “In effect, watch before you pass judgment.
“For that reason, check everywhere, since this sole administrator was appointed in Rivers State, I have never made any comment, his integrity or anything. So, what has changed?
“What has changed is that it is either the sole administrator has misread his brief or has no understanding of what his brief was.
“Instead of coming to an inflamed situation to help achieve stability and healing, he might be inadvertently adding fuel to the fire. I give you the basis.”
He said on his appointments: “He emerged in an irregular manner. The executive (president) was misguided and he the sole administrator is thus a product of that misguided action. The National Assembly exhibited legislative rascality to use voice vote to confirm his appointment. A voice vote cannot make sense. A member who pointed it out was shouted down.
Read also: Rivers sole administrator has no understanding of his role – Peterside
“So, here is a man who came and knows his shifty ground, what has he done. There is a saying thus: Make some appointments and I tell you who you are.”
Peterside said the sole administrator has made some appointments including into the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC). “He went to the local councils (LGAs) and appointed sole administrators. This is a man who in serious countries would have had no legal backing to be appointed but is adding salt to injury. Instead of leaving LGAs in the hands of the most senior council administrative officials, he chose to appoint outsiders who are not elected to come and serve as sole administrators.”
He accused the sole administrator of superimposing people on the LGAs. “I challenge him to tell Nigerians how he arrived at those persons he appointed either into RSIEC or into the LGAs, since he is not even from Rivers State.
What does he think he is doing? Through what process did he make those appointments? Did he advertise the positions, did he do a search of the state for the most competent?
“We know ourselves in Rivers State, if you make few appointments, we tell you who you are. So, the people he appointed, to my mind, are riff-raffs. He leaves Cross Rivers State, comes to Rivers State in an inflamed situation. I challenge him to tell the nation what process he used in making the appoints. Did he choose those he knew when he was in the Navy? Who did he ask for nominations? We can go on and on.”
On the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), the financial expert accused Ibas of bringing in people he chose through a process known only to him. “Can he tell Rivers people how he chose those persons (over the persons properly screened by the Rivers State House of Assembly)? Let’s be fair to ourselves.
“If you are given a position of trust and responsibility to go to another state, would you go there and begin to make appointments in half-hazard manner and inflame the situation?”
He said it is disrespectful to the people of Rivers State. “He should be called to order immediately. What gives him the right, what makes him think people will just sit down and accept these things? How did he choose those persons?”
Protests are continuing in Rivers State especially by women groups, asking for the return of Gov Sim Fubara and end to state of emergency. Some groups of women have however also protested in support of the state of emergency and stay of sole administrator.
This line of division which seemed to find Fubara supporters on the side of protests against suspension of Fubara and state of emergency, whereas those on the Nyesom Wike camp are those protesting in support of suspension of Fubara and welcoming the state of emergency.
