A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dan Ulasi, has said nobody should question the performance of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, citing what he described as visible infrastructural projects across Abuja and Wike’s record as former governor of Rivers State.
Ulasi made the remarks on Thursday during an interview on Arise Television’s The Morning Show.
“Go to most part of Abuja today, you’ll see what Wike is doing, exactly what he did in eight years as governor of Rivers State,” Ulasi said.
He argued that the projects being executed in the nation’s capital provide clear evidence of performance, even though Wike has not spent up to three years in office as FCT minister.
“There’s an exemplary of something to present as performance in the Federal Capital Territory. He will not do everything overnight in two and a half years, but he has manifestly shown that we can use public office to do good,” he said.
Ulasi challenged critics of the FCT minister to physically inspect ongoing and completed projects in Abuja.
“And I challenge anybody who is in Abuja. I’m prepared to foot the bill for us to go and see the extent,” he said.
According to him, some of the projects are located in parts of the capital that had long been neglected.
“Areas that are not expected to have good roads, he’s fixing most of the roads there,” Ulasi stated.
The PDP chieftain also defended Wike’s performance during his tenure as governor of Rivers State, insisting that his record in office speaks for itself.
“In terms of performance, nobody should challenge Wike because when he was governor of Rivers State, emirs, sultan, everybody was coming to inaugurate one project or the other,” he said.
He said the frequent commissioning of projects by prominent traditional and national leaders during Wike’s time as governor showed that he was active and effective in office.
“That means somebody is functioning,” Ulasi added.
Ulasi further lamented what he described as a poor culture of accountability in the country, where performance is often ignored in favour of other considerations.
“We are in a country where nobody has value for performance. We have value for stealing money,” he said.
