By Our Reporters
One time Commissioner for Health in Rivers State under the administrator of Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi as Governor, Dr. Sampson Parker said last night that the Transportation Minister collected more money from allocations than the present administration in Rivers state is doing currently.
Parker, who currently defected from the All Progressives Congress,( APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) said he joined the PDP because of love for the party and not as a result of any pressure from anybody or group as being insinuated in some quarters.
The former Commissioner noted that his decision to dump the APC was hinged on the inability of the leadership of the party in Rivers State to consider the welfare of his Okrika people.
He said that everything he was promised in the APC has not been fulfilled and that he has been enduring the hardship in APC for seven years, even as he regretted that a party that did not field any candidate in the 2019 general elections is still not remorseful and has no plans for 2023.
His word, “I cannot continue to remain in a party that my people are not seeing any help. Politics is not about friendship. It is about the welfare of your people. I don’t see any plan in Rivers APC to do things right.
“In PDP things are happening. I went to the (Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital), BMSH and I saw new machines there. Doctors are now being trained there. It has always been my dream that BMH should be made a specialist hospital and Governor Wike has done that.
“The amount of money that came in Amaechi government was far more than what this government is receiving now. Sometimes I am surprised where this government even gets money to pay salaries. Look at construction going on everywhere in the state even with the little resources”.
On whether he discussed his defection with his former boss, Amaechi, Parkar said the minister suddenly became unreachable, saying that “Anytime you have issues of concern to discuss with him, he becomes inaccessible. Sometimes you are even termed a traitor.
“APC didn’t contest elections in 2019. With what I am seeing, the same fate may befall the party again in 2023 because there is no sign for positive change”, he said.
Parker’s defection last Sunday at Okochiri in Okrika local government area of Rivers State brings to four high profile allies of former Governor Amaechi who have dumped the APC for PDP in recent times.
Uche Nwosu is a two time Shell Petroleum PLC award winner in the year 2000; He won the Shell Award on Investigative Journalism and Environmental Cleanliness.
