Our attention has been drawn to the latest epistle by Dakuku Peterside titled: “Wike’s displacement of .1m Rivers people wicked, evil, inhuman – plans to convert waterfront to personal ownership”, and once again we are amazed by the kindergarten mischief and the usual spurious, illogical and unsubstantiated attention-seeking allegations, which have become the hallmarks of his less than edifying public posts.

We are even more amused by the concerted effort and deliberate intent with which Dakuku Peterside continues to draw attention to his obviously unfortunate loss of memory and dislocated bearing, less than six years after the administration he served in, left Rivers State reeling and in doldrums after they were roundly and comprehensively booted out in in 2015.

Dakuku’s latest bellyaching over the determined effort of the Rivers State Government to sanitise the waterfronts by removing all shanties and most especially, continue with its frontal and hugely successful war to rid Rivers State of dangerous criminals and undesirable elements who have transformed these Waterfronts into a den of thieves, flies in the face of rational analysis, especially by one who sees himself as a leadership expert.

Dakuku Peterside will not feign ignorance of the fact that the demolition of waterfronts to rid Rivers State of criminals did not start with Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration.

Infact, the Vanguard Newspaper, August 24, 2012, captured a particularly “wicked, evil and inhuman,” (to borrow Peterside’s choice of words), thus: “On Tuesday and Wednesday, June 26 and 27, 2012, the government of Rivers State mobilized some earth-moving equipment to Abonnema Wharf to demolish all houses and destroy property, thereby rendering a community of about 10,000 people homeless. Men, women, children were under heavy rain with their property.

“This act of the Rivers State Government is inhuman, oppressive, heartless, and an abuse of the right to shelter. Abonnema Wharf is one of the over 40 waterfronts communities scattered across Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, which houses over 80 per cent of the city residents.

“The State Government has brandished the communities as nests of criminals that must be demolished. Governor Rotimi Amaechi claimed that the demolition is part of the urban renewal policy and also to check activities of criminally-minded individuals who use the water-fronts as operational bases.” Please note the date.

We are even at a loss to fathom how Dakuku Peterside could so quickly have forgotten that his APC govt not only demolished Abonnema Waterfront, but also Njemanze, Elechi Beach and Nanka waterfronts.

Dakuku Peterside even went ahead in his puerile epistle to state shamelessly that: “shelter was a right and fundamental to the welfare, survival and health of man and Governor Wike’s action against the waterfront residents is against all Universal Laws and Conventions on Human Rights and Habitation, including the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, UN-Habitat, United Nations Housing Rights Programme, UNHRP, the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Nigeria’s Policy on Housing”; as if these organizations and statutes did not exist in 2012 when his administration was destroying Abonnema Wharf waterfront and all the others.