Amaechi tackles Wike over panel’s N53 bn missing Rivers money

…As APC exonerates Amaechi, blasts Wike

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NIGERIA: FORMER Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has challenged his successor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, to go to court to prove his allegation of corruption against him.

Amaechi, whose name is on the list of ministerial nominees forwarded to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari for screening, described the panel set up by Wike, which indicted him on “missing” N53 billion, as “invidious panel of inquiry.”

The panel, which was set up by Wike, had concluded in its findings that Amaechi must account for missing N53 billion of the state fund.

But, the former governor, who spoke through a release by his Media Office, said that the statement credited to the Chairman of the panel, Justice George Omeriji, “is unfortunate and leaves much to be desired.”

Amaechi, specifically, said that his hands were clean and that Wike was out, after failing to halt his nomination as a minister, to dimish his towering stature.

He said: “The mischief is all the more evident as the funds referred to are funds from the Rivers State reserve fund which was duly approved by the Rivers State House of Assembly and whose expenditure were duly captured and accounted for.

“Ordinarily, we might not have responded to the mischief of Mr. Wike knowing that having failed with his various desperate tactics to stop the nomination of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi as a minister, he has embarked on this last ditch effort which is his trump card in the hope that it will diminish the former governor’s towering stature as a statesman and honest Nigerian.”

*Rivers State ex-Governor, Rotimi-Amaechi (left)and Governor Nyesom Wike...In bitter rivalry over
*Rivers State ex-Governor, Rotimi-Amaechi (left)and Governor Nyesom Wike…In bitter rivalry over ‘missing’ N53 billion.

The ex-Governor added: “However, in keeping with Governor Amaechi’s ethos of transparent and accountable leadership, we will again repeat the facts of the matter. Between 2013 and early 2015, revenue accruing to the government of Rivers State was cut in half due to dwindling federal allocation to states.

“From about an average of N20 billion, the state began receiving between N9 billion and N10 billion. By the middle of the first quarter of 2015, the state revenue dipped to as low as N6 billion. Salaries alone stood at over N9 billion besides other expenses. Government had set aside reserve funds as a rainy day fund and had need to fall back to it to find salaries and projects. The details of the expenditure were very clearly captured and this information, which was already in the public domain, was shared with the incoming and the Omeriji panel.

“Government business should be transparent and honest and if indeed Mr. Nyesom Wike understands that basics of governance, then he should know that rather than playing to the gallery with his red herring of a panel, he should simply go to court and prove his spurious allegations of corruption if he is sure there is corruption.”

“Spending resources left behind for the betterment of Rivers people by a prudent and thrifty government on frivolities is indeed irresponsible and unbecoming for a person who aspires to public office, especially that of the exalted office of governor,” Amaechi added.
He defended himself further: “We would counsel Mr. Wike to focus on the job at hand and try to make something of the few days he has before he leaves the Brick House, per adventure he might yet make some positive impact on the minds of Rivers people.”

Also reacting to the panel’s report, the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) described it as “pure rubbish.”

The party said in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, that the alleged N53 billion was from the Rivers State Reserve Fund, whose withdrawals got the approval of the state House of Assembly

The APC claimed that the expenditure was duly captured in the State Budget and accounted for.

“This claim of a purportedly missing N53 billion under Amaechi’s watch is pure rubbish and a mere rubber-stamping of the well known position of Chief Wike, who indicted Amaechi even before the Justice Omereji Commission of Inquiry started sitting,” the party explained.

It further explained: “This, of course, is an exercise in futility. As we have always maintained, Amaechi’s hands are spotlessly clean as he conducted the affairs of state in a transparent manner throughout his eight years in office as Rivers State Governor from 2007 to May 2015.

“How on earth can someone in his right senses describe funds withdrawn with the approval of the legislature and spent as prescribed by the State Budget to be missing?”

The party accused Wike of desperation to halt Amaechi’s appointment as a minister, hence his resort to “dancing naked in the market place.”

It said: “We know that the next thing he will do is to hurriedly issue a White Paper on the issue in the hope of stopping Amaechi’s confirmation as a minister by the Senate but his plan has already failed, just as he failed in his devious plot to stop Amaechi’s nomination in the first place.”

While describing the Governor as “a drowning man who is desperate to drag Amaechi down with him,” the party said that Wike was “fully aware that his days as governor are numbered as the stolen mandate would soon be retrieved by the rightful owner, Dr. Dakuku Peterside of APC.”

The party urged Buhari and members of the National Assembly to disapprove “Wike and Omereji’s theatrics,” while alleging tht the governor and the panel were already bias, which informed the ex-Governor and the party not to recognise and “have anything to do with the kangaroo panel.”

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