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Tag: Amaechi

  • Amaechi: my govt left N7.5b cash, others

    Former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said his administration left refuted claims by his successor Nyesom Wike that he left an empty treasury.

    Governor Wike had consistently maintained that he met an empty treasury when he assumed office.

    On Wednesday, in an attempt to justify why he took N30 billion bank loans from Zenith and Access banks within 30 days in office, Wike, through his spokesman, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, told a radio station in Port Harcourt, Today 95.1FM, that he met an empty treasury.

    But Amaechi debunked Wike’s claim, saying he left billions of naira in cash and economic assets for Rivers State.

    In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by his Media Office, Amaechi said his administration left N7.5 billion cash as the balances in the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) account with Skye Bank, Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) account with Zenith Bank, balances with Access Bank and funds in the reserve fund account at First Bank.

    The statement said: “This is besides other balances in the Government House account with Zenith Bank and other government Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs’) accounts, such as the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP). By the time you pull all these together, we are looking at readily available cash in the region of N8 billion to N10 billion left for the Wike administration.

    “It’s also pertinent to point out here that Amaechi also left economic assets worth tens of billions of naira for the state. Just like cash, the assets store value. These assets, which are scattered in diverse sectors of the economy, were developed or built or procured with revenue that accrued to the state during Amaechi’s tenure.

    “The assets belong to Rivers State, not Amaechi. Some of these assets are yielding revenue to the state’s coffers and many can be easily and readily converted to cash, if the state so desires.

    “It is, therefore, disingenuous and fraudulent for Wike to claim that Amaechi left an empty treasury, in his bid to justify the N30 billion loans he collected under 30 days in office.

    “Rather than this puerile and silly distraction of always pointing fingers at Amaechi, Wike should explain to Rivers residents what he took the loans for, account for and justify every kobo that has been spent from the loans.”

     

  • Rivers APC chair berates Wike for ‘demonising’ Amaechi

    Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman Davies Ikanya has criticised Governor Nyesom Wike for his failed attempt to   demonise former Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    Ikanya noted that Amaechi, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), had been vindicated in Wike’s corruption allegation levelled against him.

    Wike was Amaechi’s Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt from 2007 to 2011.

    The former governor recommended him to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 for a ministerial appointment.

    In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the APC chairman noted that Wike’s allegations were spurious, senseless and baseless.

    The statement said: “The immediate past Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), George Feyii, and the Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Chamberlain Peterside, in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, did not only dismiss the allegations as a figment of the imagination of Wike and his cohorts, but also provided concrete proofs that ex-Governor Amaechi ran the affairs of Rivers State, using transparent financial procedures that cannot be faulted by any well-meaning person or organisation.

    “As Messrs. Feyii and Peterside made clear in their letter to President Buhari, the fabricated allegations against Amaechi, sponsored by Wike and spread through the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and amorphous groups, such as Integrity Group, are borne out of malice, with the sole aim to malign the integrity of ex-Governor Amaechi and his administration, to poison President Buhari’s mind and discourage him from appointing Amaechi into his cabinet.

    “With the refutation …by Messrs. Feyii and Peterside, it is now very clear to President Buhari and other Nigerians that former Governor Amaechi is just one of our few leaders who ran a corruption-free and transparent administration during his tenure as the governor of Rivers State.

    “Thus, Wike has failed abysmally in his desperate bid to tarnish the good image of Amaechi. Surely, President Buhari cannot be deceived by the antics of Wike and his cohorts who are seeking to stop him (President Buhari) from making Amaechi part of his administration, in recognition of his well-known managerial acumen and the role he played as the Director-General of Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation, in mobilising Nigerians to cast their votes for the APC’s presidential candidate in the March 28 election.”

    Ikanya urged Nigerians to continue to support the Buhari administration to bring about the necessary change.

    The APC chairman noted that with Amaechi’s excellent performance as Rivers governor, he would do much better at the federal level.

  • Amaechi: fuel subsidy under Jonathan rose from N300b to N1.9tr

    Amaechi: fuel subsidy under Jonathan rose from N300b to N1.9tr

    •‘Wike afraid Buhari’ll make me a FEC member’

    Former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has said subsidy payment under former President Goodluck Jonathan rose from N300 billion to N1 trillion without justification.

    He said his successor, Nyesom Wike, is jittery that President Muhammadu Buhari would make him a member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    The ex-governor spoke at a reception organised in his honour in Abuja on Sunday night.

    Amaechi noted that since Wike and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state were jittery that his appointment would be the main determinant of the state politics, they have moved to tarnish his image in the eyes of President Buhari, who detests corruption.

    He said besides disagreeing with  Jonathan on his management of the economy, “I never insulted him.”

    Amaechi explained that he incurred the wrath of Jonathan when he decided to contest for the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

    The former governor added that Jonathan got angrier with him when he rejected the fraudulent N1.9trillion Petroleum Support Fund (oil subsidy) claim.

    Amaechi recalled: “One day I was in a meeting with Mr. President (Jonathan) and the argument was the $1.9trillion for oil subsidy. I told him as the chairman, Governors Forum I will not support it. I said your Excellency, we are already in court on the issue of oil subsidy. Since that day the ex-President abused the hell out of my life.”

    According to him, people misconstrued his strict adherence to principles for stubbornness because he disagreed with the former President on the management of the treasury.

    He went down memory lane: “I can tell you how my trouble with the former President started. As chairman of Governors’ Forum, the oil subsidy was N300billion under President Obasanjo. Under President Yar’Adua subsidy was N300billion. Six months of president Jonathan oil subsidy rose from N300 to N1.9trillion. Is it that we now doubled our population or bought more machines, began to manufacture things? As chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, I was in a position to get my own share of the N1.9trillion. I chose the path of honesty and truthfulness. You cannot catch me doing such a thing.”

    He said some of his colleagues in the forum, including the former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu and the former Jigawa Satate Governor, Sule Lamido were also against Jonathan’s style of leadership but they failed to pullout of the PDP with him and other governors.

    Amaechi attributed the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the integrity and popularity of President Buhari, noting that his instincts never ceased to tell him that his party would be victorious.

    Being the director general of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation, he hailed his team for their tenacious struggle and success throughout the campaign.

    Recalling how a crowd followed their campaign train, especially in the North, he said “it got to a point I became afraid because of the over two million people (crowd) around us in Kano.”

    He reassured the electorate that in order not to be voted our of office as the PDP in 2019, “we will not disappoint voters in Jesus name.”

    On Wike, he said “may God not give me the kind of ambition of Nyesom Wike; he can sell anybody.”

    He said: “Let me tell you what is currently going on in Rivers State. The governor and PDP are afraid of me getting an appointment to the national executive council because that will determine what the politics of Rivers State will be.

    “And they know that the current President abhors corruption and the only way they can stop me from getting the appointment is to paint me with corruption. And the people that know me in Rivers State know that I don’t like money. But I am not angry with them. My anger is that in Rivers they know I don’t like money. And I expect them to defend me that I don’t like money.”

    The same Wike, according to Amaechi, who used to advise him that merely executing project without wasting money on people would not earn him a second term in office, has sponsored newspapers’ adverts to undermine his reputation.

    Amaechi added: “Governor Nyesom Wike has again sponsored one advert in a bid to undermine me. Only God knows that if there is one thing I don’t like, I don’t like money. Anybody close to me knows that I don’t like money. Even Nyesom Wike told me you will not win second term if you don’t use money. So all this wasted projects will not deliver us. And I said let us do it once and for all.”

    Those present at the reception were: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Aisha-Wife of President Muhammadu Buhari APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu represented by Mr Dele Alake, Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai, House Leader  Femi Gbajiabiamila, Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong, former Bayelsa State Governor Timipreye Silva, among others.

     

  • Rivers people want to blackmail me – Amaechi

    Rivers people want to blackmail me – Amaechi

    Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has accused his successor, Nyesom Wike, of leading people of the state to blackmail him.

    Amaechi noted that since Wike and members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are jittery that his appointment will be the main determinant of the state politics, they have moved to tarnish his image in the eyes of President Muhammadu  Buhari, who detests corruption.

    The ex-governor spoke at a reception organized in his honour in Abuja Sunday night.

    He said, “Let me tell you what is currently going on in Rivers State. The governor and PDP are afraid of me getting an appointment to the national executive council because that will determine what the politics of Rivers State will be.

    “And they know that the current President abhors corruption and the only way they can stop me from getting the appointment is to paint me with corruption. And the people that know me in Rivers State know that I don’t like money. But I am not angry with them. My anger is that in Rivers they know I don’t like money. And I expect them to defend me that I don’t like money.”

    The same Wike, according to Amaechi, who used to advise him that merely executing project without wasting money on people would not earn him a second term in office, has sponsored newspapers’ adverts to rubbish his reputation.

    Amaechi added: “Governor Nyesome Wike has again sponsored one advert in a bid to rubbish me. He will go and publish in the paper on Monday as advert. Only God knows that if there is one thing I don’t like, I don’t like money. Anybody close to me knows that I don’t like money. Even Nyesom Wike told me you will not win second term if you don’t use money. So all this wasted projects will not deliver us. And I said let us do it once and for all.”

     

  • RPC warns Wike on dirty fight against Amaechi

    Rivers People’s Congress (RPC) an umbrella body of ethnic, social and non-governmental organisations in Rivers State, yesterday alleged moves by Governor Nyesom Wike to rubbish the legacies of his immediate predecessor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi .

    The Governor is also said to be planning to tar Mr.Amaechi’s image with corruption, with a view to making the former governor ineligible for appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The Co-ordinator of the Congress, Ipinabo Chinda said in a statement that, while it is not opposed to a probe of the eight-year rule of the former governor, information at its disposal showed that some persons in government “are dubiously collecting and fabricating documents to push out to the media with the intent of presenting the former governor in bad light.”

    The PRC said the people of Rivers state “will not accept this ungodly move and will definitely, as one stand together and say NO to it.”

    The group wondered why the Wike administration is keen on probing only the last four year in office of Mr.Amaechi and not the whole of his two terms of which Wike was a key player.

    It said: “We are bold to say that until a properly constituted body finds empirical cause to indict the person of our former governor Rotimi Amaechi, no one should descend to the cesspit of witch hunting, in an attempt to score cheap political victories.

    “Already there is massive restiveness which can easily lead to implosion in the state, if the Wike government does not thread softly the part of truth. We caution the Wike government to avoid this road to odium and toe the part of fairness, justice and truth.

  • Amaechi calls for oneness

    Amaechi calls for oneness

    Former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has urged Nigerians and Muslim faithful to join hands in praying for peace and unity while celebrating the end of the Ramadan fasting period.

    In a statement by David Iyofor , the former governor prayed for Allah’s blessings for the country and its citizens. He enjoined Muslims as they celebrate to reflect on ways to tackle the nation’s problems and together cause a positive impact on the peace, unity and growth of the country.

  • Why I am probing Amaechi, by Wike

    Why I am probing Amaechi, by Wike

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, has explained the  probe of the Rotimi Amaechi administration.

    He said the essence of the probe was to throw light on some areas.The governor insisted that it was not meant to witch-hunt anybody.

    Wike yesterday said in Abuja  that the recommendation of the probe panel would determine the cause of action to be taken against Amaechi.

    He, however, did not rule out handing over the findings to anti-graft agencies.

    He said: “The essence of the judicial commission does not have to do with witch-haunting anybody, but to understand things we could not have understood.

    “ If he had worked with the transition  committee we set up, the committee would have asked one or two questions.  No transition committee was set up by government (Amaechi’s administration).

    “It is only our state that never had any transition committee. We set up our own transition committee. It made every communication;.it wrote. They did not cooperate with it.”

    Wike also claimed that his predecessor was only trying to use the media to divert attention from the probe panel.

    His words:  “He (Amaechi) said he would use all constitutional and legal means.  The  commission is not an  unconstitutional commission. It is a constitutional and legal commission.

    “Nobody has been indicted. We only ask  them to look into  matters and ask one or two questions.”

    Wike recalled that his predecessor also set up probe panels and was never accused of  witch-hunting.

    The governor also debunked the report making the rounds that he was handed a handover note. He said:  “Let us start from the national level. When Jonathan was leaving, did he just handover just the villa?. Did he not handover the whole government structure;. from one ministry to the other?.”

    Wike said the permanent secretary of the Government House never gave him a handover note.

     

  • Why I am probing Amaechi – Wike

    Why I am probing Amaechi – Wike

    … ‘Ex- governor left handover notes’

    Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom  Wike, has explained the  reason behind the recent probe instigated against the immediate past government in the state.

    He said that the essence of the probe was to throw light on some cloudy areas.

    The governor insisted the probe was not meant to witch-hunt anybody.

    Wike told journalists in Abuja on Tuesday that the recommendation of the probe panel would determine the cause of action to be taken against former governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    He, however, did not rule out handing over the findings to the anti-graft agencies.

    He said: “The essence of the judicial commission does not have to do with witch-haunting anybody, but to understand things we could not have understood.

    “If he had worked with the transition committee we set up, the committee would have asked one or two questions.  No transition committee was set up by government (Amaechi’s administration).

    “It is only our state that never had any transition committee. We set up our own transition committee. It made every communication it wrote. They did not cooperate with it.”

    Wike also claimed that his predecessor was only trying to use the media to divert attention from the probe panel.

    The governor added:   “He (Amaechi) said he would use all constitutional and legal means.  The commission is not an unconstitutional commission. It is a constitutional and legal commission.

    “Nobody has been indicted. We only asked them to look into matters and ask one or two questions.”

    Wike also reminded all that cares to listen that his predecessor also set up probe panels and was never accused of witch-haunting.

    The governor also debunked the report making the rounds that he was handed a handover note.

    He queried:  “Let us start from the national level. When Jonathan was leaving, did he just handover just the villa? Did he not handover the whole government structure, from one ministry to the other?.”

    The governor said the permanent secretary of the government house never gave him a handover note.

    Meanwhile, Amaechi has insisted that he and his commissioners left handover notes contrary to claims by Governor Wike.

    The former governor also said he did not incur N150billion on road projects in the state.

    Instead, he said the Federal Government still owes the state N108billion for completed federal roads.

    Amaechi, who made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja by his former Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said he did not sell off Rivers State power plants.

    He said the state only sold 70 per cent of its equity in the power plants to investors.

    He said the sale of the equity in the power generating assets’ company was captured as income in the 2014 Appropriation Law.

    The statement said: “On Monday, June 22, Mr. Nyesom Wike, briefed the media and made numerous allegations. These allegations are the same ones that Mr. Wike set up a commission of inquiry to investigate. However in keeping with Rt. Hon Chibuike Amaechi’s commitment to good governance and to transparent and accountable stewardship to Rivers people, we will reiterate the facts.

    “Alleged non- submission of handover notes. There is no truth in this as all commissioners and heads of MDAs submitted their handover notes to the Secretary to State Government who forwarded same to the Head of the State Civil Service as is appropriate.

    “Governor Amaechi also directed the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Engr. Tele Ikuru, to be the liaison between the outgoing administration and the incoming one. Engr. Ikuru as Deputy Chairman of the state Executive Governor and second man in government had all facts necessary to brief the incoming administration.

    “He also had unfettered access to government house and to every commissioner and head of Ministry Department or Agency.”

     

  • Wike’s probe is to witch-hunt me, says Amaechi

    Wike’s probe is to witch-hunt me, says Amaechi

    •‘I won’t waste my energy on Ikuru’ 

    Former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said the “probe” of his administration by his successor, Nyesom Wike, is a sham, a fraudulent witch-hunt meant to deceive the public.

    In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by his former media officer, David Iyofor, the former governor said Wike intended to use the probe to tarnish his image and grab media headlines with his “concocted bogus stories of Amaechi’s alleged corrupt activities”.

    The former governor also took a swipe at his former deputy, Tele Ikuru, following his claims that the Amaechi administration was the most corrupt in the state.

    Ikuru was deputy to Amaechi’s predecessor, Sir Celestine Omehia, for five months, before the administration was sacked by the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007.

    Amaechi was inaugurated as governor the next day and retained Ikuru as his deputy, despite massive protests.

    Ikuru resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) about a week to the March 28 presidential election and teamed up with Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to fight his former boss and benefactor.

    The statement reads: “This so-called Wike’s probe of Amaechi is dead on arrival. All the noise Wike is making is to grab media headlines with his lies of monumental corruption against Amaechi. It’s all drama made for the media. What is playing out is a script written and directed by Nyesom Wike. Wike should move to Nollywood where his devious skills would probably be useful.

    “Even while inaugurating his yeoman commission of enquiry, Wike could not conceal his vendetta agenda. He was clear to the panel members that their job is to indict Amaechi.

    “While it’s no longer in doubt what would be the report of Wike’s sham probe commission, what may shock Nigerians is the extent Wike has gone and is ready to go to manufacture stories of corrupt practices, and the kind of bogus tales of corruption against Amaechi that he will soon be feeding the nation with.

    “We are aware that even the Chairman of his commission of enquiry was shocked and protested when Wike gave him the litany of phony claims of corruption against Amaechi that the chairman would write in the panel’s report. But Wike had assured him not to worry that he had since been working towards arriving at that conclusion and he would provide the commission with all the (fake) evidence needed to arrive at that report.”

  • I’ m a local champion, says Wike

    I’ m a local champion, says Wike

    After a review of his emergence as the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike has described himself as “a local champion.”

    The reason, Wike said is because he has spent all his life in Port Harcourt where he attended his primary, secondary schools and university in the state.

    The only time he said he spent outside Port Harcourt was “when I went to Lagos for my Law School, that is a professional one.”

    Wike who spoke Saturday in Port Harcourt during an interactive forum with reporters also described himself as the engine room of former Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s election into office.

    The governor explained that he was teaching those in Amaechi’s camp the way to play the game of politics, because “there is no polling booth in the state that I do not know or do not know anybody.”

    For those who have been criticizing his emergence as governor, he said, “the fact is that I was prepared for that election.

    “I was a Council Chairman. There is nowhere in this state that I do not know. There is no ward I do not know one person.

    “As I sit down here, I can mention one, one person from each ward. I know the politicians in this state. I know who has strength and who does not have strength.”

    The governor also said that during the course of the campaigns, “I never emaciated one day, the truth of the matter is that if you do the election 100 times in this state, I will win.”

    On the sacked lecturers of Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, Wike said that they were people who have not started work with the school at all.