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Tag: Rotimi Amaechi

  • Rotimi Amaechi: The triumph of reward and justice

    Rotimi Amaechi: The triumph of reward and justice

    Moses Akinola Makinde, a Professor of Philosophy and Director-General/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State, in this piece extols the virtues of former Rivers State Governor and Minister-designate Rotimi Amaechi

    I congratulate the distinguished members of the Nigerian Senate, especially the APC senators, on the screening as a prelude to confirmation of Hon. Rotimi Amaechi as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Judging from the intrigues, evil machinations, hatred and gigantic stumbling blocks put on his way by his detractors whom he had fought to a standstill since he defected from the PDP to APC, we cannot expect the PDP to support his screening and confirmation under any disguise.

    The vociferous hues and cries and hate campaigns by Governor Wike and his PDP collaborators in Rivers State might just as well have been a fall out of his running battle with Goodluck and Patience Jonathan on their running battle with them over the years. That Rotimi Amaechi withstood all the battles from several fronts- Jonathan, Patience, Wike and Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbuh- is something that goes beyond human comprehension and says something about the character of the man as a dogged fighter and a man of destiny.

    If the Senate had rejected Amaechi’s nomination by Buhari and later refused to screen him because of spurious and orchestrated charges of unproven corruption against him, it would have been a monstrous injustice. On the purported corruption charge against him by his antagonist’s  (Wike’s) panel of inquiry upon which the PDP in the senate hinged their hope of thwarting his screening, Amaechi said, “i came here with a copy of the so-called panel report. There was nowhere that the judicial panel report indicted me”. Yet, out of mischief, the Wike white paper report fraudulently smuggled in an indictment into the original report, not minding the fact that the indictment was not a terminating judgement in a competent court of law which is the only thing that could be used against him. The APC was aware of the intrigues of the Rivers state Government to unjustly thwart Amaechi’s screening, in spite of his intimidating pedigree, in order to satisfy the desperate wish of Governor Wike and his likes in the conspicuous game of vendetta and not in the interest of the people of Rivers state and the nation.

    Of all the nominees for screening, Rotimi Amaechi stood out by virtue of his impressive and impeccable pedigree. From tradition, the Senate had always favoured nominees who had been Governors, Senators, members of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies. Many of the nominees who fell into this category were accorded this privilege. This is where the Senate President did very well when he reminded the minority leader, Senator Akpabio, of this long and existing tradition. Rotimi Amaechi had been a two term Speaker in the Rivers State House of Assembly, two term Speaker, Secretary conference of speakers, two term Governor of the same state, two term Chairman of the Governor’s Forum and Director-General of the APC campaign organisation. This was not lost to Senators in both parties. When he was asked to speak, he introduced himself and then addressed the Senators, confidently and brilliantly answered all questions put to him. With these answers, he seemed to have silenced all oppositions, regardless of the PDP’s refusal to ask him questions. Everybody was dazed and spellbound by his clarification and answers. Consequently, he was asked by the senate President to bow and go without the much expected opposition from the floor of the Senate. And so the waiting game was over for a nominee who had attracted more publicity and anxiety than all others put together. In fact, the unnecessary controversy surrounding Amaechi’s nomination and the interest it generated in Nigeria and the outside world had made him the star and hero of the Buhari’s ministerial nominees, being the most talked about everywhere you go.

    While I congratulate Amaechi for weathering the storm created for him by his traducers, especially the Governor of Rivers State who had hurriedly put up a judicial panel of inquiry aimed at stalling his impending screening and confirmation by the Senate, I think bigger congratulations go to APC members of the Senate who stood firmly behind their own. In this respect it is important to note what the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, said: “PDP can’t stop Amaechi”, because “the Senate belongs to APC, not PDP” Vanguard October 22, 2015 (front page) and The Nation, “PDP can’t stop Amaechi’s screening”, page 4.

    Surely, it would have been a tragedy of monumental proportion if APC which has majority members in the Senate (58:48) should bow in defeat to the minority PDP over the screening and confirmation of Amaechi under the circumstances stated above. Such could not happen under the PDP controlled Senate, and I have no record of that happening anywhere in the world where a minority would have their way against that of a majority. Apart from this, APC Senators have demonstrated their respect for President Buhari who nominated Amaechi, and the President would not have expected his Senators to disgrace him on the floor of the Senate on this crucial matter. The situation might just as well have been a battle between President Buhari and the former President through the PDP senators. So, if Amaechi had lost out, Jonathan and his associates would have won and celebrated the feat, and President Buhari utterly disgraced. This is why the APC Senators have to be congratulated.

    I think they will learn from this exercise and close ranks to always speak with one voice especially as they are in total control of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Presidency. As for Amaechi, the man of the moment, I congratulate him for his patience, amazing resilience, doggedness, consistency as a fighter, and his outstanding qualities and performance at the screening exercise which is a sure preclude to his confirmation as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The APC’s gain from this exercise is the sudden realization that it is the party in government this time around. They should not mess themselves up lest the PDP take advantage of their disunity. They should realise that when they were in power, the PDP was so united that APC could not penetrate their ranks, which was why they ruled, albeit ingloriously, for 16 years!

    The APC has the majority in the Senate and House of Representatives like the PDP before them. If the APC are united, they can use their majority of ten to their advantage from now till the kingdom come.  But the PDP, in spite of being in the minority, has threatened “to oppose Amaechi’s confirmation when the time comes”, which seems to me a tall order. Would the APC allow this to happen? I hear somebody say, “not in this universe”.

  • How Nigerians reacted to Amaechi’s corruptions claims

    How Nigerians reacted to Amaechi’s corruptions claims

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  • Ministerial screening: Amaechi’s responses to Senate

    Ministerial screening: Amaechi’s responses to Senate

    The screening of ministerial nominees resumed on Thursday, with the screening of six nominees including former River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and ex-Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

    Rotimi Amaechi

    • Whether I become minister or not, it will be on record that I once attend the Senate screening.
    • My administration worked to restore the old glory of Port Harcourt.
    • We now have almost 24-hour power supply in Rivers State.
    • Rivers State was the first state to introduce Fiscal Responsibility Law.
    • My administration redefined governance and reposition Rivers State.
    • Governors’ Forum acts as check to FG’s excesses.
    • I was born to fight for my rights.
    • I don’t like corruption.
    • I was chased out to Ghana because I fought for my rights.
    • Resources are in Niger Delta and they should be treated fairly
    • We must diversify economy and invest in education.
    • We must remove corruption and invest in power.
    • Without improved power supply, there can’t be industrialization.
    • I was never indicted by any panel.
    • Corruption is a wide concept and very difficult to define.
    • Present mono-economic situation in Nigeria cannot address unemployment.
    • If we keep to rule of law and keep away impunity, government will function.

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  • Amaechi, five others listed for screening

    Amaechi, five others listed for screening

    Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and five other ministerial nominees have been listed for Thursday’s screening at the Senate.

    Other nominees that will face the lawmakers on Thursday are – Heineken Lokpobiri, Claudius Omoleye Daramola, Prof. Adewole Isaac, Shehuri Mustapha and Ocholi James.

  • Photo: List of Ministerial nominees

    Photo: List of Ministerial nominees

     

    Ministerial List 2

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ministerial List New

  • Again, Rotimi Amaechi in the Spotlight

    SIR: The media has recently been flooded with reports, advertorials and all sorts about corruption in Rivers State, accusing former governor, Chibuike Amaechi of fraud, unlawful enrichment and conversion of state funds apparently in a bid to force the hands of President Muhammadu Buhari against Amaechi whose immense support and contributions towards the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last presidential elections cannot be over-emphasized.

    While there has been a robust defense by the Amaechi camp on the issues raised, many opposed to the former governor mostly believed to be of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Rivers State have insisted on putting Amaechi in the spotlight with the smear of corruption.

    In view of Amaechi’s achievements in Rivers State as governor, it seems awkward that people from his own state would come up with such spurious allegations, though clearly instigated by his political enemies. The expanded and reconstructed roads, flyovers and bridges, the revamped education sector which was taken over from Local Government authorities to raise the standards, the establishment of a proper Agriculture sector with the Songhai farm and other productive farms across the state, a total overhaul of the State’s healthcare sector with functional Primary health centres in all LGAs, power generation particularly the decentralization of power distribution points with the construction of various power sub-stations. All these and more they seem to have forgotten.

    A man with such purpose for the growth and development of his state and people wouldn’t do a sudden 360 degrees if he had the chance to do it already within his first seven years of service or even while he served as Speaker of the State House of Assembly for two tenures.

    His transparency was also seen in the constant stakeholders’ accountability meetings, town hall meetings where he conferred and answered questions from the people directly and in their domains, as well as acting on feedback generated from followers and supporters on social media as regards issues of the state.

    Being the closest link from Rivers State to the Presidency, Amaechi who consistently spoke up and stood against injustice meted out to the state by the erstwhile Goodluck Jonathan administration should indeed be hailed and not painted as the villain. One of such injustices was the ceding of Oil Wells from Rivers State to other neighbouring states, thereby directly dwindling the resources and revenue due to the State. As chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Amaechi also stood against irregularities in governance and was never on the side of one political party against another, but for one Nigeria and a better nation; he brought the governors together and acted in one accord.

    Now let’s review the allegations brought against this man, the response and why we the people and indeed the presidency should strive to be on the right path no matter how loud the opposition wails.

    The desperate move by the opposition to tarnish Amaechi’s image and place him out of favour with the federal government he helped installed, pushed his accusers to draw hasty, uninformed and jaundiced conclusions.

    On the supposed fraudulent sale of power projects and conversion of its proceeds, the so called Integrity Group only outlined the sale and failed to do its home work on the proceeds which subsequently has since been captured in the 2014 Appropriation Law of the State as one of the sources of revenue to fund the 2014 budget. This inclusion was explained in the reply signed by former Secretary to the Rivers State Government, George Feyii and former Commissioner of Finance, Chamberlain Peterside.

    It read in part “…the sale of this equity (70%) was particularly informed by the following considerations: the federal government had commenced a privatization process to unbundle the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to drive efficiency, … Need to engender efficiency in the management of the power assets so that its benefits could be felt by the generality of the people of Rivers State, … the state government does not have the requisite manpower to manage the facilities, and … the need to augment revenue in the face of dwindling federal allocation to the state.”

    Another unverified and distorted claim by the accusers was that funds were transferred from the power assets sale proceeds accounts with Access Bank Plc to the accounts of three private companies calling it ‘a glaring case of stealing…’ Meanwhile the response by Amaechi’s people clarifies that, “the companies that were erroneously portrayed as fronts for looting the funds were actually those that bought the US Dollars and made remittances of Naira equivalents into the Rivers State Revenue Account with Zenith Bank.”

    Firstly, “Payments of the assets were made in several tranches between 2012 and 2014; All proceeds of the sale made in US Dollars were lodged in the Rivers State Power Assets Sale Account with Access Bank; the USD proceeds were sold to willing buyers at a rate higher than the prevailing CBN rates at the time, and the Naira equivalent lodged by the buyers into the Rivers state revenue account at Zenith Bank.”

    The response also explained that the funds were used alongside others from other revenue sources to finance various government projects and activities and clearly attached a statement of account of the State for the relevant period as proof.

    Other rumours that such entities like RISONPALM, SUPABOD (now SPAR) AND OLYMPIA HOTEL (Radisson Blu Olympia) were sold by the Amaechi administration has also been debunked. These previously moribund entities were leased or concessioned but never sold, and would revert to the state government at the end of the lease period.

    Also, the claim that the Amaechi administration kept mum over the failure of Clinotech Diagnostics to fulfill its part on the Public Private Partnership it signed with the Rivers State Government for the building and operation of a mega Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt is totally false.

    The first blunder by the petitioners is referring to Clinotech as a separate entity from Clinoriv. The government signed a MoU with Clinotech, not Clinoriv. Clinoriv was only coined to reflect the joint venture. The second mistake was claiming that the former governor awarded a fresh contract to Clinotech on the same project. This is wrong as the contract was not awarded twice. The State Executive Council simply suspended the 60% to 40% joint venture between Clinotech and the State Government and awarded it as a turnkey contract to Clinotech with direct (100%) funding by the government. However, on Clinotech’s failure to keep the agreement, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, then Governor reported Harrison Ofiyai, CEO of Clinotech to the then Commissioner of Police alleging a case of breach of contract and fraudulent diversion of funds. The police conducted an investigation on the matter and came up with a report.

    Following the failure of the project, the Rivers State Government according to the response by Amaechi’s camp “executed a memo of Agreement on May 9, 2014 with VMS-WILLEMEN consortium for the completion of the Justice Adolphus Karibi Whyte Hospital on a build, Operate and Transfer basis.”

    On the third allegation of unlawful enrichment of Messers Collect (Nig) Limited, it is now clear that the tenure of Skye bank PLC as revenue consultant ended in December 2014 and Collect Solutions Limited was appointed as the new consultants with a mandate to further increase the monthly revenue from N7.5b monthly where Skye Bank got it to from the average of N2.5b when Amaechi became governor.

    According to the response by the Amaechi team, “Appointment of revenue consultants is within the powers of the state government and Amaechi’s administration only exercised that power in appointing Collect solutions Limited. Having been duly appointed, the consulting company is entitled to its remuneration.”

    Those petitioners and their sponsors trying to tarnish Amaechi’s image should have a rethink and desist from the lowly act, but rather hold the current Wike administration in Rivers State to account. Yes, for Governor Wike to account for all the billions of naira collected by his administration since May 29, including the N30billion loan he collected within 30 days in office. For Wike to account to the people of Rivers State just like former governor Amaechi did when he was in office. We must promote excellence in Rivers State typified by former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. This distraction of trying to pull Amaechi down and erase his lasting laudable legacies in Rivers State cannot and will not fly.

     

    • Maxi Gogo is the Secretary-General of Rivers Peoples’ Forum(RPF).
  • Comrade and his women

    Comrade and his women


    [dropcap]W[/dropcap]e arrived Abeokuta in the first ink of dusk, at about 5:00pm. We were visiting the city’s most iconic figure, the white-haired, white-bearded, tall, grand fellow of many battles and accolades.

    Before we made the turn to the bush, a sign was unmistakable. Louis Odion, the writer in resting, who sat beside me in the car, read the sign. Roared Louis in a guttural register: “Any trespasser will be shot and eaten.”

    The imprimatur of the poet. All around were trees. We drove on, and a sense of rural splendour fell over me. The serenity of trees. Birds. Leaves in lush colour. Earth Edenic. Modernity alienated. A shadow cast not by twilight but by the peculiar colouring of a forest. It was as though I was on my way to my mother’s home village in Delta State.

    In a few moments, we saw what looked like a clearing. Looking farther, a big house, unpainted but tasteful, with a grandeur one would describe as quaint. Nothing ornate. Not the windows, not the stairwell. It was a house sitting in arboreal paradise.

    The vehicles parked, and in a few moments, the guest of honour, the sprightly Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole  and his elegant wife, Lara, materialised from a vehicle. We moved in and waiting was chief host, playwright, poet, writer extraordinaire Wole Soyinka. It was billed as a lunch but the vagaries of technology associated with his flight arrangement turned it into a dinner. Former governors, Babatunde Raji Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, had visited earlier in the day.

    As we sat, I delved into wordplay and described the setting as “Adamic.” The Edo Governor appreciated it and turned to his wife and they exchanged a joke about the Garden of Eden, and the wife quipped that if the Governor was the Adam, then she would be the Eve. At that moment I started to contemplate Adams, just as W.S. served wine and later asked us to the dinner table with his wife Folake.

    I thought here was Adams, and the story of the man in the past few months revolved around women. The first was his wedding. He, a Nigerian, above 60, and the bride young and from Cape Verde. The news generated quite an attention.

    Those who attacked, especially young men, were probably envious it was not them. Those women who condemned the bride, mostly girls, were also envious she was not them. I wonder what W.S. thought about the couple during the bonhomie of conversation over wine and food.

    He, too, wedded Folake, but to less flurry of envious rage, maybe because we did not have Internet or Facebook then. But essentially he was a prophet of his own nuptials with his play, The Lion and the Jewel. I told myself, we had two lions and two jewels at the table.

    Nothing about this irony propped up in the conversation, and so I reined in my mischief. I took my time to watch, speak with and listen to a man I had admired all my life. That was enough peace for me eating his jolof rice, fried plantain and fish with the lubricating grace of red wine.

    But what I also thought of were Oshiomhole’s other women. The one was former so-called coordinating minister of the economy, Okonjo-Iweala and, of course, the big-eyed oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. When the Edo Governor started lashing out at the other women, attention swiftly turned from his beauty parlour to the beasts of the economy.

    Adams had noted how the so-called World Bank, Harvard and all the phony accolades of western brilliance of the finance minister gave us nothing but poverty. Ngozi was a failure. She was a disaster. When the Edo governor reeled out her financial iniquities, I felt especially vindicated.

    Very early I was not moved by her resume. She was not trained for the Nigerian economy, just like her bow-tie colleague now roosting like hens in another African agricultural employment. She was trained about the dependency of African economies.

    I know because I attended quite a few of them and I inoculated myself against their paradigms. She did not and that explains why she met a buoyant purse and left a leaky one.

    Then he visited the United States with President Muhammadu Buhari, and when he returned he unleashed a bombshell. One minister stole as much as six billion dollars from our purse.

    How much is that in naira? In my own calculation, it is at least N1.2 trillion. That money will pay all the salaries owed the state workers, build quite a respectable cancer centre in the country. He would not say who the minister is out of decency. But we cannot but know that the finger pointed at the oil minister. She was the only one who could have had that kind of access.

    The American officials cannot say such a grave thing without evidence. Diezani was the worst of the Jonathan era. She was a disgrace of a minister just as Jonathan was a scandal of a president.

    We raked in the most money in that era, we are broke today because of them. Adams had to come out with the facts because he, too, was outraged. It was Adams the activist, the fulminating labour leader that squared off against Iweala and Madueke.

    Was it not in the same era we had other women, like Mama Peace, and Stella Oduah. Mama peace, the first lady, with whom many Nigerians lost patience, spoke as though the nation was a Mammy Market and all Nigerians were subaltern, backwater denizens without culture.

    The evening eventually came to an end after close to four hours of exchange of jokes, ideas, etc. I could not but also note the sheer number of carved masterpieces in W.S. home. I called back his recollections of his search for an African artifact to as far away as Brazil. He wonderfully delineated the adventure in his memoirs, You Must Set Forth At Dawn.

    We left into the bush again, and then back into the urban jungle. But it was a gradual descent into modernity. We saw buildings here and there  interspersed with bushes until it was bricks and tars and cars.

  • Update: Jonathan changed Nigeria’s political history – Buhari

    Update: Jonathan changed Nigeria’s political history – Buhari

    The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday said the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan has changed the course of Nigeria’s political history for good.

    He made the remark after President Jonathan handed over executive summary of the handover notes and a copy of the National Conference report to him.

    The ceremony was held at the Presidential Villa after Buhari and the Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, were conducted round some offices and facilities at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Buhari maintained that Jonathan’s singular act of conceding defeat has not only earned the respect of Nigerians but also of world leaders.

    He said: “Until I read and digest this notes from the President, I don’t think I will be in a position to make any strong contribution.

    “But what I will say is since the telephone call you made, you have changed the course of Nigeria’s political history. For that you have earned yourself a place in our history, for stabilising this system of multi party democracy and you have earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders.

    “All the leaders that spoke to me and congratulated us for arriving at the point we arrived, mentioned this and I could understand, a lot of relief in their voices that Nigeria has made it after all  and this is largely owed to a situation.

    “If you had wanted to make things difficult, you could have made things difficult and that would have been at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians, but you chose the part of honour and may God help all of us. Thank you very much your Excellency.”

    Part of President-elect’s entourage to the seat of power include the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Oyegun, members of the two parties’ transition committees, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Muhammed.

     

  • Governors meet under one forum

    Governors meet under one forum

    Outgoing governors, re-elected ones and their incoming colleagues yesterday met in Abuja under an enlarged forum.

    It was the first time the governors would be meeting in their numbers after the May 2013 disputed election of the Nigeria Governors Forum where the Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Jonah Jang (Plateau) factions emerged.

    The meeting, which insiders said was a reconciliatory move by the governors, started at 8.30 pm at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

    Present at the meeting were governors of Rivers, Delta, Niger, Zamfara, Edo, Kwara, Osun, Kaduna, Borno, Kebbi, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue and Oyo.

    Others were Deputy Governors of Nasarawa, Imo and Kogi States and the Governor-Elect of Kano State.

    The meeting was still ongoing as at the time of filing this report at 10.05 pm.

     

  • Buhari inaugurates transition committee

    Buhari inaugurates transition committee

    President elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday inaugurated the much awaited transition committee with a warning to members not be on a fault finding mission, but to study the hand over notes and advise him on how to avoid the mistakes of the past.

    The 19 -member committee headed by a retired Permanent Secretary and elder statesman, Alhaji Ahmed Joda has as members, the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun,, Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi and former Abia State governor, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who will serve as the Vice Chairman.

    Other members are – former Kaduna State governor, Brig. Gen, Lawal Ja’afaru Isah, former Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, former Petroleum Resources Minister, Prof. Tam David West and former Chairman of the National Population Commission, Chief Festus Odimegwu.

    Also included are – National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Director of Organisation of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Boss Mustapha as well as Dr. Doyin Salami, Adamu Adamu, Chief Wale Edun, Mrs. Bola Adesola, Mrs. Nike Aboderin, Senator Ahmadu Serika, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, Mohammed Hayatudeen and  Barrister Solomon Dalung.

    Speaking while inaugurating the committee, Buhari told them to bear in mind that they were not in a fault finding mission, but to go for the facts as what has been done in the past cannot be undone,

    “I thank you all collectively and individually for accepting to serve on this committee at a very short notice. The change from one government to another always involves complicated operational challenges and we all know that government is a continuum.

    “But the incoming government needs to know where the previous government stopped so that it can know where to continue. Luckily, you are all outstanding men and women of competence and experience in different fields.

    “This assignment, onerous though, it is well within your ability to accomplish. You are enquired to assess the information provided to you and advise me on its quality and accuracy,” the President-elect told the committee members.