… ‘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.”
