• Says facts prove seized N42bn Ikoyi loot belongs to state
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has once again stated that former governor of the state and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, misappropriated the state’s funds, while reiterating that the N42 billion recovered in Osborne Road apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, was part of the loot.
Speaking on a television programme in Lagos, yesterday, Wike said Amaechi cannot account for billions of naira belonging to the state. He accused the Federal Government of shielding Amaechi from prosecution because the former governor financed the 2015 general elections for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor also stated that the failure of the former governor to fund the operation of security agencies for over six months, during his second term, contributed to the degeneration of security in the state.
Wike pointed out that Amaechi’s closure of courts for two years negatively affected security in the state, as security agencies were overwhelmed by the challenges of managing suspects, while Rivers people were denied avenues to ventilate their grievances.
He said: “No despotic leader in the world had ever shut down courts. Amaechi entered the Guinness book of records for this notorious act of denying people access to justice.
“Amaechi used part of the $309 million proceeds of the Rivers State Gas Turbine sale to fund the APC, which is why the party rallies around him to shield him from prosecution in spite of his several indictments.”
On his claim that the money recovered from Ikoyi apartment belonged to Rivers, he said: “The presidential panel has not invited us to substantiate our ownership of the Ikoyi billions and hasn’t released the report as well. So, we are waiting for that before taking our next steps.
“Let the panel release the report of their findings on the money. We have claimed ownership of the money and it is only right for us to be given a fair hearing.
“We have facts to prove that the money belongs to the River State Government. No judgment can be final.”
Meanwhile, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged Amaechi and Wike to stop dragging names of their spouses or families “in the political mud of discord.”
In a statement by the association National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA asked the duo to exercise restraint and decorum and respect their distinctive families.
HURIWA admonished them to limit their disagreements “to pure ideological crusade and argue based on political facts and figures and avoid the temptation of reducing their conversations in the public domain to the ‘bedroom issues’ of their wives or children because, the family, as the foundation that builds an enduring society, must not be destroyed because of temporary political fights.
“We plead with these two political giants of the Niger Delta to respect the African traditional value system and leave their families out of their temporary political infighting. The family’s sanctity must not be unduly violated.”