Corruption: If Buhari Can't Arrest Amaechi, He Hasn't Started - Wike
Aba City Blog Saturday, November 05, 2016 Labels: Politics, Rivers State
The Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration in Rivers State, has said that for President Muhammadu Buhari to convince the nation that he is fighting corruption, the state’s former governor and current Transport minister, Rotimi Ameachi must be arrested and be tried over corruption charges.
L-R: Wike & Amaechi
The government spoke in reaction to the allegations made by the state’s All Progressives Congress, APC, chapter, to the effect that Wike and some PDP big wigs, were the ones who asked some judges to indict Amaechi.
Recall that the APC chairman in the state, Davies Ikanya, had accused Wike, Godswill Akpabio, former Akwa Ibom governor; Udom Emmmanuel, incumbent Akwa Ibom governor; and Ifeanyi Okowa of telling judges to allegedly frame Amaechi up.
Two of the Supreme Court judges, John Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta, whose homes were raided by the operatives of the DSS, had fingered Amaechi, as being responsible for their travails, for allegedly refusing to yield to his (Ameachi) bribe offer, for the purpose of influencing judgments, in two states, in favour of the APC.
Reacting to Ikanya’s statement, Rivers State Information and Communication Commissioner, Austin Tam-George, said, “the attention of the Rivers State Government has been drawn to yet another scurrilous statement by the Rivers State branch of the All Progressives Congress, APC, alleging that Governor Nyesom Wike had a hand in the judicial scandals that have engulfed Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, the minister of transport.
“Governor Wike had refrained from making public comments on this subject, because the people of Rivers State feel sadly vindicated by these latest scandals swirling around the Transport minister. But all the federal anti-corruption agencies have so far treated the serious allegations against Mr. Amaechi with the moral timidity of Lucifer’s wife.
“In the run up to his screening by the Senate for the post of a minister in the federal cabinet in 2015, Nigerians were warned about Mr. Amaechi’s egregious antecedents in public office.
“As governor of Rivers State, Mr. Amaechi left a shameful record of waste and dysfunction. His thoughtless policies and mismanagement of public funds literally broke the economic spine of Rivers State.
“Amaechi’s continuous presence in the federal cabinet is an ugly moral sore, a dark blight on the so-called fight against corruption. Any war against corruption that does not begin with Mr. Amaechi in the dock is a mere fishing expedition,” Tam-George, in a statement, said.
