In my first piece on this subject matter, I resolved to trace the ascendancy of Rotimi Amaechi to the Governorship position of Rivers State under the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) until his carpetcrossing to the All Progressives’ Congress (APC). I equally mentioned briefly his running battles with the Presidency, at which point, Amaechi threw all decency to the Atlantic Ocean and embarked on a mission of unprintable attacks on Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) ex-President of the Nigerian Sovereign State. The totality of it all pointed to the fact that his actions and inactions led to the defeat of the APC in Rivers State by the PDP in all the elections, from the Presidency to the Governorship including the State House of Assembly. That Amaechi refused to vote in the presidential election, also directing his APC faithful members not to vote was a direct action which tilted towards an undefined failure and a fatal bruising of the ego of the ex-Governor.
As a Governor for eight years of four years tenure each way, Director General of the APC’s Presidential Campaign Council and the Chief Campaigner of Dr. Dakuku Peterside, Amaechi’s anointed APC Governorship candidate, he ought not to have lost the elections to the PDP. During the Swearing-In-Ceremony of the President-elect and the Governorselect of the 28 States where the gubernatorial elections took place, Amaechi was nowhere to be found in the State. Instead, he relocated to Abuja inorder to ensure that he did not handover to the Governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike. According to the incumbent Governor, the ceremonial vehicle of the Governor which was to be used for the ceremony suddenly disappeared from the State. Rivers State had to proceed to Ondo State to borrow one of such vehicles from the Governor.
This was the height of Amaechi’s type of democratic traits and values. Governor Wike alleged that about 70 per cent of the State’s power assets were sold at $302,400,000.00 and that of this huge sum of money, $202 million was paid as part of the total sum. According to Nyesom Wike, the part payment was effected in December 2014 and as at April 2015; the money had vapourised from the State’s Bank Account. The Governor further revealed that the Accountant General and the Transition Committee’s report stated a zero sum of money in the States’ Bank Account where the monthly federation allocations were lodged. In reaction to this zero Account as being canvassed by Governor Wike, Amaechi claimed that seven billion was left for the incoming administration. I expect a follow-up reaction from Amaechi’s group in no distant date.
Why then should this amount be left fallow in the State’s Bank Account while at the same time, workers were yet to be paid their salaries for two months. Amaechi’s ought not to be worried about the position of the PDP led Government in Rivers State, afterall, other new Governors are also claiming that they are confronted with empty bank statements. Some other Governors are not bold enough to proclaim their empty treasures because of the factors of godfatherism and the fact that both the previous and the new Governors belong to the same Political Party. In my candid view virtually all the Federating States are completely broke and the more reason why majority of them cannot pay their workers salaries. As at May 26, 27 and 28, 2015, Governor Wike also alleged that the Amaechi led Government withdrew several millions of naira from the various Rivers States’ Bank Accounts. He cited an instance whereby some persons collected N10 million each from one of the Banks.
Another Instance as alleged by the new Governor was the withdrawal of N200 million in cash also from the States’ Bank Account. Nyesom Wike equally said that the Bank did not honour the last cheque of N700 million which was to be withdrawn in cash. These senseless cash withdrawal from the State’s coffers cannot be swept aside without the investigation of the anti-graft security apparatus of State inorder to authenticate these allegations against Amaechi and his Government by the new Governor. Hence, I am in full support of the Judicial Commission of inquiry already constituted by the Governor to find-out these financial circumstances. It is also necessary due to the fact that Amaechi did not handover to the present Governor coupled with the fact that the estwhile Governor did not even deem it necessary to constitute a Transition Committee which was expected to work with the Wike’s Committee.
In the absence of this, it becomes much more difficult to know exactly the assets and liabilities of Rivers State. The only way out is to set-up a commission of inquiry as a fact-finding organ inorder for the Wike’s Government to have a clearer picture of what happened to the monies and properties of the State. In reaction to this, Amaechi has vowed to frustrate the work and functioning of the Commission through the judicial process of obtaining court orders. If the Amaechi were thorough, why then should he be scared of a mere Commission of Inquiry? Afterall, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as a sitting president honoured the invitation extended to him by the Oputa Panel. The ex-Governor should summon enough courage to appear before the commission as it is a unique opportunity for him to throw more light into what transpired during his regime. I see the commission, as being constituted, as a step in the right direction.
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