Wike: Any anti-graft war that doesn’t begin with Amaechi is a mere expedition

The administration of Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, has described as a “fishing expedition” any anti-corruption fight that does not begin with Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation.

The Rivers government said this in response to the allegations that Wike and some PDP big wigs asked some judges to indict Amaechi.

Davies Ikanya, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, had accused Wike, Godswill Akpabio, former Akwa Ibom governor; Udom EMmmanuel, incumbent Akwa Ibom governor; and Ifeanyi Okowa of telling judges to rope Amaechi.

John Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta of the supreme court had said Amaechi attempted to offer them bribe.

But Ikanya described the judges claims as lies, saying four PDP politicians were hell bent on pulling the minister down.

Reacting to Ikanya’s statement, Austin Tam-George, RIver’s commissioner for information and communication, said “all the federal anti-corruption agencies have so far treated the serious allegations against Mr. Amaechi with the  moral timidity of Lucifer’s wife”.

“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,” he said in a statement.

“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.

“In the run up to his screening by the Senate for the post of 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 also alleged that leaders of the APC had been commending Amaechi for his “enormous financial contributions” to the campaign of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He accused Amaechi of looting of billions of naira belonging to the state in order to bankroll the campaign of the ruling party.

“Amaechi has of course always protested his innocence. But even chieftains of his party, the APC, including serving governors, have publicly praised Mr Amaechi for bankrolling the party’s presidential campaigns in the 2015 general elections, and for sponsoring candidates in that election,” he said.

“Amaechi’s financial contributions to the APC, estimated to be in billions of naira, constitute a serious financial crime against the people of Rivers State.

“The allegations made against the transport minister by the justices of the court are therefore hardly surprising, because the scandals fall within a pattern of his moral turpitude in public life.”