The recent allegation of financial sleaze levelled by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State against his immediate predecessor and Minister of Transportation, Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, vis-a-vis past similar allegations and efforts at recovering the alleged stolen state funds.GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, again, caused a stir during a church thanksgiving service, in Port Harcourt, last Sunday, when he declared that former Governor Rotimi Amaechi allegedly took a whopping sum of $150 million belonging to the state to finance the campaign activities of his political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the build-up to the 2015 national elections.

The governor, by his latest utterance, added his voice to the speculation that Amaechi allegedly single-handedly financed, up to 80 per cent, the cost incurred by APC to prosecute the 2015 presidential election. Wike said the former governor spent the huge sum between December 1 and 18, 2014. He vowed to recover all the stolen money belonging to the state and called for a comprehensive fight against corruption and canvassed support for the prosecution of all those allegedly behind the looting of the state fund.

“The national chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said his party did not wish to lose Rivers, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Bayelsa states because they are the resource base of the nation, even if the price of oil is going down.

“Well, I don’t blame him, because from 1st to 8th December, 2014, they took from Rivers State coffers $150 million and change it at the bureau de change to finance APC campaigns. That was the period we were having primaries. So, Rivers was also like the finance base of APC”, he had said at the thanksgiving service.

However, the former governor responded swiftly, describing the claim by Wike as a “fairy tale” and part of a calculated attempt to denigrate, disparage and smear his name before the people of the state. Amaechi, in a statement issued from his media office, last Monday, described the latest allegation as  a “new imaginary tale, another bogus and fallacious concoction…”, challenging Wike to approach the courts and prove his allegations with facts and documents.

“All sorts of spurious stories about alleged corruption and stealing of state funds against the Amaechi administration have been bandied in the media with no attempt to substantiate or prove these distorted false claims that completely makes nonsense of common sense.”

In the same vein, the state leadership of APC, in its reaction to the allegation, said it was “a big lie taken from the very depth of hell.” Rivers APC publicity secretary, Mr Chris Finebone, in response had said, he was also sure that Wike only made the allegation to please his audience and would not take a step further, adding that “Wike talks big and tough, but behind his tough-talking is a coward.

“He won’t advance that accusation beyond the comfort of his audience. His deeds are awaiting him and at the appropriate time he’ll be held to account. If he is serious, let him go to court and summon Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. But you can be sure that he won’t do because he knows that Amaechi is without blemish.”

The latest allegation by Wike, though a fresh one, did not really come as a surprise, as the people of the state have been inundated with several of such allegations of financial sleaze and corrupt acts allegedly perpetrated by the immediate past administration in the state. Could it then be said that the governor made the allegation only to score a cheap political point? Put differently, could there be any element of truth in the daring assertions by both Amaechi and Rivers APC? Does the governor have any element of fact with which to back the allegation of corruption against his former boss? Or has he developed cold feet in his avowed quest to rid the state of sleaze?

Shortly before his assumption of office on May 29, 2015, Wike had made it clear to all, his administration’s desire to recover the funds of the state allegedly looted by the immediate past Governor Amaechi’s administration. He emphatically declared on May 25 that he would start the anti-corruption crusade in the state by probing Amaechi’s handling of the state’s resources and the funds accruable to it.

To achieve this, Wike said his administration would carry out a forensic audit of all government accounts to ensure the recovery of all resources allegedly stolen by top officials of the outgoing administration in the state. Wike said the days of impunity and massive corruption were over in the state. He expressed optimism that the czar of the anti-corruption crusade, President Muhammadu Buhari, would support his bid to make Rivers a test-case in the fight against corruption, noting that a comprehensive and holistic approach would be adopted in fighting corrupt elements in order to entrench fiscal discipline in the state.

“I am not going to be intimidated. The only way we can work together is to check the ills of the past. The right thing must be done. Those who have stolen the resources of the state must be made to account. I have the political will to drive the process to its logical conclusion. The massive stealing of government resources was a deliberate attempt to create problems for the incoming administration”, he had said then.

In his maiden (and only one since then) meeting with journalists, last June, the governor claimed that about N45 billion, being the proceeds from the sale of 70 per cent of the four state-owned power plants, was taken from the state coffers between December 2014 and April 2015.

“Okay, they said we sold our power plants by 70 per cent at $302 million. They started paying on October 29, 2013 and the first money paid was $35 million. After two days, they withdrew the $35 million through Bureau de Change. In December 2014, they paid $220 million to the Rivers State account with Access Bank. By April, not one dollar remained in the account.

“December period was the heat of politics; primary and the rest, is it not? Then, the election was going to be February 28 before it was moved to March 28 and April 11. By March, the whole money was gone. What is the value of $220 million now? We are talking about nothing less than 45 billion Naira”, he had told newsmen then.

The governor, last year, set up the Justice George Omereji-led Judicial Commission of Inquiry to look into the alleged illegal sales of assets of the state and the various projects executed by the former governor. The terms of reference of the commission included a look into the sale of the Omoku 150 MW gas turbine, Afam 360 MW gas turbine, Trans-Amadi 136 MW gas turbine and the Eleme 75 MW gas turbine, the execution of the equally controversial mono-rail project, non-execution of the Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte Specialist Hospital, after the alleged payment of $39.2 million to the contractor that handled the project.

The commission was also mandated to look into the execution of the Olympiad Hotel, which was described as another conduit pipe to siphon the state funds; investigate the disbursement and use of the state N2 billion agriculture credit guarantee scheme fund and an alleged withdrawal of N96 billion from the State Reserve Funds.

Amaechi and his former commissioners refused to appear before the commission throughout its sittings, claiming that the commission was subjudiced, pre-determined and set up with one sole aim, that is, nailing him and his aides to the cross. After about four months of sitting, the Omereji commission of inquiry submitted its report to the Rivers State government on October 7, 2015. The report indicted former Governor Amaechi, alleging that a total sum of N53 billion Rivers State’s funds got missing under his watch between 2014 and May, 2015.

Speaking with newsmen after submitting the report and its recommendation to the governor, chairman of the commission, Justice Omereji, specifically said there was N55 billion in the Rivers State Reserve Fund up till last year, adding that “but between 2014 and May, 2015, they were able to remove N53 billion. We found out that the money was not used for the projects in the state; it went to some individuals. This finding was from their own paper submitted to us. We also discovered that the money was given to people they like.

“We went to some of the projects’ sites. Like at the Justice Adolphous Karibe-Whyte Specialist Hospital, we did not see anything at all when we went there. When I even told the project contractor that we should go to the basement, he was afraid, saying that snakes would bite us.  But I insisted and told him that even if we see a snake, we would march on it and it would die. Behold, when we went inside, nothing. The billions of Naira given to the man were all in vain. There was nothing to show for the money. On the Olympia Hotel, I was disappointed because of the nature of the agreement they said they reached. But we have recommended something to the state government on what should be done.”

Accepting the report and the recommendations, the state government subsequently issued a White Paper, even as Governor Wike said the recommendations would be implemented to the letter, vowing that the said looted state funds would be fully recovered. Addressing newsmen, some days later, the state Commissioner for Housing, Mr Emma Okah, implored Amaechi and his indicted aides to return the looted funds back to the state or face prosecution.

But months after the submission of the Omereji Report and the subsequent issuance of a Government White Paper, there has been no significant development as relating to efforts at recovering the alleged stolen Rivers funds, even as the principal target, Amaechi who is a key member of the Buhari-led Federal Government, continues to claim that he is not corrupt. The prevailing uncertainty over the Omereji Report undoubtedly buoyed the confidence of the Amaechi camp in the quest to recover the funds, especially as it concerns the latest revelation, the $150 million allegedly spent to finance APC elections, with the former governor saying: “It continues to baffle us, like most right-thinking Nigerians that Governor Wike will stand in a church­-a solemn place of worship- and carelessly, brusquely tell such a profound lie. He condescendingly descended to falsely and indecorously shout corruption against Amaechi, without providing a single shred of evidence to back his claims. How pathetic!

“Who collected the $150million on behalf of APC? From which of the state government account(s) was the $150million taken from? How was the $150million taken and given to APC? Was it by wired transfer from Rivers State government account(s) to APC account(s)?,” Amaechi asked, adding that the allegation was an “old worn-out trick of Governor Wike to hoodwink and distract Rivers people from the real issues.”

However, two pressure groups operating within the state are not impressed by the stand of former Governor Amaechi in respect of the efforts at recovering the state stolen funds. The two groups, the ‘Integrity Group’ and ‘Rivers Awake’, convinced that some monies were truly missing, are challenging Wike to take a bold step towards the recovery of the funds and are equally calling on Amaechi to come out clearly and defend himself.

Consequent upon his indictment by the Omereji judicial commission of inquiry, the Integrity Group had, last August, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the former governor over the alleged missing money. The group had also published in some national newspapers, last year, some incriminating documents against Amaechi.

With no positive response coming from the Presidency, EFCC or ICPC, the Executive Director of the group, Livingstone Wechie, penultimate Sunday, issued a statement, challenging the former governor to account for about N70 billion belonging to the state. Reminding the two anti-graft bodies of the need to prosecute Amaechi, Wechie, in the statement, claimed that his group had documents to prove its call for the probe of the Minister of Transportation, as contained in the first petition to President Buhari, EFCC and ICPC.

“It is reported, though curiously, that he, Rotimi Amaechi, as Transport Minister, has ordered the probe on corruption in the various agencies under his Ministry. We hold that Rotimi Amaechi has no right whatsoever to talk of corruption probe, as corruption cannot probe corruption.

“This is because Amaechi has not denied these allegations and has neither instituted any legal action in any court against his indictment by the Justice Omereji-led panel Report as contained in the Government White Paper, nor the Integrity Group documentary’s evidence-backed-up petition as confirmed by the Nigerian Senate”, Wechie said in the statement.

Wechie further said the stance of Mr President on the war against corruption, through EFCC and ICPC, hangs in the balance for as long as Amaechi refused to give his own side of the story. Insisting that the Rivers State government must recover all the stolen funds, he said, “consequently, we insist that the Rivers State government immediately commence the arrest and prosecution of all those indicted by the Justice Omereji panel Report as contained in the Government White Paper…

Some few days before Governor Wike went to town with the fresh allegation of $150 million allegedly spent by Amaechi to sponsor the APC elections, ‘Rivers Awake’ had also issued a statement asking that the alleged looted funds should be returned to the state coffers. The group, which claimed to be “non-partisan, non-religious, independently-minded volunteers drawn from all the three senatorial districts of Riveri State”, is also based in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Writing under the headline, ‘It’s time to return our money’, Rivers Awake, in a statement signed by three of its members, Dagogo Ferdinand, Ezenwa Wodi and Ezekiel Amachree, last week, appealed to President Buhari to truly act out the anti-corruption crusade by helping to recover and return to the state the funds that allegedly went into the APC primaries and presidential campaigns.

“We recall that in the past months there have been cries and pleas, bordering on glaring rape on the finances of our dear state, Rivers. From 2007 to 2015, direct accrual from the published figures of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) stood above N3 trillion. This is aside the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) that runs into billions every month. But what is there to show for these revenues? Political party and elections’ sponsorship.

The group recalled the assertion by Governor Wike that 70 per cent of the state power assets were sold for over $302 million and the money paid in December, 2014, but added that there nothing in the state account reflecting such a transaction by April, 2015.

The group also quoted the Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2015 elections, Prince Tonye Princewill to have had, on December 21, 2014, said of the Rivers State assets that “money changed hands but the accounts they entered were not necessarily Rivers State government’s officially operated accounts. There is no evidence of competitive tendering, independent valuation or a transparency in the entire process. Rivers people cannot be sure they got a good deal. Why the secrecy?”

Also speaking after the $150 million revelation by Wike, Wechie of the Integrity Group, last Tuesday, urged the governor to take a bold step and recover the state funds, allegedly looted by the immediate past administration, pledging to support the decision by the Rivers State government to recover all public funds, allegedly embezzled through clandestine means.

Given the vehement denials by Amaechi of the allegation of corruption leveled against him and his open challenge to the governor to approach the court with his facts and evidence, the Executive Director of the Integrity Group, charged Wike to match his words with action and called for what he described as “Operation recover all stolen monies belonging to Rivers people.

Wechie, who assured that the government had the total support of the watchdog and whistle-blowing community, went further to ask Wike to take a cue from the unrelenting anti-corruption efforts by the Buhari Presidency.

But the state’s Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam-George, had, at various forums, expressed the determination of the Wike-led administration to recover all the funds allegedly stolen from the state.  Addressing a press conference, last Tuesday, he said: “It must be observed that Governor Wike’s commitment to the fight against corruption is total, complete and unequivocal. It is on record that upon assumption of office he instituted a Commission of Inquiry with judicial approval. That Commission’s Report has been given approval in a Government White Paper. One of those indicted is Mr Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State.”

The governor may have been hampered in the pursuit of the war against sleaze due to what has been described as distractions (a veiled reference to then pending determination of the Rivers governorship election case at the Supreme Court). But now that the case had been dispensed with, and in awareness of the expectations of the people of the state, as well as that of the various interest groups, many people are of the view that the time for Governor Nyesom Wike to give his anti-corruption war a bite is now. But the questions being asked in the face of the former governor’s continued expression of innocence is: Will the anti-corruption fight not be tagged a witch-hunt? And if, indeed, the state’s resources had been frittered away at some point under Amaechi, can they ever be recovered and put to good use in the interest of the people of Rivers State.

Tribune…..

This page has been viewed 1492 times