All Progressives Congress Turns To Buhari Over Amaechi’s Corruption Allegations

The Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore efforts by Governor Nyesome Wike to blot the image of former governor Rotimi Amaechi.

This comes just hours after reports emanated that Amaechi and former governors Fayemi, Fashola failed the anti-corruption test in their bid to get ministerial appointments.

However, according to the APC, Amaechi is “clean, spotless and untainted by corruption,” The Cable reports.

This was disclosed in a statement by Davies Ikanya, the party chairman.

Ikanya said: “We make it bold to say that if there is any clean and spotless former governor in Nigeria, the person is Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, CON.

“Anybody who knows Amaechi well enough would readily testify that he is an honest, sincere but courageous gentleman, a first-class patriot who is ever ready to go the extra mile to see that Nigeria becomes a better place for the present and future generations.”

Ikanya also condemned Governor Wike’s alleged attempt to tarnish Amaechi’s image in a recent sponsored documentary being aired on Africa Independent Television (AIT).

According to him, the allegation against Amaechi is a replication of the documentary terrorism the Peoples Democratic Party deployed against President Muhammadu Buhari during the campaigns for the 2015 general elections.

He said: “This satanic documentary is only part of Wike’s propaganda war against Amaechi for which the caretaker governor of River state has earmarked billions of naira in his wicked plot to destroy and decimate the person and character of Amaechi.

“Other propaganda tools planned to be deployed in the war against Amaechi include sponsored publications such as advertorials, columns, editorials and OpEd articles in major international, national and local print media, sponsored personality discussion programmes in the electronic media and sponsored special documentaries for television and radio through independent groups and organizations.

“This insidious plot by Wike include commissioning a team made up of persons within and outside the state to ‘initiate, formulate and contrive false damaging reports bordering on alleged corrupt practices of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and circulate same to individuals and institutions within Nigeria and abroad with a view to damaging the incorruptible character and rising profile of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in order to blackmail and put pressure on President Buhari not to appoint the former governor into his government.

‘These cooked reports will be sent to the US Embassy, UK High Commission, EU Commission, and several international organisations such as Transparency International, amongst others.

“The forged reports will also be sent to local and foreign media houses such as the BBC [Hausa Service], Dutch Radio, VOA [Hausa Service], amongst others’ for repeated publication and airing.

“It is not surprising that the medium for airing the documentary is the same AIT that angered decent Nigerians with documentaries that disparaged the present President of Nigeria and his family members in a failed bid to make Nigerians not to vote for him.

“The anti-Amaechi documentary is simply aimed at driving a wedge between the President and the former governor in the hope that President Buhari would be blackmailed into leaving Amaechi out of his government.

“We are confident just as the blackmail against General Buhari was ignored by Nigerians, who massively voted for him, so, too, the President, having himself been a victim of PDP and AIT’s documentary terrorism, will also discountenance the dirty PDP and AIT are trying so hard to pour on Amaechi and accord him his right of place in the new Nigeria he staked everything, including his life, to achieve.

“We are happy that Amaechi has, through both the immediate past secretary to the Rivers state government, George Feyi and the commissioner of finance, Dr. Chamberlain Peterside, and others, denied any form of corruption against him by Wike and his cohorts.”

However in a swift response, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, the special adviser to the state governor on media and publicity, described the claim by the state APC as false.

Inko-Tariah said: “I call on Rivers people to disregard the bombastic effusions of the disgruntled and frustrated elements in the APC in Rivers State.

“Rotimi Amaechi is of no significance to Governor Nyesom Wike’s government and so, it will be needless to sponsor any war of calumny against him or the APC. There is no truth in the APC’s claim at all.

“I believe that the fear of (Justice George) Omereji’s panel’s findings is the driving force that is making them to cry wolf when there is none. It is a futile stratagem.”

Rotimi Amaechi, who has been accused of dropping state into massive external indebtedness, recently said no anti-corruption agency in the country can probe him.

According to him, the panel set up by Governor Nyesom Wike to investigate his administration as a smoke screen to deceive the public.

Amaechi had earlier challenged the Rivers state government to publish account statements of Zenith Bank, Access Bank and Skye Bank, which he insisted would show that about N7.5 billion was left as the balance in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) on May 29, 2015. Together with other funds he claimed that totalled N8 to 10 billion was left.