Asking Amaechi To Explain How He Spent Rivers N3tn, Not A Witch-hunt – Commissioner

Amaechi-WikeThe Commissioner for Housing in Rivers State, Mr. Emma Okah, has dismissed the claim by the immediate past governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, that his predecessor, Governor Nyesom Wike was embarking on a witch-hunt and attempting to malign his (Amaechi) person.

Okah described as mischievous, a situation where the former governor would term the probe of his administration as a witch-hunt.

Mr. Amaechi had accused his predecessor of a fraudulent witch-hunt of his tenure few days after Mr. Wike set up a judicial panel of inquiry to probe him.

The commissioner, while reacting to Amaechi’s allegation of witch-hunt, argued that there was nothing wrong or immoral for the present administration in the state to want to know how N3tn, which accrued to the state was managed.

“The people have the right to know. The Nyesom Wike administration is merely protecting the people’s interest by inquiring into how public resources were wasted, stolen or misappropriated by the past administration and every lover of democracy and rule of law should not complain, blackmail the state government or divert attention from that”, Okah said in a statement on Monday.

He counseled that the most logical thing for Amaechi to do if called upon by the panel of inquiry, is to avail himself of the opportunity to state his own side of the story and tender documents to buttress his case, adding that there was nothing to fear if his hands were clean.

The commissioner also said that certain things must be clarified by the Amaechi government, noting that the state could not close its eyes to some grave allegations of corruption against the previous administration in the state.

“Is it proper for Amaechi to sell off 70 per cent of the Rivers State Government’s interests in the state’s four power stations (Eleme, Omoku, Afam and Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt) at the cost of $302,400m and the entire money was withdrawn between December 2014 and April 2015 without any document of transaction or payment into any government account.

“Who owns the Bureau de Change Company that received the money and who authorised the receipt and where is the money?

“Is it a witch-hunt for Amaechi to pay out $39m to his cronies for the purpose of building the Karibi Whyte Mega Hospital and till today, not a single block is standing?” he queried.