Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, says it has “uncovered” plot by Governor Nyesom Wike to allegedly tarnish the image of his predecessor and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
Publicity Secretary of the party, Chris Finebone, said the alleged plot involved extensive forgeries and fabrications of documents to further buttress his insistence that the Osborne Road, Ikoyi money confiscated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, belonged to the Minister.
The statement reads: “Initially when Gov. Wike claimed that the Osborne Road money belonged to Rivers State, the EFCC presented an ample opportunity for the governor to step forward and provide evidence and possibly pick up the money but Gov. Wike chickened out until the period granted by the court elapsed.
“Wike did not take advantage of that window because he had no iota of evidence and he knew it. The present devilish efforts by Gov. Wike to pour tar on Amaechi will go the futile way of the governor’s previous efforts.
“The APC is saddened that more than two years after being sworn in as the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike is still hell-bent on destroying the image of his former boss, benefactor and predecessor. We wish to remind him that his evil plans for the man who gave him a lift in life will continue to fail to his grief.
“We note that instead of aimlessly deceiving himself in his cocoon of self-delusion that he can bring down Amaechi, the APC would like the governor to settle the scores he has with his own dishonorable reputation of lies and deceit.
“We recall that Gov. Wike stood before God and men in a church in Etche to lie when he claimed that the Federal Government was undermining his government by slashing the State’s monthly allocations.
“He refused to tell the truth that he had earlier pledged a good chunk of the State’s future monthly allocations as collateral security to commercial banks for the huge loans he took at double digit interest rate.
“Like in the case of the federal allocations, the governor recently told another group of Clergymen during a church programme that the Federal Government paid the State only N17 billion as refund on Paris Club Loan and not N34 billion as claimed by the Federal Government.
“However, evidence made available to the APC by officials of Federal Ministry of Finance indicates that Gov. Nyesom Wike actually signed and collected N34 billion as Paris Club Loan refund for Rivers State.
“The APC is convinced that fearing that his lies are about to be made public, Gov. Wike has decided to raise spurious allegations against the Minister of Transportation being his usual style of diverting attention and shifting the focus of public scrutiny from himself.
“Wike knows very well that most Nigerians are poorly informed and therefore very gullible. If indeed he had any credible evidence that the Osborne Road money belonged to Amaechi or Rivers State Government, we believe that he would have joyfully approached the EFCC and the court to claim the said money.
“We believe that the present attempts to raise spurious claims, through concocted documents, is mere smokescreen to cover up the obvious lack of transparent governance by Gov. Wike.
“Finally, the APC calls on Rivers people in particular and Nigerians in general to disregard all forms of fabricated stories that Gov. Nyesom Wike is about floating in the public space through print, electronic and internet media. We will continue to deconstruct, demobilise and discredit the grand deceit that Gov. Nyesom Wike and his mafia government represent.”