Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has countered claims by his successor, Nyesom Wike, that he looted furniture, items and accessories in the Rivers State Government House.
We, on Friday, received pictures showing some rooms and offices, which appear to look intact.
However, it is yet to be ascertained if the lootings being claimed by Wike’s camp were carried out in rooms shown in the pictures this newspaper got or elsewhere.
Assistant State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sam Nwanosike had alleged that cronies of the past Governor, Rotimi Amaechi were taking the state properties in Lagos and Abuja.
Nwanosike earlier in the week said: “the liaison officer in Abuja, John Enebeli is battling with Coscharis motors to steal the two BMW cars that the Governor uses while in Abuja.
“They are still looting Rivers state Government property both in Lagos and Abuja and even in Port Harcourt.
“If you say Governor Amaechi did not allow for the looting of those items, how come he found it difficult to collaborate with the transition committee?” He querried.
But Amaechi through his media assistant, David Iyofor said that Wike had gone to “ridiculous and absurd” lengths to show his imaginary claims of vandalism and
looting in Government House in his bid to vote billions of naira for renovation of the place.
Amaechi urged Rivers people, the media and the public “to be watchful, vigilant and discern the fraudulent acts” of the new Administration meant to paint him (Amaechi) and the Administration he headed appear evil.
Continuing he said, “As I noted earlier in a previous statement, Nyesom Wike is going ahead with his plan of attempting to deride and discredit me and my administration, by blackmailing and coercing key government officials including DFAs, Permanent Secretaries and others to twist and distort legitimate government transactions in his desperation to cook-up, and fabricate baseless, concocted and unfounded cases of corruption against me and the administration I ran.
“The state bankers and some of our contractors are also not spared in this his mission of tarnishing the reputation of Amaechi. As a matter of fact, Wike has only one agenda as he governs Rivers State – the agenda to portray me as corrupt, by whatever means no matter how ridiculous and phony it looks”.
Amaechi also described as a fraud the video and pictures of the looted and vandalized Government House that Wike has been showing.
“The images are also fraudulent, arranged and executed by Wike to enable him vote billions of Naira from the state treasury to renovate and refurbish the place, while also accusing me of corruption.
“I repeat, this is clearly a game, a grand conspiracy to siphon state funds under the sub-head of renovating and refurbishing a supposedly ‘vandalized and looted’ Government House, while also falsely smear my image.
“Wike said the curtains in the Governor’s residence were looted, but even in his stage-managed images, you could clearly see that the curtains are still intact. I left Government House intact.
“Rivers people should hold Wike responsible if there’s any looting and vandalism in Government House. There is verifiable information that on May 29, Wike stopped key Government House staff including the Permanent Secretary (who’s the chief accounting officer) from entering the premises, only to shout looting and vandalism 48 hours later.
“Why were civil servants, including the most senior civil servant in Government House, barred from entering the compound on May 29? Was it to give him time and provide cover to stage-manage the shooting of the fraudulent video that he’s now gleefully showing?” the ex-governor quipped.
We, on Friday, received pictures showing some rooms and offices, which appear to look intact.
However, it is yet to be ascertained if the lootings being claimed by Wike’s camp were carried out in rooms shown in the pictures this newspaper got or elsewhere.
Assistant State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sam Nwanosike had alleged that cronies of the past Governor, Rotimi Amaechi were taking the state properties in Lagos and Abuja.
Nwanosike earlier in the week said: “the liaison officer in Abuja, John Enebeli is battling with Coscharis motors to steal the two BMW cars that the Governor uses while in Abuja.
“They are still looting Rivers state Government property both in Lagos and Abuja and even in Port Harcourt.
“If you say Governor Amaechi did not allow for the looting of those items, how come he found it difficult to collaborate with the transition committee?” He querried.
But Amaechi through his media assistant, David Iyofor said that Wike had gone to “ridiculous and absurd” lengths to show his imaginary claims of vandalism and
looting in Government House in his bid to vote billions of naira for renovation of the place.
Amaechi urged Rivers people, the media and the public “to be watchful, vigilant and discern the fraudulent acts” of the new Administration meant to paint him (Amaechi) and the Administration he headed appear evil.
Continuing he said, “As I noted earlier in a previous statement, Nyesom Wike is going ahead with his plan of attempting to deride and discredit me and my administration, by blackmailing and coercing key government officials including DFAs, Permanent Secretaries and others to twist and distort legitimate government transactions in his desperation to cook-up, and fabricate baseless, concocted and unfounded cases of corruption against me and the administration I ran.
“The state bankers and some of our contractors are also not spared in this his mission of tarnishing the reputation of Amaechi. As a matter of fact, Wike has only one agenda as he governs Rivers State – the agenda to portray me as corrupt, by whatever means no matter how ridiculous and phony it looks”.
Amaechi also described as a fraud the video and pictures of the looted and vandalized Government House that Wike has been showing.
“The images are also fraudulent, arranged and executed by Wike to enable him vote billions of Naira from the state treasury to renovate and refurbish the place, while also accusing me of corruption.
“I repeat, this is clearly a game, a grand conspiracy to siphon state funds under the sub-head of renovating and refurbishing a supposedly ‘vandalized and looted’ Government House, while also falsely smear my image.
“Wike said the curtains in the Governor’s residence were looted, but even in his stage-managed images, you could clearly see that the curtains are still intact. I left Government House intact.
“Rivers people should hold Wike responsible if there’s any looting and vandalism in Government House. There is verifiable information that on May 29, Wike stopped key Government House staff including the Permanent Secretary (who’s the chief accounting officer) from entering the premises, only to shout looting and vandalism 48 hours later.
“Why were civil servants, including the most senior civil servant in Government House, barred from entering the compound on May 29? Was it to give him time and provide cover to stage-manage the shooting of the fraudulent video that he’s now gleefully showing?” the ex-governor quipped.
No comments:
Post a Comment
WE LOVE COMMENTS, POST A COMMENT