‘Missing’ N97bn: Let’s meet in court, Amaechi tells Wike

Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers state, has dismissed the allegations of corruption leveled against him, challenging Nyesom Wike, his successor, to charge him to court if he has any evidence.

Wike had directed the state attorney-general to commence prosecution against Amaechi and some members of his cabinet for allegedly misappropriating the sum of N97 billion belonging to the state.

But Amaechi, who had earlier said Wike was bent on stopping him from being a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, alleged that the panel which probed his administration acted the script of the governor.

“As we expected, the Justice G. O Omereji commission of inquiry set up by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike supposedly to probe Rt. Hon. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi did not disappoint,” read a statement from Amaechi’s media office on Saturday.

“The panel lived up to expectations as a shambolic inquisition panel that was set up to indict Amaechi. Crudely, without any sense of finesse or attempt to disguise its mission to ‘hack down Amaechi’, the Omereji panel did the bidding of its paymaster.

“As we earlier warned, it turned out to be a comedy, a circus show to grab media headlines with bogus, phantom and fabricated claims of corrupt practices against former governor Amaechi and officials of his administration. It achieved nothing beyond political excitements, entertainment and theatrics.

“At every point during the public hearing, Justice Omereji clearly showed his bias and his determination to indict Amaechi and officials of his administration. Most times, the panel chairman simply concluded that they are corrupt, even before all the facts are made known to the panel, even before all sides have been heard.

“On one occasion, Omereji said he wished the panel had the powers of a court so he could lock up, perhaps for life, these so-called corrupt officials.

“Witnesses invited by the panel were coerced, directed, ordered and told in clear terms, sometimes with written notes from the commission staff, what not to say and what to say. The chairman of the panel prevented counsels to those invited, from asking relevant questions that are likely to deviate and detract from their pre-determined agenda and conclusion.

“Indeed, the Wike panel was an inquisition against Amaechi. Wike should go to court if he has any case of alleged corrupt activities against Amaechi. His panel is not and can never be a law court.

“Wike’s regular childish tantrums, theatrics, comedy and drama of screaming huge bogus and phantom figures of missing or stolen or misappropriated billions of naira by the Amaechi administration have become a silly and sickening distraction. Mr. Wike, since you do not know and none of your coterie of court-jesters is bold enough to tell you, we will tell you; you sound like a broken record. Our polity can certainly do without this madness.”