AMAECHI VOWS TO EXPOSE POLITICIANS BEHIND RIVERS CRISIS •SAYS, ‘I HAVE NO AMBITION THAT WOULD NOT ALLOW ME TO SAY THE TRUTH’
THE embattled governor of Rivers state, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, says he would soon disclose the dirty deeds and plots of the group behind the crisis currently besetting his state.
Amaechi who spoke when the Archbishop of the Niger Delta Province of the Anglican Communion and Diocese of Niger Delta North, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, said he had no political ambition that would have restrained him from saying what he knows.
The governor, spoke in person on the matter for the first time during the clergy’s call on him at Government House, Port Harcourt, saying the interest of the forces fighting him was to return the state to its chaotic past.
The governor’s comment came after the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Otelema Amachree, had indicted police command in the state and its boss, Mbu Joseph Mbu, of conniving with thugs who invaded the Assembly Complex on Monday.
“I will speak to the state, not now. When I speak to the state, you will not respect any of these people because I am now determined to open up. I am not running for any other position that they would say okay, you must manage information so that people can trust you. How many times have I said people don’t need to trust? I need to quote the law and tell you what the issues are which most people don’t know. I need to tell you and ask that now, you must become your own soldiers, you must become your own policemen.
“Nobody realises how much effort we have put in place for people to walk on the streets. Nobody realises how much money we have put in place to make people walk on the streets. All they are interested in is how they would bring down those efforts. So as men of God, you must stand for the truth and preach the truth.
The governor, however, reemphasised his administration’s determination to grow the state’s economy as he delivers more projects to the people of the state.
Amaechi said: “We need to be able to grow the economy. We need to be able to say to our people this is a state for which we are proud of. We have numerous projects that we have put in place. Before the end of the year, a lot of projects will be completed that you will see for yourselves. We intend to complete the conference centre that we are building at Chief G. U. Ake road and the Agbani Darego Cultural Centre that is in town, the new School of Nursing which is at the old UPTH.”
“When you go to the old UPTH, there are three projects going on simultaneously. One is the School of Nursing that now has the capacity to admit 500 nursing students. The one you have in Mile 4 can take only 100 and everyday we struggle with approval with the agency that’s supposed to give approval because of poor equipment and poor environmental condition. Now we are building a better one in a better place; Then you have a primary school that is under construction there; and the Heart Hospital being built by NDDC. That is what we have converted that place to be. You have so many of the fish farms. We have one in Buguma that is nearing completion. You have six of the new secondary schools to be completed by the end of the year. We have completed a lot of the power distribution substations,” Amaechi said.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Amachree has said the invasion of the Assembly complex by hundreds of protesters on Monday was with the connivance of the police in the state.
According to Amachree, the police protection hitherto given the complex was withdrawn even as the gates of the command headquarters of the police in the state, which is almost opposite the Assembly complex were shut, which made lodging complaints of the invasion impossible.
He, however, expressed fears that the forces fighting the state might cause a failure of the nascent democracy, calling on all Rivers people to remain calm and be law abiding.
Ateke calls for Amaechi’s exit
Former Niger Delta freedom fighter, Chief Ateke Tom, has called on Governor Amaechi of Rivers State to quit his office.
He also lashed out at the embattled governor, saying he has to explain to the Rivers people what he did with the N7 billion approved for him to acquire a jet for the state.
However, Ateke who spoke via a satellite phone on Wednesday, said Amaechi had several times in the past labelled him as a ‘criminal’ for fighting for greater share of their own God-given resources and political participation for which Amaechi is a beneficiary. According to him, ‘’the facts on the ground at the moment tend to cast the governor as a bigger criminal.
“There are a lot of questions begging for answers from Amaechi. Firstly, how come a jet that was bought with Rivers money was registered in a foreign company’s name? Was the twisted registration part of a grand plan to take over the jet after May 29, 2015?
‘’The jetgate scandal may just be a tip of the iceberg for what may well be a festering net of graft in Rivers. The white man says those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, and yet Governor Amaechi has been throwing stones at President Goodluck Jonathan, and his administration’s transformation agenda from his glass house. The way things are, the moral burden on the governor is for him to throw in the towel for failing Rivers people,” he said.
We are not afraid of probe —Rivers govt
The Rivers State government has said it is not afraid of any probe by anti-graft agencies in the country, as its books are clean and how monies were spent are verifiable.
The state Commissioner for Finance, Chamberlain Peterside, who made the assertion on Wednesday while talking to the press, also affirmed that the state-owned Bombardier BD 700, which had recently been a source of controversy, was duly purchased by the state government.
According to the commissioner, recent reports of a missing $10 million from the coffers of the state was a mere fabrication of those bent on discrediting the Rotimi Amaechi-led administration.
The commissioner, however, assured that the state government was running a transparent and accountable system, noting that the various projects to the name of the current administration were the testimonials of its prudence.
“This story doing the rounds that $10 million was missing from the coffers of Rivers State government; we want to categorically say that none of that is true. For whatever reason, where that story came about I am not too sure. But I know that we run a system that is tight and robust.
“No, I am not afraid of the EFCC. I am not afraid. Is it the sub-stations that we built in the last 12 months for power distribution? Is it the G.U. Ake Road, Airforce Road? Is it the projects that are being completed?
“If I wasn’t sitting here, I would still be very impressed by what is going on. So, it is not as easy as people are saying that where is the money. The money is working and I can assure you that none of it is missing,” Chamberlain said.
Source: Tribune
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