he Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has asked President Muhammad Buhari not to appoint Rotimi Amaechi as minister

he Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has

asked President Muhammad Buhari not to

appoint Rotimi Amaechi as minister if he wants

his fight against corruption to be looked upon

with credibility.

President Buhari revealed last week in an article

published in the Washington Post that he would

announce members of his cabinet in September.

Mr. Amaechi was among the top government

dignitaries that accompanied Mr. Buhari to last

week’s state visit to the United States.

In a statement on Sunday signed by Mr. Wike’s

Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,

Opunabo Inko-Tariah, the governor, who

described Mr. Buhari’s anti-corruption

campaign as “selective” and “drawing a cocktail

of reaction”, said it would be “dismissed as

laughable” if Mr. Amaechi makes the

ministerial list.

Mr. Wike claimed Mr Amaechi was the most

corrupt government official and asked the

president to probe the ex-governor to lend

credibility to his fight against corruption.

“If Buhari is sincere in his fight against

corruption, let him probe the Amaechi’s

government and he will discover that there

cannot be a government official that is more

corrupt than Amaechi,” he said.

He blamed Mr. Amaechi for Rivers State’s fiscal

woes saying his policies were reckless and

dictatorial.

“From the genesis to revelation of his

government, Amaechi’s fiscal recklessness and

dictatorial policies and approaches are

responsible for the financial woes of the state

that should ordinarily be buoyant.

“A man like Amaechi must not be allowed to

flaunt the fruits of his crime with impunity. He

has to account for the monthly allocations he

received in 8 years and the IGRs for the same

period. He spirited so much out of the system

with little or nothing to show for it.

“The appointment of Amaechi by Buhari will be

an endorsement of corruption by Buhari,” he

said.

The governor said if Mr. Amaechi was

blameless, he wouldn’t be seeking protection

from investigation.

“If there are no skeletons in his cupboard, why

try to frustrate the Hon Justice Omereji’s

commission of inquiry? This obviates the need

for further evidence that his hands are dirty.

After all, he started and ended his reign with

the late Justice Kayode Esho’s panel and the

Prof Odinkalu’s commission of inquiry

respectively -not to talk of that headed by

Justice B A Georgewill. ‘Do unto others, what

you want others to do unto you’, our Lord Jesus

admonished my brother Knight, Amaechi.”

Mr. Wike added that it is ironical for Mr.

Amaechi, who he claimed orchestrated the

closure of courts in the state during his tenure,

to seek protection from the same judiciary he

incapacitated.

“The attempt to stop the Hon Justice Omereji’s

Commission of Inquiry from investigating his

government is not only risible but shameful

and highly provocative. It is ironical that the

same man who sealed the judiciary for close to

two years and turned lawyers into taxi drivers

and artisans  will now have the gumption to

approach the same courts he desecrated for

justice.

“If his successor had followed his footsteps,

which court would he have approached to seek

redress? How will he appear before those he

almost turned into beggars? As a result of his

callous and insensitive actions, most lawyers

had broken homes as they could not sustain

their families. Some even lost their loved ones

in hospitals for lack of money to buy needed

drugs,” he said.