On Monday, June 22, Mr. Nyesom Wike, briefed the media and made numerous
\nallegations. These allegations are the same ones that Mr. Wike set up a
\ncommission of inquiry to investigate. However in keeping with Rt. Hon
\nChibuike Amaechi\u2019s commitment to good governance and to transparent and
\naccountable stewardship to Rivers people, we will reiterate the facts.<\/p>\n
1. N150bn owed Ministry of Works contractors: Rt.Hon. Chibuike Rotimi
\nAmaechi inherited a state that was comatose and in dire need of
\ninfrastructure. Years of militancy and criminality had forced government
\nand business in Rivers State to a standstill. He therefore embarked on
\nland reclamation in our riverine communities and the massive construction
\nof roads, bridges and interchanges all over Rivers State. Realizing that
\nthere is a direct link between state of infrastructure and the growth rate
\nof any economy, It is to the credit of the Amaechi administration that by
\nthe time he was leaving office, he had completed 90 per cent of the Phase
\n1A of the Rivers State Monorail, completed two major interchanges, two
\nflyovers, 25 bridges, and five shore protection projects. He also
\ncompleted 890 kilometres of the on-going 1,424 kilometres of road projects
\nacross the state. There are over six land reclamation\/shore protection
\nprojects at Andoni, Opobo, Buguma, Abalama, Olumbie\/Owukiri Island, and
\nOba-Ama-Okrika with over 1,140,000km completed. Out of the roads
\ncompleted, some of these were federal roads for which the Rivers state
\nGovernment was owed N108billion, Mr. Wike as Minister of State for
\nEducation was among those who prevented former President Goodluck Jonathan
\nfrom paying the Rivers State Government back these funds. It is on record
\nthat other states like Akwa Ibom and Abia received repayment for the
\nfederal roads they constructed. As at when Governor Amaechi was leaving
\noffice, the debts owed the contractors in the Ministry of Works, which
\nwere for ongoing road projects totaled N44, 942, 354, 44.10.<\/p>\n
2. N15bn owed to Zenith bank: Governor Amaechi in his valedictory address
\nto Rivers people told announced the loans owed to various banks. I will
\nherein reproduce the excerpts of that speech \u201cToday, Rivers state is the
\nleast indebted state with a loan portfolio of N17.7 billion to banks owed
\nas follows: Agriculture loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria \u2013 N2
\nbillion; Zenith bank plc\u00a0 – N15.7 billion.\u201d\u00a0 This was the status as at May
\n27th. The repayment for the loans is via an irrevocable standing order and
\nso will have reduced as at today<\/p>\n
3. Sale of Power projects: For the records, the Government of Rivers State
\nunder Dr. Peter Odili made substantial investment in Electric Power
\nrelated Projects with the aim of mitigating the malaise of inadequate
\npower supply. The Projects included generation (Omoku and Trans-Amadi 1),
\ntransmission and distribution interventions. Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi
\nAmaechi on assumption of office recognized the importance of improved
\nelectric power supply in the socio-economy regeneration of the State. At
\nthe time Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi assumed office, of the 350
\nMegawatts (MW) total capacity generation assets invested by the State,
\nonly 70MW (equivalent to about 20 per cent) was available. With
\nenthusiasm, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi ramped up the efficiency to
\n77 per cent availability including injecting another 360MW Green Field
\nGeneration Project at Afam, of which 180MW have been commissioned and is
\nin commercial operation. To mitigate the swing in efficiency and its
\ndebilitating impact on the economy, the State Government sought private
\nsector operators and sold 70 per cent equity stake in the power generating
\nassets\u2019 company to NG Power HPS. For the transaction, the State Government
\nadopted the same model as the Federal Government in the sale Egbin Power
\nPlant. The sale was at a price per MW higher than all the privatization MW
\nrate done by the Federal Government. The proceeds from sale of the equity
\nin the power generating assets\u2019 company was captured as income in the 2014
\nAppropriation Law and deployed into funding capital projects as
\nappropriated.<\/p>\n
4. SALARIES OF CIVIL SERVANTS: All civil servants received their March
\nsalaries while payment for April salaries had commenced by the time the
\nadminsteration was winding down. Again I reproduce for the avoidance of
\ndoubt, excerpts of Governor Amaechi\u2019s valedictory speech in this regard.
\n\u201cAs at today, we have commenced the payment of April salaries and
\nparastatal pensions. We have made the requisite provisions and expect all
\nsalary payments to be concluded as funds are received\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Refuse contractors: Waste management contractors were being owed N1.6bn
\namounting to four months of arrears as at when Governor Amaechi left
\noffice. Instruction for the payment of N488 million was with Zenith bank
\nas at the 27th of May.<\/p>\n
6. Sharks\/Dolphin:\u00a0 The three clubs: Sharks, Dolphins and Rivers Angels
\nwere in arrears of 7 months by the time governor Amaechi left government.
\nBefore leaving office Amaechi approved the payment of 7 months arrears to
\nthe team but this was held back along with approved payments that the
\nbanks did not pay. (Recall that there were funds available for this
\npayment but Mr. Wike had directed all banks doing business with the Rivers
\nState government not to honour its payment instructions.) Until revenue
\nreceipts began to thin down from the federation account, the Rivers state
\ngovernment was paying N50million every month as welfare package for the
\nteams.<\/p>\n
7. Pension: With regards to our pension arrears, the Amaechi
\nadminsteration inherited pension arrears of over N4.5Bn. By the time he
\nwas leaving office, he was owing three months of pension arrears to the
\nmain stream and two months of parastal pensions<\/p>\n
8. No Handover notes: There is no truth in this as all commissioners and
\nheads of MDA\u2019s submitted their handover notes to the Secretary to State
\nGovernment who forwarded same to the Head of the State Civil Service as is
\nappropriate. Governor Amaechi also directed the Deputy Governor of Rivers
\nState Engr. Tele Ikuru to be the liaison between the outgoing
\nadminsteration and the incoming one. Engr. Ikuru as Deputy Chairman of the
\nstate Executive Governor and second man in government had all facts
\nnecessary to brief the incoming administration. He also had unfettered
\naccess to government house and to every commissioner and head of Ministry
\nDepartment or Agency<\/p>\n
9. COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY INTO THE AMAECHI YEARS: We would like to believe
\nMr. Wike that this is not a witch hunt but his actions and body language
\nspeak differently.<\/p>\n
10. FORCEFUL REPOSSESSION OF LEXUS JEEP FROM MRS. IBIM SEMENITARI: I find
\nit strange that Mr. Wike says that I was contacted by security agencies.
\nIt might have been necessary that he provides proof of such contact. I am
\nalso shocked that he conveniently failed to acknowledge that it was an\u00a0 8
\nyear old car and that it was not factory proofed. He also failed to state
\nthat it was given to me after several threats to my life because of\u00a0 my
\njob description and that this isn’t strange as he himself as chief of
\nstaff was aware that there are political office holders who are allotted
\nofficial vehicles from government house as the need or circumstances may
\ndictate.\u00a0 Over and beyond all this can Mr. Wike please confirm if as
\ncommissioner I am entitled to leave with the official cars used during my
\ntenure and if indeed he as chief of staff and later minister of state did
\nso.
\nHowever I shall for purposes of clarity rehash the main thrust of my
\nearlier statement:<\/p>\n
\u25aa At no time was I contacted by the Rivers state government or any
\nof its agents or anyone purporting to be working for it with regards to
\nany car in my possession<\/p>\n
\u25aa The Vehicle was allocated to me duly and I would definitely have
\nresponded to any queries were any raised<\/p>\n
\u25aa The vehicle, which I clearly stated belonged to my husband, was a
\nRange Rover jeep. At no time did I claim that the Lexus jeep belonged to
\nmy husband.<\/p>\n
\u25aa My property was damaged and my home forceful entered into by
\npersons who claimed to be Government house Police without any legal
\nauthorization. It therefore would not be wrong for Mr. Wike in good faith
\nand for reasons of justice and fairness to apologise for the vandalisation
\nof my property by agents purporting to act on his behalf. As a citizen of
\nRivers State I do have a right to protection from a person sitting as
\nGovernor of Rivers State regardless of my political affiliation or my
\nvoting pattern.<\/p>\n
The Rt. Hon Chibuike Rotimi Administration was one committed to the
\nservice of Rivers people. Governor Amaechi and all officials who served
\nwith him will always be grateful for any opportunity given to them to set
\nthe records straight as their pledge then and now remains to \u201crender
\ntransparent and accountable stewardship.\u201d It would be helpful if Mr. Wike
\nwhile he seats as governor keeps his eye on the ball by striving to
\nprotect the lives and property of Rivers people and enhance their quality
\nof life. This is the least he can do to assuage the pains Rivers people
\nwere forced to bear in one of the most violent elections the state had
\never witnessed.<\/p>\n
Signed
\nIbim Semenitari, FNGE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Monday, June 22, Mr. Nyesom Wike, briefed the media and made numerous allegations. These allegations are the same ones that Mr. Wike set up a commission of inquiry to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n