Breaking: Rivers APC, Dakuku contradict Wike’s claims on $43m palaver

The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have faulted the claims of Governor Nyesom Wike that the controversial $43million found in an Ikoyi residence, Lagos, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, belonged to the state government.

The governor who claimed that the residence where the money was recovered from belonged to former Governor Rotimi Amechi, had also issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to return the money to the state or face legal actions.

The Party in a statement released on Saturday described the governor’s claim and his seven-day ultimatum as mere diversionary antics to divert attention from “the serious allegation made by the PDP National Chairman, Sen. Alli Modu Sheriff, accusing Governor Wike of disbursing US$5m bribe money to the Supreme Court through unnamed fronts and another US$1m to lawyers defending the Markafi Caretaker Committee at the Supreme Court, all monies belonging Rivers State.”

The statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of Rivers State APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, said it believed that Governor Wike was allegedly stunned by the said surprised revelation by Sheriff.

“We believe that the stunning revelations in financial misappropriation of resources of Rivers State by Senator Sheriff gave rise to Gov. Wike’s present wild allegations to divert attention from the mess he has found himself in.

“The APC will not dignify Gov. Wike’s inexplicably timid suggestion that former governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has anything to do with the Osborne Road house or the money allegedly found there. The Honourable Minister has already addressed the matter and we believe that the EFCC and government of Lagos State will not find it difficult to ascertain the owner of the property and consequently the money,” the statement read in part.

According to the statement, “If his (Wike’s) previous utterances especially his allegation of assassination attempts made against the Inspector-General of Police had been investigated, he would have had a second thought making further wild allegations every now and then to divert attention from himself. The insult of issuing a 7-day ultimatum to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria smacks of daring the Buhari government to a wrestling match. Will the federal government continue to watch Gov. Wike carry on as if no other superior authority exists in Nigeria?”

The APC, therefore, called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and other relevant investigative agencies to investigate accusations by Governor Nyesom Wike to establish their veracity or otherwise.
The party also called on the federal authorities to invite and interrogate the Commissioner for Communication & Information, the Accountant-General and the Commissioner for Finance of the State to help the security agencies unravel the spate of “outlandish” allegations by Governor Wike.

Also in his press statement, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who was the governorship candidate in the 2015 general elections in the state, condemned insinuations by Governor Wike that the money found in Lagos were part of the proceeds of Rivers State Government realised from the sale of gas turbines by the Amaechi administration and that the house in which the money was found belonged to the former governor.

He accused the Rivers State governor of turning governance to a “circus show and lacking in sense of dignity by constantly being in the news for all the wrong reasons,” saying that not too long ago, Governor Wike said he had awarded road projects in faraway Benue State and had mobilised contractors to site.

He explained that former Governor Amaechi had since denied owning the said house in Lagos and challenged the Rivers State Government to provide evidence to the contrary.

Dr. Peterside, who was commissioner for works under Amaechi, noted that the money realised from the sale of gas turbines were paid into the account of Rivers state and the money used for projects.

“As at today, no one has seen copies of 2016 and 2017 budgets of Rivers State. Schools and health centres are shutting down with thousands of school age children out of school. Rivers children on scholarship abroad have been withdrawn. The same governor has wasted Rivers money to host two failed conventions of a sinking PDP. His party chairman has accused him of using $6m to influence judicial officers.

He alleged: “Wike has the unenviable record of governing a state having the most state-linked killings in Rivers history. He rose to become the governor of Rivers State on the bloods of innocent people. It is people like Wike who have made Nigerians to call to question the issue of immunity in the Constitution. He is taking immunity as shield to abuse the dignity of the office of Governor.

“The governor can still retrace his steps and follow the path of dignity, decorum and respect the office he occupies for he holds it in trust on behalf of Rivers people,” he summed up.

These reactions cameon the hills of the ultimatum of 7 days issued by Governor Wike to the Federal Government to return the $43million dollars found in a luxury apartment in Ikoyi to the Rivers State Government.
The governor said if the Federal Government failed to return the money within the stipulated time, the state government would take legal measures to ensure that it got back her allegedly stolen resources.

Governor Wike alleged that investigations by the Rivers State Government revealed that the money was the proceed from the sale of gas turbines by the immediate past Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

He alleged: “The money in question belongs to the former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. We want to confirm that the houses in Ikoyi also belongs to Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

“If you recollect in 2015, we said that gas turbines built by Former Governor Peter Odili were sold to Sahara Energy, business partners of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi at $319million…,” he alleged.