Barely 24-hours to the ministerial screening of the immediate past governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, his erstwhile chief of staff, Tony Okocha, has stated that his former boss is not corrupt as being painted by Governor Nyesom Wike.
Okocha stressed that the Rivers probe panel was essentially set up to rubbish the former governor so that he would not be appointed as minister to work with the President Muhamadu Buhari-led administration, Vanguard reports.
Governor Wike had on Friday, October 9, released a white paper directing the state attorney general and commissioner for justice, Emmanuel Aguma (SAN), to begin the process of prosecuting Amaechi and two others over the sale of the state’s four gas turbines without due process.
This came two days after the chairman of the commission of enquiry, Justice George Omereji, submitted the panel’s recommendations to the state government.
But Amaechi’s former chief of staff noted that the timing of the whole exercise confirmed his view on the fact that rubbishing the former governor’s image before President Buhari was the target.
Okocha insisted that the former governor was not corrupt stating that Justice Omereji was consciously chosen to head the panel because they allegedly knew he would never be neutral on matters of the former governor before him.
He said: “We have been saying that the essence of the commission was to stop Rotimi Amaechi from participating in the government of President Muhamadu Buhari. And a lot of people do not seem to understand what we have been saying.
“When that commission was set up we raised objection. Nobody erects a house and make your enemy your night guard. We said Justice Omereji will never ever be neutral the way he ought to be. Even before the committee took off, he had already indicted Amaechi with the statements he made.
“Now it is clear two days after a report was purportedly submitted, a white paper was already ready. What is it about? The reason is that this man (Amaechi) has been nominated to be a minister, now they want to use the white paper to tell Nigerians that he is a corrupt person. When you beat drum for an innocent man the gods will not let it sound.”
The former chief of staff said that the former governor had no personal house in the country other than the one built for him by the state government and the two rooms given to him by his late father in his father’s house at Ubima village, Ikwerre local government area.
He added: “As Amaechi’s chief of staff at a time, if Amaechi had properties anywhere, Nyesom Wike should have known because as his chief of staff he was very close to the former governor. You have not been able to pin any property to this man yet you still say he is corrupt.
“Amaechi has no house, not even in his village. All he has is the two rooms the father gave to him inside his compound in the village. Then this one that the state government decided to build for him, off course it is backed by law. Should we cite Wike’s properties?”
Meanwhile, ahead of tomorrow’s screening, two ministerial nominees, Amaechi and Hajiya Amina Mohammed (Kaduna state) had been before the senate committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions.
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