I Don't Care if Amaechi Emerges Minister - Governor Wike

Posted by George on Thu 13th Aug, 2015 - tori.ng

Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has refuted claims that his recent criticisms of Rotimi Amaechi, is to deprive him of a ministerial appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike

Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has denied rumours that his criticisms of former Governor, Rotimi Amaechi were for the purpose of discrediting his ministerial candidature before President Muhammadu Buhari.

This was contained in a statement made on Wednesday, 12th of August by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Opunabo Inko-Taria who addressed the press in Port Harcourt.

According to The Punch, Wike claims he is more interested in how Amaechi managed the financial affair of Rivers state while in power. He complained bitterly about inheriting an empty treasury which is affecting his administration.

In his words:

“So, what is he (Ameachi) going to do to him (Wike) as a minister or Federal Government appointee? Wike has not told anybody that he does not want President Buhari to appoint Amaechi as a minister. He has never said it; these are just insinuations and innuendos.

“If Mr. President, known for his mantra of zero tolerance for corruption; is saying that he is not going to appoint anybody with a stained image as a member of his cabinet and Rivers people are saying that Rotimi Amaechi is not qualified for an appointment, there is no problem with that.

“But the truth is that paint Amaechi black, if he (Buhari) does not want to appoint him (Amaechi), he will not. Paint Amaechi white, if the President is not interested in him, he will not appoint him.

“The talk about whether Amaechi should be appointed into Buhari’s cabinet is just the feeling from Rivers’ people and not the governor himself. He has never discussed the issue of whether Amaechi should be appointed by Mr. President or not.

“The governor is more interested in how the funds of Rivers State were spent; whether they were judiciously spent or they were just frittered away. That is the interest because it is annoying that when we took over, we met an empty treasury,”

He ended with comments on the N30 billion loan obtained by Governor Nyesom Wike which was needed to cater for the judiciary who were given a sum of N300 million for take off, allowances for the state-sponsored students abroad, civil servants, pensioners and footballers.