Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have disagreed on the governor’s anti-corruption crusade and the alleged witch-hunt of his predecessor.
Amaechi said Wike, who was his former Chief of Staff and director-general of his campaign organisation in 2011, had been releasing government’s documents to show that his predecessor was corrupt.
But the former governor insisted that he did not like stealing.
Wike, a former Minister of State for Education, yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, alleged that Amaechi was corrupt.
Amaechi, a former chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said he would not appear before the judicial commission of enquiry Wike inaugurated to investigate his administration in the last 18 months.
The former governor described the panel as illegal.
But Inko-Tariah said: “It is laughable that Amaechi will call illegal a panel that has already been declared lawful by a court of law. This means, as at when he questioned its proprietary in court, he thought the court would declare it illegal but was shamed. This is no media trial and the government will not be embroiled in any war of attrition (with Amaechi).
“He (ex-governor) should defend himself, just as Dr. Peter Odili (ex-Rivers governor) did during the Justice Kayode Esho’s panel. Media trial will not vindicate him (Amaechi), as the sentiment he is trying to whip up has failed.
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