TheCable

Rotimi Amaechi, immediate past governor of Rivers state, has accused Nyesom Wike, his successor, of witch-hunting him and deliberately misleading the public in order to grab media attention.

Amaechi described the probe panel inaugurated by Wike as sham, alleging that the governor already mandated the panel to indict him at all cost.

“This so-called Wike’s probe of Amaechi is dead on arrival. All the noise Wike is making is to grab media headlines with his lies of monumental corruption against Amaechi. It’s all drama made for the media. What is playing out is a script written and directed by Nyesom Wike. Wike should move to Nollywood where his devious skills would probably be useful,” he said in a statement issued on Sunday.

“Even while inaugurating his yeoman commission of inquiry, Wike could not conceal his vendetta agenda. He was clear to the panel members that their job is to indict Amaechi. While it’s no longer in doubt what would be the report of Wike’s sham probe commission, what may shock Nigerians is the extent Wike has gone and is ready to go to manufacture stories of corrupt practices, and the kind of bogus tales of corruption against Amaechi that he would soon be feeding the nation.

“We are aware that even the chairman of his inquiry commission, was shocked, and protested when Wike gave him the litany of phony claims of corruption against Amaechi that the chairman would write in the panel’s report. But Wike had assured him not to worry that he had since been working towards arriving at that conclusion and he would provide the commission with all the (fake) evidence needed to arrive at that report.”

Amaechi said since the governor assumed office, he had been threatening officials of his administration to distort legitimate transactions in order to nail him but he vowed to use every constitutional means to protect his reputation.

“Permanent secretaries, directors of finance and administration (DFAs), the state bankers and even contractors are harassed, threatened and blackmailed to twist and distort, or even completely alter legitimate government transactions in his desperation to cook up, and fabricate sham cases of corruption against Amaechi,” the statement read.

“Truly, since May 29, that is all Wike has been doing; cooking spurious reports of corruption against Amaechi. Wike has been intimidating, threatening, coercing, and blackmailing officials of the past administration, especially civil servants into making false, phony, and bogus statements that would make legitimate government transactions appear as corrupt practices.

“This has been the one-point agenda of the Wike government, a vendetta mission against his former boss and benefactor.

“Amaechi will use every constitutional and legal means available to protect his name and image from this massive smear campaign, state-sponsored onslaught against him by this directionless, purposeless Wike led government. As governor, Amaechi served his people well and the good things he did with the resources of the state are visible all over the state.”

On Friday, Wike inaugurated a seven-man panel to investigate Amaechi, directing the panel to submit its report in one month.