Wike, His Red Herring Panel Of Inquiry And The Mythical ‘Missing’ N53BN

The attention of the media office of Former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has been drawn to a statement credited to the chairman of Mr. Nyesom Wike's invidious panel of inquiry.

The statement credited to the panel's chairman Justice Omeriji of a

"missing" N53 billion is unfortunate and leaves much to be desired.

The mischief is all the more evident as the funds referred to are

funds from the Rivers State reserve fund which was duly approved by

the Rivers State House of Assembly and whose expenditure were duly

captured and appropriated.
Ordinarily we might not have responded to the mischief of Mr. Wike

knowing that having failed with his various desperate tactics to stop

the nomination of the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi as a minister he has

embarked on this last ditch effort which is his trump card in the hope

that it will diminish the former governor's towering stature as a

statesman and honest Nigerian.
However in keeping with Governor Amaechi's ethos of transparent and

accountable leadership we will again repeat the facts of the matter.

Between 2013 and early 2015 revenue accruing to the government of

Rivers State was cut in half due to dwindling federal allocation to

states. From about an average of N 20 billion, the state began

receiving between N9 and N10 billion. By the middle of the first

quarter of 2015 the state revenue dipped to as low as N6 billion.

Salaries alone stood at over N9 billion besides other expenses.

Government had set aside the reserve funds for the rainy day and had

need to fall back to it to fund salaries and projects. The details of

the expenditure were very clearly captured and this information which

was already in the public domain was shared with the incoming

government and the Omeriji panel.
Government business should be transparent and honest and if indeed Mr.

Nyesom Wike understands the basics of governance then he should know

that rather than playing to the gallery with his red herring of a

panel, he should simply go to court and prove his spurious allegations

of corruption.
Spending resources left behind for the betterment of Rivers people by

a prudent and thrifty government on frivolities is indeed

irresponsible and unbecoming for a person who aspires to public office

especially that of the exalted office of governor.
We would counsel Mr. Wike to focus on the job at hand and try to make

something of the few days he has before he leaves Brick House, per

adventure he might yet make some positive impact on the minds of

Rivers people.
The Media Team of
Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaech