Wike (left) Amaechi (right)

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that the evidence of corruption against the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is  so overwhelming that the Minister of Transportation  admitted to  them publicly.

Addressing the 106th Quarterly Meeting of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt on Monday, Wike claimed that Amaechi admitted paying $39million for a non-existent Justice Karibi Whyte Mega Specialist Hospital.

He added that the former governor confessed publicly that he sold the State’s gas turbines,  which the immediate past  administration diverted the funds.

Wike said: “All the documents that proved Amaechi’s  corrupt acts  are authentic. We never  forged documents.  The former governor  himself  admitted that he paid out $39million  to Clinotech , without  a single block laid anywhere. Is that a document he claims was forged. Where is the Hospital ?

“He has agreed in different interviews  that he sold the state gas turbines  for $309million. Convert  $309million  United States dollars  to naira and you will understand the level of fraud. Amaechi  left only $204,000 in the state account.

“The bank statements of the pattern  of withdrawals  from that account are there for all to see. Can that be forged. The dates and amounts withdrawn are clearly written”.

The governor berated the Minister of Transportation for engaging  in the blackmail of the Supreme Court because his appeal is pending before the Apex Court over the establishment of the Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry.

“There is no time that he loses  a case without  blackmailing the Judiciary.  He feels that the  only way he can do it is to blackmail the Supreme Court.  You cannot play  politics with everything “.

On the use of hotels for electoral  fraud, the governor  warned that any  hotel  that  opens  its facility  for electoral fraud and malpractice will lose its operational certificate of occupancy.

He said: “Any hotel that is used to rig elections, that hotel’s certificate of occupancy will be withdrawn.  I will not allowed that  anymore “.

He regretted  that the Former Rivers State Governor has continued  to work against  the interest of the  State, refusing to use his  position  as a Minister  to attract  benefits to the people.

Speaking further, he warned  traditional rulers against working with armed gangs to cause insecurity  in their  communities.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers and Amayanabo of Opobo, King Dandeson Jaja commended the governor for the commencement of the reconstruction of 175 public schools across the state.

He appealed to the governor to set up a process to check  the sale of illicit drugs in the state.