PORT HARCOURT—Former Rivers State Governor,
Chibuike Amaechi has said he left a balance of
between eight to ten billion naira for his successor,
Governor Nyesom Wike.
Wike and Amaechi
In a statement from his from his media office
yesterday, the former governor denied that he
handed over an empty treasury to his successor.
The statement by the former Governor’s media
office, yesterday, revealed that a total of N7.5
billion cash was left behind as balances in the
State Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, account
with Skye Bank, FAAC account with Zenith Bank,
balances with Access Bank and funds in the State
reserve fund account in First Bank.
“This is besides other balances in the state
Government House account with Zenith Bank and
other government MDA accounts, like the Bureau
for Public Procurement, BPP. By the time you pull
all these together, we are looking at readily
available cash in the region of eight to ten billion
naira left for the Wike administration.”
“It’s also pertinent to point out here that former
governor Amaechi also left economic assets worth
tens of billions of naira for the state. Just like
cash, the assets store value. These assets that are
scattered in diverse sectors of the economy were
developed or built or procured with revenue that
accrued to the state during Amaechi’s tenure. The
assets belong to Rivers State, not Amaechi. Some
of these assets are presently yielding revenue to
the state coffers, and many can be easily and
readily converted to cash, if the State so desires.
“It is therefore disingenuous and fraudulent for
Wike to claim that Amaechi left an empty treasury
in his bid to justify the N30 billion loans he
collected under 30 days in office. Rather than this
puerile and silly distraction of always pointing
accusing fingers at Amaechi, Wike should come out
to explain to Rivers people what he took the loans
for, account for and justify every kobo that has
been spent from the loans”, the statement
concluded.
But media aide to governor Nyesom Wike, Mr
Opunabo Nko-Tariah, described the claim by the
former governor as another tissue of lies, stressing that if he left what he claimed how come civil servants, pensioners , footballers, contractors were owed by his government.
He said even students on the state scholarship
program overseas were almost sent out of the
classroom over unpaid fees, adding that the issue
was not all about empty treasury alone as
properties in Government House, Port Harcourt
were allegedly looted before the handover date of
May 29..
Governor Wike had consistently maintained that he
met a completely empty treasury when he took
over as governor.
Only on Wednesday, while trying to justify why he
took a total of N30 billion bank loans from Zenith
and Access banks under 30 days in office, Wike
had through his spokesman, Opunabo Inko-Tariah
told a radio station in Port Harcourt that he met an
empty treasury when he took over government.
However, Amaechi has openly put a lie to Wike’s
claim, saying he left billions of naira in cash and
economic assets for Rivers State.
We appreciate you for reading StrollBlogger, but we think it will be better you like our facebook fanpage and also follow us on twitter below.
