Governor of Rivers state, Governor Nyesom Wike, has declared that his predecessor in office Rotimi Amaechi sold off 70% of the State’s power assets worth over $320 million and looted the funds as he met no single dollar in the state’s account on assumption of office.
Justifying why he set up a Commission of Inquiry on the activities of the past administration he said that not only were government property looted, but he that inherited a huge debt profile
According to him, “Our Power assets, 70 per cent of it, were sold at $302,400,000.
“The money was paid in December and as at March this year, there was no single dollar.”
The Permanent Secretary denied knowledge of this transaction.
He also denied sacking 344 lecturers of the state’s polytechnic, maintaining that it was part of the orchestrated propaganda against his government as none of the so-called lecturers completed documentation nor received any salary since their purported employment.
The governor while speaking in Abuja, explained that because he met a government bereft of any meaningful infrastructure, he was forced to mortgage the state’s share of the Value Added Tax (VAT) for 20 months to secure loan to complete some strategic abandoned projects in the state
On alleged witch-hunt by his predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi, the Rivers state governor insisted that nothing can be further from the truth and that there was no evidence that the Tribunal or that the vehicles so far recovered were parting gifts or purchased by the persons from whom such vehicles were recovered from.
He stated that inspite of his efforts and demand, Amaechi refused to hand over government to him, adding that even Permanent Secretaries denied knowledge of what transpired before he came into office and that he even had to use his personal money to buy diesel to power Government House generators.
Wike further alleged that 70 per cent of the state government’s power assets were sold off by the Amaechi administration and that the over $200 million dollars sales proceeds was completely spent before he got into office.
On the sacking of lecturers he stated: “Let me make it clear, the Rector was still writing employment letters in April after I had won election. He had not even issued letters to anybody.
“Nobody has started any work. When you can’t pay salary for two months, you were employing more people, how do you pay them?”
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