Amaechi, Rivers govt trade words over N45b loan

Even as the dust from the ruling of the election tribunal which called for another governorship election is yet to settle, Former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi on Sunday accused Governor Nyesome Wike of diverting the N45 billion loan taken by his administration.
The former governor stated this during a thanksgiving service organised to mark the Supreme Court judgment that brought him to power as governor in 2007.
He said: “I borrowed N300bn and I paid N245bn back and I left about N15bn. But now, they are not borrowing to pay contractors. Rather they are borrowing for themselves.
“Borrow to pay contractors not for your purse. They have borrowed N45bn and nobody is seeing it. If you put N45bn in the state economy, the state will be bouncing. They will employ more workers, pay them and you will see things working.”
According to Amaechi, the situation of things in the state had deteriorated, insisting that projects embarked upon by his administration were valuable.
He said: “It is those roads that I have done that they are driving on. The stadium road was done by me and they are driving on it. I did underground gutter, but they are building gutter and covering it.

Read also: Breaking… Rivers Tribunal Sacks Gov Wike

However in a swift reaction, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the State Governor, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, dismissed the allegation by Amaechi as malicious and spurious.
He said “On the malicious and spurious allegation by Rotimi Amaechi that Gov. Wike borrowed N45bn to line his pocket, it is laughable. Amaechi himself in one of his speeches said Governor Wike would inherit an empty treasury which was fleeced dry by him.
“Therefore, if Governor Wike, who inherited an empty treasury, could achieve the level of infrastructural development we are witnessing today and can also clear the unjustifiable liabilities he inherited from Amaechi as evidenced in his speech, where then did he get the money from to do all that have put smiles on the faces of Rivers people who were despondent and frustrated under Amaechi if not with the loans he collected with the imprimatur of the House of Assembly?
“This obviates the need for any further evidence that the loans collected were judiciously applied and in tandem with the reasons for which they were collected. The allegation has no ounce of truth in it. Rivers people are quite intelligent to be deluded by such cheap lies,” Inko-Tariah said.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now