According to reports, three senators from Rivers State –
George Thompson Sekibo (Rivers East), Olaka Nwogu (Rivers South-East) and
Osinakachukwu Ideazu (Rivers West) – submitted an 88-page petition to the
Senate against the nomination and confirmation of Amaechi as minister.
Amaechi, who was also Director General,
Buhari Campaign Organisation, was one of the 21 ministerial nominees unveiled
on Wednesday by Senate President Bukola Saraki.
The petition which was written by a Non-Governmental
Organisation, “The Integrity Group,” based in Port Harcourt, was submitted to
the Senate by Sekibo on behalf of the other senators.
The petition was titled: Petition
against ministerial nominee: Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi: Demand to withdraw and reject
his nomination and appointment on the ground of corruption, criminal breach of
trust, unlawful enrichment and conversion of over N70 billion Rivers peoples’
monies by the former governor of Rivers State, Sekibo said it was endorsed one
Livingstone Wechie on behalf of the group and thousands of others.
The submission of the petition provoked
a spontaneous protest in the chamber mostly by All Progressives Congress (APC)
senators who kicked against it.
Although the shout of “No way, No way,
impossible” rented the Senate chamber, Sekibo was undeterred until he concluded
reading the synopsis of the petition as required by the Senate’s standing rule.
Sekibo informed the Senate that the
petition bordered principally on corruption and criminal breach of trust
levelled against Amaechi.
When the protest against the petition
subsided, Senate President Bukola Saraki referred the controversial document to
the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges for consideration.
Sekibo’s seat was instantly crowded by
some senators. Others followed him to his office apparently to pick a copy of
the petition.
Sekibo later threw more light on the
petition when he spoke with reporters.
He said: “There is this group that is
called ‘The Integrity Group,’ they believe in transparency, fighting against
corruption; they believe in good governance and effective utilisation of every
fund that is allocated to any state government.
“They are based in Port Harcourt. They
went into a research and discovered that over N70billion was transferred from
hard currency account to places outside the country.
“A petition on this note was written to
Mr. President. I believe the President has not read it. If he has read it, he
may not have hurriedly nominated Rotimi Amaechi to be a minister.
“Amaechi is qualified to be a minister
but when issues of corruption and fraud are openly x-rayed by people, it is
necessary for Mr. President to take a critical look and examine the allegations
from these people, whether they are true or not.
“Mr. President is preaching against
corruption; we applaud him for the corruption fight he is waging against
whoever.
“So, if you are fighting against
corruption, then there must not be any sacred cow. No matter how close a person
is to you, if there are allegations about him, you must spend time to
critically look at them, whether there are truth about the allegations that
have been so submitted.
“I am informed that this petition was
forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) a month or two
ago and I am also informed that the EFCC is also commencing to carry out
investigation.
“So, why not allow this period to go
over and allow them to do their investigation and come out with the result?
“It may be mere allegation but assuming
they are true, as a serving minister with a very big portfolio and EFCC is
investigating you, can they get the result of what they are looking for?
“They will not get it. We are not
stopping Mr. President from appointing a Rivers man to be a minister; we will
welcome it. There are many APC members who were not indicted or accused of such
similar issues.
“So, we have not seen the haste in
pushing Amaechi to be a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“On the other hand, the Rivers State
Government set up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the sale of state
government-owned property.
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