| By Emeka Amaefula RIVERS STATE APC CARETAKER COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN TONY OKOCHA REVEALED WHY NO-ONE WILL PROBE WIKE IN RIVERS STATE” -DENIES MAKING U-TURN, CONGRATULATING GOV. SIMINIALAYI FUBARA FOR 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY The Rivers state All Progressives Congress APC, Caretaker Committee Chairman Chief Tony Okocha is not a happy man by now as he was few weeks ago dragged before the public domain in a surreptitious write-up by suspected political jobbers which pitched him against his avowed opposition stance with making a U-Turn from his supposed opposition role in the government of Sir Siminialayi Fubara. Worried by this unwarranted write-up he quickly called an emergency press briefing on Tuesday 4th of June in 2024 where he denied never having made any statement purportedly making a u-turn and congratulating the Rivers state Governor of Peoples Democratic Party-PDP as he |
said “In the passing, I think it is tight to jab very idiotic script titled: ” Tony Okocha Makes a U-Turn, Congratulates Governor Fubara on a Successful One Year in Office and Apologies for Any Wrongdoing in a Press Statement he Personally Signed”.
I am bold to categorically and unequivocally say that what I just read is a document that emanated from the pit of hell, not only cruel, it’s a jejune, nonsensical and it is fake. I could not have congratulated a government that is in the Intensive care unit, not as Tony Okocha, worst case as the Chairman of All Progressives Congress, Rivers State and by that fact the leader of opposition parties and voice of the voiceless in Rivers State. I couldn’t have done so, not even at the point that I was going to breathe my last.
This document should be thrown to the trash can and seen as the concoction of purveyors of wickedness whose intention is an attempt to malign my name by showing me off as one who speaks from both sides of my mouth.
While I was away, a whole lot of you have called to know my take on the 365 days in office being celebrated nationwide including that of the governor of Rivers State, so I have called you to hear my own take.
I want to say to you clearly that the administration of Rivers State today under Governor Siminalayi Fubara is a sham. Take it on a scale of 1 to 10, he scored minus zero. In other words, it is apt to say that we have relapsed to the days of primitive administrations in our political history. There is nothing to show and I challenge the Governor and his handlers to show just one proof of one project he commenced and completed in 365 days. The moment I see and hear that, I will immediately recount and publicly congratulate the governor.
Does he compare with his other brothers? I will name particularly those who are first timers as he. Take a typical case of Abia State, take a typical case of Akwa Ibom, take a typical case of Ebonyi State, take a typical case of Anambra, take a case of Enugu and let’s look at the far North, Niger State, juxtapose the achievements of this governors individually, they are first timers like him. Take a facts-check of what is happening in those states and you will realize that Rivers State is a case of mumbo-jumbo.
Let him show me one project he can franchise to himself, not the appropriation of the projects of the former Governor. Yes, government is a continuum. Again, he prides in the plans of continuity and consolidation, it’s also not unexpected but the danger of what he is doing is that he doesn’t even accord one person of credit to. In writing, they call it plagiarism. You lift somebody’s work or intellectual property and you don’t put a quote or in-fact, without crediting it to the source, then the law says you are guilty of plagiarism. So, in other words, Siminalayi Fubara is a plagiarist.
Again, I want to challenge you to compare what he has achieved in 365 days. We are in trouble in Rivers State. It’s an era of horror, stagnation and all other vices that anybody can think of.
In Rivers State under Siminalayi Fubara, security is suspect. In Rivers State under Siminalayi Fubara, companies are leaving in droves, industries are closing down because of the fear of the unknown. The achievements of Governor Fubara known to me is the fact that he has traversed the 23 local councils of Rivers State in what he dubbed, Thanksgiving For Supreme Court Victory, that’s his own achievement and it amounts to nothing other than profligacy and throwing away of Rivers fund.
“So, how then would somebody imagine that I Chief Tony Chidugam Okocha would stand up on the grandstand, to now be in the bag if people who show vagaries begin to love what I hate. That’s not my training and I condemn it and it’s condemnable.
While responding to inquiries by journalists, whether Martin Amaewhule and the 26 other members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Minister of FCT Abuja, Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike are members of the APC he replied thus: “Can we agree that what makes you a member of a group is that you have your name in the register of that group and if there is an identity card, you also have your own identity card to show that you’re a member and in the case of a political party, you also have your membership card. However, the matter is sub-judice.
On probe of Wike by his successor in office Sir Siminialayi Fubara, the APC Rivers state Caretaker Committee said “It is only a fool, for want if better word that would leave a public office and conclude like it was a private enterprise and because of that you don’t think that you will be susceptible to probe. A day of reckoning will surely come for anybody to imagine, including Siminalayi Fubara, to think that the mention of probe is a threat, no, it’s not a threat.
So he mentioned the probe is nothing. I have been asking, what are the delays in setting up the panel. I have challenged him and I’m challenging him again that he who goes to equity must go with clean hands. I listened to him, he said he was going to probe past administrations, not just Wike even though it was an innuendo targeted at Wike. Also, we are saying that you cannot also do so without vacating that an order procured long ago by former Governor Peter Odili that stopped the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from probing Odili, Rotimi Amaechi, Nyesom and now you, Siminalayi Fubara will benefit from that judgment.
Also shade off your immunity as governor because as Director of Finance and Administration, Government House, Accountant-General of the state, there is no way you can be absolved of probe of a governor.
Don’t forget also that the governor is not a signatory of any account but gives just a mandate. So, as Accountant-General, it’s clear that he was signatory to the account so he too is not free.
So, to say that that has quieted Wike is not correct. Don’t also forget that Wike is a Minister of the Federal Republic so whether people speak for him or not, he has to be circumspect. At the fullness of time everybody will speak up.”
It is on record that the former Governor of rivers state Sir Dr. Peter Odili did obtain a Perpetual injunction from a Federal High court which stopped the probe of the account and expenditure of Rivers state finances by Economic and Financial Crime Commission-EFCC and several administrations that served in Rivers state are now benefiting from that Court Judgment which barred EFCC from investigating and probing the Financial records of Rivers state Government.
——-Emeka Amaefula—+234(0)8111813069
