All may not be well now in the camp of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom
Wike as President Muhammadu Buhari is set to go after all those who served
under former President Jonathan as Ministers but stole billions of Naira.
The President was reacting to the request made by the thirty six state
governors who where at Aso Rock on a visit. The governors under the Nigerian
Governors' Forum asked for a bail out to the tune of N 100 billion to enable them
pay salaries of workers in their various states caused as a result of the
dwindling economy.
Though Buhari did not ascent to their request, he was said to have told
them that he must recover all the stolen billions from those who served under
Jonathan from now and in three months time.
It is not clear why the president chose the occasion to express his
anger over the way and manner Ministers under Jonathan looted the nation's
treasury and left the nation in debt of over N 7 Trillion naira, according to
the Joda Transition Committee. But sources at the Aso Rock villa said it may
not be unconnected with politics considering the fact that the opposition PDP
declared the Rivers
Governor as the face of opposition while Rivers State is
the headquarters of the opposition now.
Incidentally, amongst all the governors who attended the meeting, only
Wike was the only Minister who served under Jonathan and is a governor. Though
there is no formal indictment of Wike, there are allegations of financial
impropriety against the governor during his tenure as a Junior Minister of
Education and later, as the supervising Minister for Education.
Sources say that there are several audit reports by the Federal
Ministry of Education, which had indicted the former Minister even though he
was not prosecuted because of his closeness to the former President.
But even if the governor is indicted in these reports, he still enjoys
immunity pending when the courts determine the actual winner of the
governorship election in Rivers state.
Informed sources confirmed to The Beam that many of the former
Ministers including Ms. Daeziani Allison Madueke of the Petroleum Ministry and
her FCT counterpart have returned several billions of naira. Madueke is said to
have also given a list of all the beneficiaries of her largesse to the new
government.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase has on the
orders of the president drafted a new Police Commissioner of Police to the
'crisis ridden' Rivers state where supporters of the governor and those of his
erstwhile boss, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi are at daggers drawn.
The height of the rivalry between the two camps of PDP and APC was said
to have been inflamed by the actions of the governor aimed at dismantling the
Local Government Chairmen said to be loyal to Amaechi.
The new Police boss, Chris Ezike replaces CP Bature who is alleged to
have been heavily compromised before and after the elections which resulted to
the killing of over 70 APC members and their supporters. Bature's removal may
be due to his negligence in bringing to book those that participated in the
violence that marred the 2015 elections even where petitions by those affected
had since been forwarded to his office.
The gruesome murder of an APC chieftain and a traditional ruler, Chief
Adube and three of his children, as well as five other members of his family at
Obirikom in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of the state has attracted spate of public
outcry and condemnation. Though the wife of the late APC Chieftain named the
State Chairman of the PDP, Felix Obuah as the sponsor of the assassination, CP
Bature is yet to bring him to answer to the allegations.
Many who had thought that President Buhari will not in any way exercise
his powers as President in Rivers State may be underestimating the Fulani-born
General who is said to be bitter about the way and manner his supporters were
attacked, killed and denied access to voting. Buhari has repeatedly said that
all those particularly the security agents who participated in the electoral
fraud in Rivers and Akwa Ibom will be brought to book.
It would be recalled that the AIG in charge of Zone 6 covering Rivers
state on the eve of the governorship election was ordered out of the state for
insisting that some Divisional Police Officers who aided the diversion of
electoral materials in favour of the PDP should return the materials to their
original booths.
With the change of baton at the Police headquarters in Port Harcourt,
respite seems to have come the way of the APC as the governor may not likely be
in control of the new man whom we hear has been assigned to maintain Order in
the State.
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