The immediate past
Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, says no anti-corruption agency in
the country can probe him.
The PUNCH had
reported that Amaechi along with some other former governors: Rabiu Kwankwaso
(Kano); Sullivan Chime (Enugu); Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); Godswill Akpabio
(Akwa Ibom); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Shehu Shema (Katsina) and Martin Elechi of
Ebonyi State were being probed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and related
offences Commission.
However, Chief
Tony Okocha, a former aide to Amaechi, told one of our correspondents that the
ex-governor was not afraid of ICPC or the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission as long as the probe was not a witch-hunt.
Okocha, however,
recalled that the ICPC and the EFCC had not vacated a court order stopping any
of them from investigating any Rivers Government official and as such could not
probe him.
He stated that
Governor Nyesom Wike was a beneficiary of such order from the court, adding
that until the court injunction was vacated, it would be illegal for the ICPC
to probe his boss.
“I have always
said that Amaechi is not afraid of the EFCC or the ICPC as long as such probe
is not a witch-hunt. Again, there is a court order that the EFCC or other
agency like it cannot probe any government official in the state. Wike is a
beneficiary of that court order.
“Until that court
order is vacated, the ICPC or the EFCC have no right to investigate Amaechi.
Since what they are going to investigate is his (Amaechi’s) activities while in
government, the EFCC and the ICPC do not have such right to do so based on the
standing court order.”
The Chief Press
Secretary to Fashola, Mr. Hakeem Bello, did not respond to the intended probe
of his boss by the ICPC.
However, Fashola,
while speaking at the 16th annual Bishop Mike Okonkwo Lecture in Lagos, “I will
not respond to allegations of corruption on the pages of newspapers.”
Similarly, Shema,
Kwankwaso and Lamido did not respond to phone calls on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the
Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has challenged the ICPC to
explain to Nigerians why it did not include former Governor Kayode Fayemi among
those it is currently probing.
According to the
party, the anti-graft agencies have been given more than enough petitions and
facts to assist them in getting to the root of the financial misconduct
allegedly perpetrated by Fayemi while in office.
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