The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has hit out hard at Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, for linking the contentious Ikoyi $43 million to Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, erstwhile Governor of Rivers State and incumbent Minister of Transportation.
The party in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Chief (Dr.) Davies Ibiamu Ikanya described the accusation as mischievous, wicked, diabolical, evil and a desperate attempt to run down an innocent man whose only crime is that he led APC to defeat a party that prides itself as the largest political party in Africa.
Rivers APC in the statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt berated Wike and his inglorious co-travellers for attempting to denigrate and disparage the person and personality of Rt. Hon. Amaechi over the Ikoyi $43 million saga. The party said: “It is very sad and unfortunate that over two years that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi led APC to dust PDP in the 2015 general elections, the PDP Leadership up till date has refused to forgive Amaechi for disgracing them out of power and salvaging our nation from a system whose corruptive tendency is not only contagious but legendary.
“It is on record that apart from the Abuja residence of Amaechi he has no other single plot of land in any part of this country, so linking him to the ownership of the contentious Ikoyi estate and the huge sum found in it is nothing but an invidious plot to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It is sad and shameful that a frustrated and disgraceful group with Wike and Fayose as the key actors should attempt to tarnish the hard-earned reputation of Amaechi just because he collaborated with other patriotic Nigerians to oust a regime that is now exposed as the most corrupt ever in the history of Nigeria.
“We sincerely sympathise with Wike, Fayose and Fani-Kayode in this failed plot which has once again exposed them for their lowly type of life, even as we wish to remind them that one day we all shall stand before God Almighty to give account of the type of politics people like them are promoting in Nigeria devoid of integrity and ideology. It has become very obvious that Wike and Fayose now derive pleasure from mentioning Amaechi’s name whenever any negative thing happens, in order to remain relevant and revive their dwindling political fortunes. Instead of Wike and Fayose to face the myriad of problems they have created for themselves, PDP and their states, they prefer to preoccupy themselves with how to drag the name of Amaechi into every imaginable controversy. Their thinking is that by pulling down Amaechi PDP will come back to power come 2019 to continue with their looting spree and destruction of our economy. They truly deserve sympathy because they are living in a fool’s paradise as Nigerians are now wiser and will never entrust their fate in the hands of wicked and shameless looters like Wike and his co-travellers.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that Amaechi has nothing to do with either the Ikoyi estate or the huge sums of money discovered there by EFCC. We urge Nigerians to ignore the antics of the likes of Wike, Fayose and Fani-Kayode. Now that the revealing facts before the public domain disassociates Amaechi from this, we hereby request these three rabble-rousers to formally apologise to Amaechi for this false accusation within two weeks or we may be left with no other option than to brief our lawyers accordingly.
“Meanwhile, we urge Wike and his confused government in Rivers State to carry out their threat to sue the Federal Government if by the end of seven days the contentious huge sum is not returned to the Rivers State Government or else they should hide their ugly faces in shame if they should fail to do as threatened. We urge the Federal Government for once take the continuous threat from Gov Wike of Rivers State against the Buhari’s administration seriously and call him to order to avoid this confused undemocratic mind from aborting our hard earned democracy abruptly.
Let us reiterate that, “It is unfortunate for Wike to state that the Ikoyi $43 million was part of the proceeds of the Rivers State gas turbines sold during the administration of Amaechi, knowing very well that the money realised from the sale was duly lodged in the coffers of the Rivers State Government and budgeted accordingly.
“Nigerians can now attest that Amaechi stands as the most vilified, persecuted politician in Nigeria for his bravery, patriotism and commitment to work for a better future for our country. We remain convinced that God who has seen Amaechi this far will always safeguard him from the Wikes and Fayoses, whose favourite pastime is their obsession to plot Amaechi’s downfall – a satanic project which Almighty God will continue to frustrate to the shame of all the Wikes, Fayoses and Fani-Kayodes of this world.”
