•‘Wike afraid Buhari’ll make me a FEC member’
Former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has said subsidy payment
under former President Goodluck Jonathan rose from N300 billion to N1
trillion without justification.
He said his successor, Nyesom Wike, is jittery that President Muhammadu
Buhari would make him a member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The ex-governor spoke at a reception organised in his honour in Abuja on Sunday night.
Amaechi noted that since Wike and members of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in the state were jittery that his appointment would be the
main determinant of the state politics, they have moved to tarnish his
image in the eyes of President Buhari, who detests corruption.
He said besides disagreeing with Jonathan on his management of the economy, “I never insulted him.”
Amaechi explained that he incurred the wrath of Jonathan when he decided
to contest for the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
The former governor added that Jonathan got angrier with him when he
rejected the fraudulent N1.9trillion Petroleum Support Fund (oil
subsidy) claim.
Amaechi recalled: “One day I was in a meeting with Mr. President
(Jonathan) and the argument was the $1.9trillion for oil subsidy. I told
him as the chairman, Governors Forum I will not support it. I said your
Excellency, we are already in court on the issue of oil subsidy. Since
that day the ex-President abused the hell out of my life.”
According to him, people misconstrued his strict adherence to principles
for stubbornness because he disagreed with the former President on the
management of the treasury.
He went down memory lane: “I can tell you how my trouble with the former
President started. As chairman of Governors’ Forum, the oil subsidy was
N300billion under President Obasanjo. Under President Yar’Adua subsidy
was N300billion. Six months of president Jonathan oil subsidy rose from
N300 to N1.9trillion. Is it that we now doubled our population or bought
more machines, began to manufacture things? As chairman of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum, I was in a position to get my own share of the
N1.9trillion. I chose the path of honesty and truthfulness. You cannot
catch me doing such a thing.”
He said some of his colleagues in the forum, including the former
Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu and the former Jigawa Satate
Governor, Sule Lamido were also against Jonathan’s style of leadership
but they failed to pullout of the PDP with him and other governors.
Amaechi attributed the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to
the integrity and popularity of President Buhari, noting that his
instincts never ceased to tell him that his party would be victorious.
Being the director general of the Buhari Presidential Campaign
Organisation, he hailed his team for their tenacious struggle and
success throughout the campaign.
Recalling how a crowd followed their campaign train, especially in the
North, he said “it got to a point I became afraid because of the over
two million people (crowd) around us in Kano.”
He reassured the electorate that in order not to be voted our of office
as the PDP in 2019, “we will not disappoint voters in Jesus name.”
On Wike, he said “may God not give me the kind of ambition of Nyesom Wike; he can sell anybody.”
He said: “Let me tell you what is currently going on in Rivers State.
The governor and PDP are afraid of me getting an appointment to the
national executive council because that will determine what the politics
of Rivers State will be.
“And they know that the current President abhors corruption and the only
way they can stop me from getting the appointment is to paint me with
corruption. And the people that know me in Rivers State know that I
don’t like money. But I am not angry with them. My anger is that in
Rivers they know I don’t like money. And I expect them to defend me that
I don’t like money.”
The same Wike, according to Amaechi, who used to advise him that merely
executing project without wasting money on people would not earn him a
second term in office, has sponsored newspapers’ adverts to undermine
his reputation.
Amaechi added: “Governor Nyesom Wike has again sponsored one advert in a
bid to undermine me. Only God knows that if there is one thing I don’t
like, I don’t like money. Anybody close to me knows that I don’t like
money. Even Nyesom Wike told me you will not win second term if you
don’t use money. So all this wasted projects will not deliver us. And I
said let us do it once and for all.”
Those present at the reception were: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,
Aisha-Wife of President Muhammadu Buhari APC National Chairman, Chief
John Odigie-Oyegun, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu represented by Mr Dele
Alake, Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai, House Leader Femi
Gbajiabiamila, Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong, former Bayelsa State
Governor Timipreye Silva, among others.
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