Former Governor Chibuike Amaechi has dared Rivers State government to go to court over the report of the state judicial commission of inquiry which indicted him on allegations of corruption. According to a statement, yesterday, from his media office, Amaechi maintained that the commission was a sham, insisting that it was set up mainly to rubbish him.
The statement said witnesses were muscled up and told what to say and what not to say at the commission. Describing the commission as a negation of the values of ethical justice and rule of law, the former governor said he will be excited if the state government goes ahead with its threat to take issues in its white paper on the commission to court.
He noted that the commission allegedly proceeded from conclusion to trial, stressing that even before it commenced sitting, it had indicted him. The statement:
“As we expected, the Justice G. O Omereji Commission of Inquiry set up by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike supposedly to probe the immediate past Governor of the State, Rt. Hon. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi did not disappoint. The panel lived up to expectations as a shambolic inquisition panel that was set up to indict Amaechi.
“Crudely, without any sense of finesse or attempt to disguise its mission to ‘hack down Amaechi’, the Omereji panel did the bidding of its paymaster. As we earlier warned, it turned out to be a comedy, a circus show to grab media headlines with bogus, phantom and fabricated claims of corrupt practices against former governor Amaechi and officials of his administration. It achieved nothing beyond political excitements, entertainment and theatrics”.