Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the recently-retired minister of transportation, asserted that Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike lacked the authority to bring charges against him for the alleged N96 billion fraudulent sale of state property.
Recall that the Supreme Court dismissed Amaechi’s case challenging the creation of a seven-person investigation panel against him because it lacked merit.
The supreme court upheld the authority of the Rivers State Government to form an inquiry panel to look into any financial transactions related to the sale of the assets.
Amaechi’s alleged involvement in the N96 billion sale of public assets during his eight years as governor was the subject of an earlier investigation by a seven-person commission established by the Rivers State Government.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Wike gave the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice the go-ahead to begin charging Amaechi and the other participants in the transaction.
Amaechi stated, “Wike only has the authority to set up a panel and not to prosecute him or anyone,” during a Saturday press conference at the All Progressives Congress (APC) state office in Port Harcourt.
According to Amaechi, the investigative panel’s responsibility is to acquire information and transmit it to the police or anti-graft organizations.
The former minister admitted that neither the ICPC nor the EFCC had invited him for questioning about the investigative panel’s report. He also stated that neither had the Police.
He said: “I hope that the governor has good lawyers. The Supreme Court said in their judgement that he has powers to set up a panel and the job of the panel is to gather information.
“That after gathering the information, they should pass the information to either ICPC, Police or EFCC. The Police have not invited me, ICPC has not invited me and EFCC has not invited me.
“Secondly, there is what we call fair hearing. At that point when they will invite me, it is called a fair hearing because they will hear my own side of the story. You have not heard my own side of the story and you went to Court to do what. Something must be giving you confidence.
“It is not about being served by the Court, the Supreme Court said before you go ahead, you have to send it to the investigating authorities and it is when they finish the investigation that they will decide whether the matter will come to Court or not. You have not done any of those things and you are in Court. So, what will you be telling the Court.
“Two, everything that was done was done transparently. There was an agency called the Public Procurement Agency and all those things passed through.
“We shouldn’t be talking about an issue that is before the Court. Let the Court decide. Tonye Cole didn’t act in his personal capacity, he represented Sahara Energy. You know this is political because they are afraid.”
