Governor Rotimi Amaechi has declared that Rivers state will not allow a thief to succeed him as Governor, come 2015.
The governor, speaking at a rally on Saturday, 25 October, 2014 to celebrate the seventh anniversary of his Supreme Court victory at the Amesiemaka Stadium in Ikwerre local government area of the state, claimed that one of gubernatorial aspirant who is campaigning to succeed him is a political thief who has embezzled the money which was meant for the construction of a road the leads to the stadium in Port Harcourt.
“Today I decided to test my popularity. They have made too much noise. The President said we exist in posters and bill boards. So we brought a large bill board for him. If the President is not watching they will give him security report. This stadium is 40,000 sitting capacity, I built it. One of them campaigning for governorship was the contractor to do the road. He abandoned the road and took N3 billion and left. Now he wants to become governor, a thief will not be our governor,” he stated.
Governor Amaechi also condemn the high rate of corruption in Nigeria presently, saying that even the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was no longer fighting anti-graft war it is known for.
“I challenge them to integrity test, any of them, from Abuja to Rivers State; I challenge them to integrity test. I have worked with them. I have their records; they are in the office of the governor. I challenge them to go ahead. The problem we have is that EFCC is no longer working. Corruption is at its industrial scale. Thieves are thieves, we now have an industry called corruption,” he lamented.
The governor thanked Justices of the Supreme Court for delivering the judgement that ushered him in as governor in 2007and appreciated his loyalists in the state House of Assembly for their support.
The governor rolled out his credential of administrative and political achievement since 2007 and today as he accused the Federal Government of frustrating the effort of his administration to provide potable water for Port Harcourt.
“We were to give Port Harcourt water. As I am talking to you, the Minister of Finance has refused to move the file back to the executive council for approval so that you can have water. They don’t care for you. Punish PDP with your vote”, he advised.
“They said the reason the President is not performing in Rivers is because he is quarrelling with the governor. Okay, what is the quarrel with the governor of Cross River and Akwa Ibom that the road to Cross River is abandoned? Are they quarrelling too? It is more of lack of performance. “He added
The governor also accused the President of converting some oil wells that belongs to Rivers State, adding that he did not encourage the state effectively to fight Ebola when it broke out in the state.
“When Ebola broke out, to show you how much the President hates us, he visited Lagos. Did he visit us? He did not care. He wanted all of us to die. And I took it as a challenge and say none of us will die. I brought out money. It took the President at the end of Ebola to give us ordinary 200 million naira. I released one billion, one hundred and six million naira to fight Ebola. See our airport. The President lands there. We are like refugees,” he lamented.
The occasion which witnessed a wholesale defection of 3000 PDP members to APC has dignitaries on sit as the likes of General Muhamadu Buhari , National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun , Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State , Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso of Kano State were present at the event.
