NEWS: Wike’s probe is to witch-hunt me, says Amaechi

Former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said the “probe” of his administration by his successor, Nyesom Wike, is a sham, a fraudulent witch-hunt meant to deceive the public.

In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by his former media officer, David Iyofor, the former governor said Wike intended to use the probe to tarnish his image and grab media headlines with his “concocted bogus stories of Amaechi’s alleged corrupt activities”.

The former governor also took a swipe at his former deputy, Tele Ikuru, following his claims that the Amaechi administration was the most corrupt in the state.

Ikuru was deputy to Amaechi’s predecessor, Sir Celestine Omehia, for five months, before the administration was sacked by the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007.

Amaechi was inaugurated as governor the next day and retained Ikuru as his deputy, despite massive protests.

Ikuru resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) about a week to the March 28 presidential election and teamed up with Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to fight his former boss and benefactor.

The statement reads: “This so-called Wike’s probe of Amaechi is dead on arrival. All the noise Wike is making is to grab media headlines with his lies of monumental corruption against Amaechi. It’s all drama made for the media. What is playing out is a script written and directed by Nyesom Wike. Wike should move to Nollywood where his devious skills would probably be useful.

“Even while inaugurating his yeoman commission of enquiry, Wike could not conceal his vendetta agenda. He was clear to the panel members that their job is to indict Amaechi.

“While it’s no longer in doubt what would be the report of Wike’s sham probe commission, what may shock Nigerians is the extent Wike has gone and is ready to go to manufacture stories of corrupt practices, and the kind of bogus tales of corruption against Amaechi that he will soon be feeding the nation with.

“We are aware that even the Chairman of his commission of enquiry was shocked and protested when Wike gave him the litany of phony claims of corruption against Amaechi that the chairman would write in the panel’s report. But Wike had assured him not to worry that he had since been working towards arriving at that conclusion and he would provide the commission with all the (fake) evidence needed to arrive at that report.”