The presidency appears to be in dilemma over the allegations of massive corruption leveled against Chief Rotimi Amaechi, the Director-General of Buhari Presidential Campaign and ministerial hopeful. EZUGWU OBINNA reports

Rotimi Amaechi, the immediate past governor of Rivers State and one of the key financiers of President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign in the 2015 polls is set for a huge political battle following widespread calls for his probe. This is coming on the heels of his possible nomination for ministerial appointment under the new government. However, supporters of Amaechi believe that the campaign of calumny is targeted at denting his image so that he would be dropped from the list by Buhari, who has promised that corrupt people would not be part of his cabinet.

Already there are petitions against Amaechi from different groups over allegations of monumental fraud which have flooded the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In a letter dated 31st July 2015, addressed to President Buhari, a Port Harcourt based group, the Integrity Group, raised many compelling cases of corruption allegations against the former governor, and called on the President to investigate him.

In the letter titled “Corruption, Criminal Breach of Trust, Unlawful Enrichment and Conversation of over 70 Billion naira State Resources by former Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Other Functionaries,” the group alleged that Amaechi appropriated over N78 billion during his time as governor.

“Preliminary findings from our team of investigators revealed glaring cases of corruption, criminal breach of trust, unlawful enrichment and wanton conversion of public funds amounting to over 70 billion naira by Amaechi, and some of his functionaries between October 2007 and May 2015, when he held sway as governor, “the letter said.

“While our petition revealed several cases of corruption and abuse of office, our petition is predicated on findings in respect of three major transactions initiated, sanctioned and directed under the watchful eyes of the former governor.”

Some of the transactions according to the group included “fraudulent sale of state power projects and conversion of proceeds amounting to N60,480,000,000.00” as well as “unlawful payment to and fraudulent conversion of N4,633,440,000.00.

But even a damning allegation of fraud against Amaechi came from a report by CNN’s Christine Amanpour, whose report revealed that Amaechi stored huge sums of money in different foreign accounts. A statement from Amanpour’s programme reportedly revealed that “over 757 million U.S. dollars was stacked by Amaechi in a foreign U.S. Bancorp/Minnesota account.”

The state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had also come up with its own allegations against the governor, while advising him to come out and defend himself.

Consequently, in view of these allegations there are expectedly, emerging calls for Buhari not to appoint him into his cabinet as doing so would constitute a dent on his image.

According a legal luminary, Barr Ikechukwu Ikeji, giving Amaechi ministerial appointment would not speak well of the President. “It would obviously not speak well of Buhari to appoint Amaechi. It would be wrong and contradictory for Buhari to claim he is out to fight corruption and at the same time work with someone that has corruption allegations hanging around his neck. ”

“It will not speak well of his anti-corruption stance and will not bode well for his integrity. If he is serious about fighting corruption, he should not work with people with questionable character,” Ikeji said.

The current governor of the state, Chief Nyesom Wike had also called on Buhari not to appoint Amaechi minister as doing so would mean his anti-corruption drive is mere witch-hunt.

“If Buhari is sincere in his fight against corruption, let him probe the Amaechi’s government and he will discover that there cannot be a government official that is more corrupt than Amaechi,” Wike said in a statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Opunabo Inko-Tariah.

“From the genesis to revelation of his government, Amaechi’s fiscal recklessness and dictatorial policies and approaches are responsible for the financial woes of the state that should ordinarily be buoyant.

“A man like Amaechi must not be allowed to flaunt the fruits of his crime with impunity. The appointment of Amaechi by Buhari will be an endorsement of corruption by Buhari,” the governor had said.

Nonetheless, the Rivers State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as certain individuals from the Ikwere ethnic group are mounting spirited defence on behalf of the former governor.

The party had for instance described allegations against Amaechi as attempts by the current governor of the state, Wike to sully his reputation. In a similar vein, an association of youths from Ikwere speaking part of the state had reportedly accused the Integrity Group which wrote a petition against Amaechi of doing so with the intention to malign the former governor. The youths had threatened to sue the group accordingly.

The defence has however done little to change perception of many in this regard. There appears to be a consensus that since Buhari had promised he would not work with people who don’t have clean records, working with Amaechi would amount to speaking one thing and doing the other.

“If he (Buhari) is serious about fighting corruption and recovering looted funds, he should probe people like Amaechi, appointing him into his cabinet should be out of the question,” said Mr. Don Briggs, an indigene of the state.

“There should be no sacred cows. He should be thorough, resolute and transparent otherwise, it will amount to selective probe. He should also beam his search light on other party stalwarts, who have been accused of corruptly enriching themselves,” he concluded.

The allegations have not at the same time escaped the attention of President Buhari as a source close to him who craved anonymity told Hallmark that he is “putting all that into consideration.”

Hallmark had also learnt that one of the reasons the president’s cabinet is being delayed is that he is in dilemma over whether or not to give the likes of Amaechi cabinet portfolios.

Meanwhile a PDP chieftain, Chief Bode George has asked President Buhari to probe the administrations of former Lagos state governors, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola, SAN. In a statement released Wednesday August 19th, George said Buhari cannot claim to be fighting corruption and not investigate the circumstances surrounding the controversial N78 million tundefashola.com website.

“We are living in a very interesting time. There is an air of repugnancy everywhere most specifically in my state where the immoral stench and the dark odium of Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s administration is daily being unearthed.

What is most disgusting and annoying in all these is the arrogant and the befuddled attempt of Mr. Fashola to justify the apparent reckless misappropriation of Lagos state taxpayers’ money to set up a personal web site. Fashola shows no remorse, no semblance of regret, no guilty nudging of conscience. Instead, he still attempts to ride a high horse, puffing and stomping in feigned seraphic innocence. We are not fooled. We knew all along that the emperor had no clothes. Using N78m of taxpayers’ money to build a website is reckless misappropriation. The phony over N29bn used to build a mere kilometre long link bridge is outrageous venality.

“The spurious N1.5bn allegedly spent on phantom pedestrian bridges is another con game. And there are so many of these screaming illegalities observable in the record of our poster boy of yesterday! In a more just society, Mr. Fashola should be facing a comprehensive investigation rather than being considered for any appointment at all. President Buhari should use the Fashola case as an acid test of sparing no one with any intimation of public malfeasance.

“Rather than engaging in a smug chest beating of innocence, Mr. Fashola should first remove himself from any consideration of public appointment and openly call for a judicial probe of his eight years in office. Nothing else will bring out the true picture. Lagos State is now the biggest debtor in the federation with over a trillion naira in bad debts. It may take at least 40 years before Fashola’s indebtedness can be defrayed! What a malady!

“In the end there is no way to divorce Fashola from Bola Tinubu. They are both linked in unutterable complicity. If Fashola stands today in tarnished allegations, Tinubu, his godfather, cannot possibly distance self in innocent escapism. If Fashola now rots in the mud, we must look through the depths to understand the instigating and factor. Whenever Fashola is cooling his feet at the interrogation centre, Tinubu should not be far behind,”he said.