A former All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has denied knowledge of purported plans by the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to reconcile him and Senator Magnus Abe.
The ex-Minister of Transportation made the denial when he was interviewed by journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Amaechi stated that there was bound to be internal wrangling anytime political transition approaches, adding that the rancour could be addressed since it was not about governorship.
He expressed willingness to meet with the aggrieved members of the party and address their grievances in order to move Rivers APC forward.
“I am not aware that there are plans by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to reconcile myself and Magnus Abe,” Amaechi stated.
“Any time you have a transition, you are bound to have disagreement. I am talking about internal rancour amongst us. In one, two, three weeks, we will be able to resolve what the issues are. The issues are not about the governorship candidate. I need to sit with them and say, can we move forward.”
Reacting to the decision of the Rivers State government to prosecute him over the alleged sales of the state assets, the former Rivers governor declared that neither the police nor any of the anti-graft agencies has invited him for interrogation.
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 did not act in his personal capacity. He represented Sahara Energy. You know this is political because they are afraid.”
He urged APC members to go and work for the party’s victory, stressing that the election is a contest and one person must emerge victorious.
The former presidential aspirant defended the Minister-designate, Udi Odum, who is the leader of Abual/Odual local government area, correcting the impression that he was an unpopular candidate.
