The immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has denied storming the residence of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to protest the rescheduling of his screening and confirmation as minister.
Amaechi said that a report that he stormed Saraki’s house last Thursday and purportedly raised his voice to express frustration over the deferment of screening and confirmation was aimed at portraying him in bad light.
The former governor, who spoke through a statement signed on behalf of his media office by Mr. David Iyofor, on Monday, said the allegation was an attempt to demean him in the eyes of the public.
Specifically, Amaechi pointed out that he was never at Saraki’s residence on Thursday last week and added that he would never act in any way that would put the Office of the Senate President into disrepute.
The statement said, “The report, which the respected newspaper got from ‘sources’, further claimed that during the visit of Thursday last week, Amaechi was said to have raised his voice to express his frustration before leaving the residence without seeing the Senate President.
“The imagery created in the last four paragraphs of the lead report was an angry Amaechi, who stormed the residence of Senate President Bukola Saraki, raised his voice as he made a scene or caused a ‘ruckus’ to display his frustration over the deferment of his screening by the Senate, before ‘storming out in a huff’ without seeing the Senate President.
“This is absolutely not true. There is a deliberate and carefully calibrated attempt to characterise Amaechi with a very bad and demeaning mannerism. We must clarify that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi did not visit and was not at the residence of the Senate President on Thursday of last week.
“Since he (Amaechi) did not go to the residence of the Senate President on Thursday of last week, so, there is absolutely no way that what the newspaper sources claimed to have transpired, happened.
“We must emphasise that former Governor Amaechi holds the office of the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in very high esteem and will never disrespect or act in any way that would put the office in disrepute. However, in this case, the incident reported never occurred either on Thursday or any other day.”
The former governor, however, attributed the alleged false report to the activities of fifth columnists posing as journalists, whose aim was to malign and destroy people’s reputation.
Amaechi said, “While we understand the constraints and pressures journalists face in doing their jobs, we would advise them to be thorough and double-check or even ‘triple-check’ their sources of information.
“There seems to exist an axis of fifth columnists, masquerading as ‘sources’ to journalists. They fabricate events and stories that never happened to malign and destroy the characters and reputation of others, while fomenting acrimony and bad blood in the polity. Journalists must beware of such sources.”
Meanwhile, ahead of Tuesday’s (today) ministerial screening by the Senate, the Niger Delta Watchdog has decried the ongoing anti-Amaechi campaign in some quarters, describing it as wrong and unacceptable.
The National Coordinator of the group and former militant leader, John Doku, urged the people of the Niger Delta not to scuttle the opportunity of Rivers State to produce a minister and hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for nominating the ex-governor for a ministerial position.
Doku said that it was wrong for the People Democratic Party in the state to move against a ministerial nominee from Rivers State, which he described as the headquarters of the Niger Delta.
He also urged the Senate to ignore the petitions written against Amaechi, adding that such petitions were borne out of political bitterness.
Explaining that Amaechi was qualified for the position of a minister, the NDW national coordinator stated that the former governor had worked for the All Progressive Congress.
He added that the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, would be seen as implementing the agenda of the PDP should he refuse to confirm Amaechi as minister.
Doku said, “It is necessary for the people of Niger Delta to bear in mind that Amaechi is from Niger Delta and trying to scuttle his chances of becoming a minister will negatively affect Rivers State and the Niger Delta region in general.”
