The no love lost affair that has entangled both the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and his successor, Nyesom Wike continues on Friday when Amaechi announced his rejection of an award to be conferred on him as one of the contributors to the development of the state.
Amaechi who is among the prominent Rivers sons and daughters to be bestowed with awards on Saturday as part of the celebrations to mark the state’s Golden Jubilee has rejected the award through a statement from his media office.
According to the statement, “The minister (Amaechi) was shown a publication of the Rivers State Government indicating his name as one of many others to be given awards by Nyesom Wike . But as of today, Amaechi has not received any communication from Nyesom Wike and/or Rivers State Government in this respect.
“Be that as it may, we want to state categorically that whatever Wike claims to be giving to Amaechi is a poisoned chalice that has been unequivocally rejected by the minister.
“First, the purported award itself is a contradiction of monumental proportions , a contradiction that can only come from a warped and perverted mind. From day one as governor, Wike has made it his sole, one -point agenda to attack , abuse, insult and falsely denigrate Amaechi, his immediate predecessor and erstwhile benefactor.
“Since he became governor, Wike spends most of his time making reckless, deeply irresponsible malicious, false allegations against Amaechi, as he attempts, albeit fruitlessly, to malign and destroy the outstandingly superb performance and legacy of Amaechi in Rivers State.
“So, what is the basis or criterion for Wike to give an award/honour to a man he (Wike ) has rashly attacked and called all sorts of unprintable names in the past two years?”
But, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has reacted to the rejection of a State award, by former governor of the State, and current Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
Amaechi had in a statement by his media office, described the purported award and honour by Wike as “a poisoned chalice”.
In his response, Wike through the Commissioner for Information, Austin Tam-George, said giving Amaechi’s “sanctimonious statement of rejection”, it was important to clarify that the Rivers State Government never set out to honour him for any meritorious service to the State during his time as governor.
He said: “As part of the events of the State’s Golden Jubilee celebration, the State government accepted the recommendation of the organizing committee that a variety of awards be given to different categories of individuals who have earned a place in the history of the State.
“There is a category of the awards designated for former governors of the State. And as a former governor, Mr Amaechi fell automatically in that category. We wish to emphasize that the award was never meant as a validation of Mr Amaechi’s horrendous administration.
“Mr Amaechi was personally indicted for stealing billions of public funds during his time in office, by a court-approved panel of inquiry set up by the state government.
“The government will soon initiate a prosecutorial process against him in multiple jurisdictions, in Nigeria and abroad. And no award would have stopped that process.
“We must confess that as a government, we wrestled with the moral horror of giving any kind of award to a man whose government was no better than a criminal syndicate.
“Mr Amaechi may be a scoundrel of history, but he was once a governor of the state. The proposed award was to serve as a sad acknowledgement of the especially dark place he occupies in our State’s otherwise illustrious history.
“His rejection of the award is therefore a huge moral relief for the administration, and the people of the state”.
