Rivers Crisis: Amaechi has blood of Rivers people on his hands

The Rivers State government has alleged that Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, a former Rivers Governor, has blood of people of the state on his hands.

Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, a lawyer on Tuesday reacted to comments by Amaechi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), during a news conference yesterday in Abuja, where he described as deadly, the ambition of Governor Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to continue in office.

Okah claimed that the transportation minister, who is also the leader of APC in Rivers state and Southsouth zone, should be blamed for the death of innocent persons during the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections in Rivers, no matter how much he (Amaechi) shed crocodile tears.

Rivers information commissioner said: “The Transportation Minister is notorious as a purveyor of violence. Since 2015, he has not been able to win one single election, without resort to violence and use of security agencies. That is why, he moves about with a long convoy of soldiers.

“Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry that right in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari during the APC Presidential Campaign Rally in Port Harcourt, the Minister for Transportation threatened to kill Rivers people, in order to ensure the presidential election of February 23, 2019 is rigged in favour of his party.

“Amaechi made good his threat on Saturday, February 23 , 2019 when he worked with compromised security agencies and hired armed thugs to unleash violence on Rivers State. In the process, the minister’s game plan caused the death of over 30 persons. These killings were confirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) Electoral Officers (EOs), who indicted soldiers and the APC for the violence and snatching of electoral materials during the presidential and National Assembly elections. Amaechi should be held to account for these crimes against Rivers people.

“It is unfortunate that the Minister for Transportation, who has sponsored the killing of Rivers people during the presidential and National Assembly elections, will rush to Abuja to lie against Governor Wike who promotes peaceful electioneering and insists that the votes of the people must count.

“After killing Rivers people, especially PDP members, the Minister for Transportation is struggling to divert attention of the public, by claiming that those killed are members of the APC. This is a known trick of the failed minister. Each time he orders the deaths of Rivers people, he rushes to Abuja to lie.

“The killings by Amaechi and security agencies during the last presidential and National Assembly elections are similar to the killings that they orchestrated during the rerun elections. Amaechi is involved in the promotion of politics of violence, simply because the APC is not on the ground in Rivers State and the party cannot win free and fair elections in the state.

“It is unfortunate that after killing Rivers people to promote APC during the last presidential and National Assembly elections, Amaechi plans to make political capital from the deaths sanctioned by him. This is shameful and must be condemned.”

Okah also described Wike, who earlier threatened INEC officials with death, by asking them to first write their wills, before coming to Rivers state for electoral duties, as a man of peace, a promoter of peaceful and credible elections, who he claimed had been insisting that the votes of Rivers people must count.

He said: “The people of Rivers State will never allow the Minister for Transportation to rig elections in the state. The votes of the people must count.

“Governor Wike runs an accountable and transparent administration. It is the best in terms of projects delivery and state-wide development. Nobody expects Amaechi to praise Governor Wike, given that he plays politics with everything and Governor Wike cannot allow him instal any of his boys as governor.

“The Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency is a creation of the law. It was fashioned alongside the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency, which is still functional. It is an agency established to support security agencies with credible intelligence to fight crime. There are neighbourhood security organisations in Anambra, Kogi, Nasarawa, Edo, Bayelsa, Lagos, Kano States, etc. It is embarrassing that Amaechi worked with the security agencies to frustrate the setting up of the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency. This shows that Amaechi is simply anti-Rivers.”

Rivers information commissioner also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the arrest of transportation minister for sponsoring the violence and killing of Rivers people during the presidential and National Assembly elections, claiming that the President witnessed the threat by Amaechi, while urging President Buhari to act in the interest of Rivers people.