"Rivers Gov, a thug "Says Amaechi"

The Minister of Transportation , Rotimi Amaechi , on Tuesday verbally attacked his successor, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, and threatened to expose the governor’ s wife “ if he ( Wike ) does not shut up his mouth.”
Amaechi , who was visibly angry at the allegation levelled against his wife by Wike , also described his successor as a thug who could hardly speak good English.
On Monday , Wike alleged that each commissioner and local government chairman in Rivers State paid the erstwhile governor’ s wife , Judith, N 3 m and N 2 m monthly, respectively .
But when asked to react to this while speaking on the sidelines of an inspection programme at the Kaduna Dry Port, Amaechi replied , “By accident of Goodluck Jonathan , I don’ t want to attribute it to God , but by the accident of Jonathan , the man takes office and talks rubbish. My wife and family , including my younger brothers and sisters , no one had access to government when I was governor .
“Even as minister, nobody will have such because it is not a family business. It is government business. But the problem with Nyesom Wike , and I want you to state this, if he doesn ’t shut up his mouth and do his work I will bring his wife to the focus . You see I ’ ve been very mature not to talk about his wife .
“But if Wike does not close his mouth and talk about my wife again, I will bring out his wife . My wife will never do such, we don ’ t do family business. I care about transparency. My wife is a trader . She buys and sells and Wike knows that .”
When asked why he was also accused of squandering over N 30 bn belonging to Rivers State, Amaechi said , “And you believe that ? The man , who says he has about $ 50 m in Lagos and could not prove it, is the same man you believe ? The man who said I didn’ t pay salaries until I left office and now he is saying no, it is pensioners that I didn’ t pay . Do you believe such a man ?
“Do you think such a man is well? You believe Nyesom Wike is well ? First, he doesn ’t know how to speak English, he is poorly dressed , he is a thug, and you bring me to focus with that kind of a man ?”
On the decision of the Rivers State Government to handle some of the allegations levelled against him in court , the transportation minister declared that his team was not given fair hearing by the panel set up in the state .
Amaechi said , “Which court ? Okay, let him go to court . He has no fact and he maligns people’ s character. The process is that , you set up a tribunal , but we ’ve questioned the tribunal , we were not given a fair hearing .
“Again , how do you know how the court came to its decision ? We were not even informed . There is a panel of justices in Rivers State, which is the Court of Appeal. But by the time we knew it , they took away that matter from them and gave it to a panel that came from Adamawa .”
Reacting to Amaechi ’s claim, the state Commissioner for Information , Dr. Austin Tam - George, said , “ We can’ t comment on Mr. Amaechi ’s family life . That is completely out of bounds as far as we are concerned .
“Our analysis of him has always been in his capacity as a public administrator , and there ’ s a lot to hold him to account in that official sphere . As a former governor , he has refused to account for his time in office , despite receiving over N 3 tn in eight years on behalf of Rivers people .
“We respect his family and will never denigrate his wife in her private capacity, and the children . Mr. Amaechi should therefore not degrade this important debate about public accountability and service delivery to the people of Rivers State.
“As a leader, we invite him to account for what he did with the N 4 bn agriculture grant he took from the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2014. There is no single surviving beneficiary in Rivers State. These are the issues . Not the smallness of family politics and the toxicity that feeds it .”