Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has said that Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi once described him as the next person in his life after God.
He disclosed this in a Saturday interview with BBC Pidgin in Port Harcourt.
The Rivers governor said his predecessor made the comment in a church after he emerged governor in 2007.
Wike further said that in recognition of his massive contribution towards Amaechi’s emergence, the new governor told him to choose whatever position he wanted in the new administration.
He said Amaechi wanted to reward him with the position of a commissioner but he rejected it and chose the position of Chief of Staff instead.
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“I was not close to Amaechi. We were just in the same party and in politics everybody has an ambition. He has his own. I don’t regret that as of that time, we preferred him to be governor. We fought it and God crowned our efforts and he became a governor.
“He is in APC and I am in PDP. So don’t expect me to support what he is doing in APC. He said I was his employee. What he said was not good. God used me to make him the governor. I will give you a tape where Amaechi spoke in church saying after God, I came next. But when he spoke the other day, he said I was his employee. No problem, but an employee that dealt with him here (Rivers State),” Wike said.
He noted that he never once personally accused his predecessor of corruption but a judicial commission of enquiry in the stated indicted him of misappropriation of t$308m realised from the sale of Rivers State assets.
Wike said the same commission indicted Amaechi of squandering N54 billion Rivers’ money on the abandoned 1.4 kilometer monorail project.
He said Amaechi tried but failed to overturn his indictment both at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.