Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has said that Nigeria has no money anywhere and that is why state governors are finding it hard to pay salaries, the outgoing governor also predicted that tough times await the governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Ameachi made this statement during a special thanksgiving service held by the Greater Together Campaign Organisation (GTCO), the campaign outfit of the Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.
He said When I said sometime last year that Nigeria’s finances was in a dire strait, some people referred to me as an alarmist. Since I made that statement in December last year, the statutory allocation to the state has continued to decline.
“Now, almost all the states are finding it difficult to pay salaries. The state government owes civil servants their April salaries and pensioners’ four months’ salary arrears because the state does not have the money to pay them.
“Some people have chosen to make an issue of the difficulty we are currently experiencing in paying the salaries of civil servants as well as the arrears of our retirees. It is not our making.
“No government will deliberately refuse to pay the salaries of its workers. We will pay as soon as we receive our share of our statutory monthly allocation from the Federal Government.
“It is not easy to joggle the payment of salaries and the implementation of capital projects that are actually geared towards developing the state, creating jobs and improving the economy of the state because more monies go into the society when you award contracts and pay the contractors on time so that they can also pay their workers on time.”
Ameachi also alleged that a newly promoted Commissioner of Police, Mr. John Amadi, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in-charge of Operations in the state, during the general election made an attempt on his life.
He said “I will say to all of you that there is a man called John Amadi, former Deputy Commissioner of Police, who sat down and ran a programme to embarrass the APC and embarrass the incoming federal government; even after Buhari had won the presidency. Now, to embarrass us further, I hear he has been promoted to a Commissioner of Police and transferred out of Port Harcourt. He will come back. John Amadi will come back; you will see. The only way he will not come back is if we don’t form government, but if we form government, he will account for his actions.
“After John Amadi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in Khana said it is mutiny to take on the federal government, and sat down and fought APC as if he was a PDP member. I don’t know whether he has been promoted or not, but if he has been promoted, he will also come back. That one does not require a judge. The Inspector General of Police (IG) can promote them as he wants; he can even promote them up Assistant Inspector-General of Police, but they must all account for their actions.
“John Amadi intended to kill me and I will tell you how. On my way to my village to go and vote, I ran into some criminals attacking an APC member and I stopped. I stopped with the intention to rescue the gentle man and arrest those people, as governor. I did not know that they had given instruction to my own security not to obey me.
“So, when I told the policemen to arrest them, they were just standing. On further inquiries, I was told that we were told not to go anywhere they were voting. When I asked the C4I to reinforce security, John Amadi called them back and asked them to leave there. The only thing that saved me and saved the situation was that the Brigade Commander sent in soldiers.
“The soldiers sent the criminals away and the people were speaking my language saying, ‘somebody will die here now’ and who was that somebody, other than me? My SSS men were watching, my policemen were watching and my life was at risk. I am supposed to be the governor of Rivers State; the so-called Chief Security Officer.”
Ameachi also described President-Elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as a man who upholds the rule of law, he said “The president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, is a man of rule of law. He will not punish anybody without following due process. Let us ask the incoming federal government to punish whoever contravened the law.”