Nigeria Has No Money – Amaechi

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.”