Why I’m against Wike’s probe panel – Amaechi

PORT HARCOURT — Immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has again explained why he wants to stop the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by his successor, Nyesom Wike, to probe some selected government transactions, while Amaechi was governor.

Wike and Amaechi

In a statement by the former governor’s media office yesterday, Amaechi insisted that he was not afraid of a fair and decent probe or investigation or inquiry of his administration; and would cooperate and support such inquiry in as much as it was done within the ambits of the nation’s laws.

According to the statement; “However, what Wike has set out to do is anything but a fair probe. The commission will not be fair to Amaechi because it was set up to indict him. Wike had repeatedly held that Amaechi, the person to be investigated, acted illegally in the disbursement of public funds and that Amaechi ran a corrupt government.

Clearly, Wike has prejudged the matter and shown his bias that Amaechi is guilty even before investigations. This means Wike, with his prejudiced, made up mind has taken a position of a guilty verdict even before the outcome is known or established.

The same Wike who had adjudged the yet-to-be-investigated conduct of Amaechi as illegal and Amaechi as corrupt, is the same person that has gone ahead to set up a commission of inquiry and will have the final say on the findings of the commission.

“This bias and pre-determined agenda to indict Amaechi is obvious even in the terms of reference of the commission. In one of the defective terms of reference, Wike said the Commission should investigate the circumstances that led to the ‘sale of the state Hotel Olympia.’ With a fair and decent probe, the Inquiry should have been ‘to examine (or investigate) the transaction concerning Hotel Olympia.’

The difference is so clear: In the former, jaundiced Wike’s Term of Reference, it has been prejudiced and concluded that the Hotel was sold, while in the latter, the Inquiry is open and fair, and may lead to a finding of a sale or a lease or even a gift or even a pledge.

Now, having so concluded that Hotel Olympia was sold, would Wike be decent and humble enough to reverse himself if documents showed it was never sold but concessioned or leased? This is one of the dangers of Wike’s commission that harbours a predetermined outcome in the name of an Inquiry and Amaechi will not subject himself to Wike’s deceit and shenanigans.”