Senator George Sekibo (PDP) representing Rivers East Senatorial District has thrown more light on how his former political godfather, Rotimi Amaechi would fail as the Senate begins screening of ministerial nominees on Tuesday next week.
Speaking with DAILY POST in his office, he wondered why the former governor of Rivers State should be among the ministerial nominees despite allegations of misappropriation of funds to the tune of N70 billion brought against him by a group known as Integrity Group.
He said the petition, which was forwarded to the Senate, was weighty enough to form Senate’s decision against Amaechi, while assuring the people of Rivers and Nigerians that Tuesday’s screening of would-be Ministers will definitely be tough for Amaechi.
“There was a petition written to EFCC, ICPC and Presidency by a group known as Integrity Group, committed to good governance and transparency, which carried out a research on Rotimi Amaechi administration.
“They discovered that about the sum of 70 billion was misappropriated by him and he kept the money in a foreign account”, Sekibo said.
According to him: “We learnt that the anti graft agencies have commenced investigation into the matter, but the Presidency may have not received the petition, that is why his name reflected, but now that the Senate has received the petition, I have laid it on the floor; it has been referred to public petition and I know the Committee will come out with appropriate recommendations that we will work with”, he said.
He stressed that there were credible Rivers people in the ruling All Progressives Congress that could serve as Ministers and reasoned that Amaechi might interfere with investigations against him when he becomes a minister.
He reminded Buhari that his anti-corruption crusade was already a bond between him and Nigerians, while opining that anything short of that would be a day of judgment waiting for him.
“I want to say that if for any reason Ameachi sails through and becomes a minister, we’ll wait for a day of judgement that is coming”, he added.
Meanwhile, in what seems to be a landmine, the Senate on Thursday insisted that each nominee must have the support of two Senators from his state.
All Senators from Rivers State are of the Peoples Democratic Party, who are not likely to support Amaechi.
