Wike dares APC, says I’ll implement panel’s recommendations without fear

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, said on Wednesday that his administration would implement the recommendations of the Justice George Omereji-led judicial commission of inquiry without fear or ill will.
The commission was set up by the governor to probe the sale of Rivers assets and also look into other matters concerning the management of state resources by the past administration.
Wike also stated that his government would not allow financial crimes to be committed with impunity in Rivers, adding that the criticism against the panel will not deter him from taking decisions that will move the state forward.
Explaining that his administration was not the first to establish a commission of inquiry, he recalled that his predecessor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, set up the Justice Kayode Esho commission of inquiry and added that former governor Dr. Peter Odili appeared before the panel.
Wike, who spoke in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, also recalled that Odili appeared before the Esho panel despite an alleged uncomplimentary remark credited to Esho on a perpetual injunction concerning him (Odili).
He dismissed allegations that the Omereji-led commission of inquiry was established to indict the immediate past governor, adding that the panel was set up based on relevant laws of the state.
“The implementation of the commission’s recommendations shall be devoid of fear or favour, affection or ill will. The refusal to appear before the panel is an admission of guilt. The allegation that the Justice Omereji’s commission of inquiry is a subterfuge to indict Rotimi Amaechi suffers from eclipse of reasoning and poverty of logic.
“Amaechi set up the Justice Kayode Esho’s commission and when former governor Peter Odili was invited, he obliged despite the fact that Justice Esho had made some uncomplimentary remarks about a perpetual injunction concerning Odili,” Wike said.
The governor added that he inherited a hobbling economy and a suffocating state treasury, even as he added that his administration would not allow financial crimes to be committed with impunity in the state.
He said, “The Omereji’s panel was set up to probe expenditures made by Amaechi’s government, which is what any responsible government will do because the tax payers’ money is not for one man, especially when certain financial transactions are opaque.
 “It is even more important when the outgoing administration demurred to hand over or when there were no handover notes. The welter of criticisms by the APC in Rivers State is actuated by fear of exposure. It is just a hocus pocus.
“Governor Wike inherited a hobbling economy and a suffocating treasury. He provided the lifesaving machine and today, the state is recuperating. The sittings (of the panel) were not done clandestinely and all that was expected of Amaechi and his acolytes was for them to appear and prove their innocence.”
Wike, however, added that in establishing a panel of inquiry, he was “Only borrowing a leaf” from President Muhammadu Buhari, describing him (Buhari) as an embodiment of probity and rectitude.