The PUNCH had reported that Amaechi along with some other former governors: Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Sullivan Chime (Enugu); Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Shehu Shema (Katsina) and Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State were being probed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission.
However, Chief Tony Okocha, a former aide to Amaechi, told one of our correspondents that the ex-governor was not afraid of ICPC or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as long as the probe was not a witch-hunt.
Okocha, however, recalled that the ICPC and the EFCC had not vacated a court order stopping any of them from investigating any Rivers Government official and as such could not probe him.
He stated that Governor Nyesom Wike was a beneficiary of such order from the court, adding that until the court injunction was vacated, it would be illegal for the ICPC to probe his boss.
“I have always said that Amaechi is not afraid of the EFCC or the ICPC as long as such probe is not a witch-hunt. Again, there is a court order that the EFCC or other agency like it cannot probe any government official in the state. Wike is a beneficiary of that court order.
“Until that court order is vacated, the ICPC or the EFCC have no right to investigate Amaechi. Since what they are going to investigate is his (Amaechi’s) activities while in government, the EFCC and the ICPC do not have such right to do so based on the standing court order.”
The Chief Press Secretary to Fashola, Mr. Hakeem Bello, did not respond to the intended probe of his boss by the ICPC.
However, Fashola, while speaking at the 16th annual Bishop Mike Okonkwo Lecture in Lagos, “I will not respond to allegations of corruption on the pages of newspapers.”
Similarly, Shema, Kwankwaso and Lamido did not respond to phone calls on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has challenged the ICPC to explain to Nigerians why it did not include former Governor Kayode Fayemi among those it is currently probing.
According to the party, the anti-graft agencies have been given more than enough petitions and facts to assist them in getting to the root of the financial misconduct allegedly perpetrated by Fayemi while in office.
- The Punch
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