N82M PARTY: Amaechi dares Wike to go to court.

 

 

Former Rivers State governor and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, has denied an allegation that his administration spent N82 million to host Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
 Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George made the allegation on Wednesday, during a radio programme in Port Harcourt.
 The commissioner said: “I will seek the permission of the governor, to formally write Prof. Soyinka, a known supporter of Amaechi, if he received part of the N82 million spent on a three-hour dinner, hosted for him by the Amaechi administration. If he agrees that he received such funds, then, he will be compelled to refund same to the coffers of Rivers State.”
But in a statement in Port Harcourt, the former governor warned Governor Nyesom Wike to desist from peddling lies.
 He also challenged Wike to go to court, describing those behind the allegation as “coterie of court-jesters and attention-seekers in his administration.”
According to the minister, the allegation was a desperate bid, by the governor to discredit his person and reputation.
 Similarly, the Nobel Laureate in his reaction said the ‘unprecedented call’ for his probe was a form of corruption fighting back.
 This morning, I saw only the headlines in one or two print media regarding the 80th birthday dinner to which the former governor of Rivers State, Amaechi, and now Minister of Aviation hosted me,” said Mr. Soyinka.
“I ignored them. It was not, and remains not my business to probe into the catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of institutions and governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an immense debt of unsolicited recognition over the years.
“Since then, however, I have learnt of some unsavory statements by the insecure incumbent of the Rivers State government Lodge. These included a loose invitation to anti-crime agencies to investigate the potential crime of being honoured through any occasion.”
Soyinka said the Rivers government’s claims were warning he recounted in his recent publication, The Republic of Liars.
“Those words were: Corruption strikes back. In this ongoing instance, that expression translates most vividly as ‘Those who are neck deep in the sewage of corruption ensure that they splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions’.
“I do, however, fully support the Wikeleaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he involve the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all international organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable events of recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural receptions and events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic flavoring – to which I have submitted myself.
“The descent to this present level of abominable distractions makes one truly despair. It is one that even I did not envisage when I warned – corruption strikes back.
“Whether it brings honour or dishonour to the nation is another matter – I am saddened, but indifferent.
“EFCC and company – over to you. You all know where I live.”