Wike appointed militants as LG chairmen – Amaechi

Former Rivers State governor and minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has accused Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike of appointing only known militants as chairmen of caretaker committees of the local government councils in the state.

This is as the Rivers State Police Command yesterday denied reports on the social media that the former governor ordered the arrest and manhandling of a policeman along the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road, near the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

Amaechi, who spoke yesterday when he appeared on a live programme of a private television station, which was monitored in Port Harcourt, also accused Wike of appointing former Niger Delta militant leader, Chief Ateke Tom as a special adviser.

The minister said, “Now, you are asking a question when all his council chairmen are known militants. It is not an allegation. For example, the chairman of Asari-Toru local government council is living in Government House, because he cannot go to work. Why can’t he go to work? Because the police stormed his house, found AK-47, live ammunitions. Please, call the commissioner of Police and the director of the SSS to confirm.

“They went to arrest him but he was taken away by government. He is a known militant; he was granted amnesty. When I say known, he was on the list of those granted amnesty. His name is Sonoma Jackrich. You can go on with your investigation. I am saying the police went to his house in the village and saw the weapons. Let the government deny it.

“I am a Christian and I will never sit down with a cultist. In fact, if you want me to leave here, just tell me that you have a murderer here. I won’t feel comfortable sitting with such person. As a governor, I never sat down with cultists, but in this government, they are appointing Chief Ateke Tom as special adviser to the governor.”

Amaechi said as a governor, he approached even his known enemies to assist him in finding ways to move the state forward and expected the incumbent governor, Wike, to do so in resolving the current insecurity in the state.