Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, on Saturday said
contrary to reports, the state government’s private jet costs $45m (N7.1bn) and
not $57 (N9bn).
The governor said this through his Commissioner for
Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, in an interview with our
correspondent in Port Harcourt.
Amaechi described the allegations that he inflated the cost
of the jet by $10m as unfounded and a figment of the imagination of those
spreading such false information.
According to him, the allegations were targeted at
distracting the state government from its responsibility of developing the
state.
“The state government has never announced that the aircraft
was purchased for $57m. That statement did not come from us. The aircraft was
bought for US$45m. We see all these as a distraction,” Amaechi said.
Meanwhile, two aides to the Rivers State Governor Rotimi
Amaechi, and the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government
Area, Mr. Chikodi Dike, were on Saturday barred by a team of policemen from
entering the council secretariat.
The two aides were the Chief of Staff, Rivers State
Government House, Mr. Tony Okocha and the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr.
Emmanuel Chinda.
The incident, which occurred around 2.30pm, came barely
24 hours after a team of policemen had sealed off the council secretariat
allegedly on the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu.
Workers of the council and visitors on the premises were also
ordered out of the secretariat by the policemen on Friday before sealing off
the place.
Speaking with newsmen outside the premises of the council,
Okocha described the development as a coup against the people of Obio/Akpor and
the people of the state in general.
Dike had earlier gone to the secretariat for the monthly
environmental sanitation, but was warned by the fierce-looking policemen that
had mounted guard at the gate of the council secretariat for two days to stay
away.
Okocha, who was peeved by the development, went to the
council secretariat in company with Dike and Chinda.
However, the policemen stood their ground when the Chief of
Staff and other government officials arrived the secretariat, saying they were
acting on the order of the Divisional Police Officer of Rumuokoro Police
Station.
Okocha said, “You can see that the whole place is blocked
with police vehicles and policemen. This morning, the police PPRO had said no
such thing existed. That is why I came to see things for myself.
“I was trying to find out the man who gave the instruction:
the policeman I saw said it was the DPO who gave the instruction and he said
the DPO is not around. I said okay; give me the name of the next person around.
“What I suspect is a coup in a democratic setting; a coup
against Obio/Akpor local government and a coup against Rivers State. We know
their plan is to provoke the people of Rivers so that there would be some kind
of mayhem for them to declare a state of emergency.”
He told newsmen that the state police boss had told him that
the order to seal off the council secretariat was from the Inspector General of
Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar.
He described the action of the police as anti-government,
saying, “I don’t know whose script they are really acting out. I am shocked.”
The PPRO, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam, had earlier said policemen
were sent to the secretariat following a tip-off that there was a plot to
attack the council secretariat.
Punch
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