Democracy Day: Amaechi Is A Failure, PDP Says

 

As Rivers State joins other States in the country to mark this year’s Democracy Day, the State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, says Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s tenure has dashed the glimmer of hope of a purposeful future for the State, which the people had thought his regime will bring about.

The PDP is also not happy that under Gov Amaechi, the huge resource base of the State estimated to the tune of about 4 trillion naira, has brought nothing but misery and the pillaging of its treasury by the Governor and his cabal priding as political aides and trustees.

The chairman of the PDP, Bro Felix Obuah, in a statement signed by Jerry Needam, his Special Adviser on Media noted this in his 2014 Democracy Day massage to Rivers people.

The PDP expresses doubts about the comprehensive number of contracts, management of disposal assets, which belong to Rivers State, under Gov Rotimi Amaechi.

The PDP also expresses disgust that the allocation from Federal Government, aside the equally hefty internally generated revenue of the State, may have been frittered away or out-rightly looted through the award of inflated or phantom contracts to the Governor’s friends, political associates and cronies as there is nothing on ground in terms of projects commensurate with the huge financial resources of the State

Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State, for instance, badly needs an infrastructure renewal plan with its potholes riddled roads and other poorly conceived and mostly abandoned projects.

The situation is not different in other parts of the State as PDP believes that rather than concentrate on matters of development, Amaechi has preoccupied himself with the issues of the Nigeria Governors Forum under which platform he has constituted himself as opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Thus, while alleging that the achievements of Amaechi in the last seven years have been overblown by those it described as the Governor’s “hirelings”, PDP also raises posers on some of the ‘star’ projects of the Amaechi administration.

These include the about 200 school buildings built at an inflated cost of N120 million each totaling over N22 billion that has accounted for the over N4 trillion that he has so far received.

In spite of the fact that there has been a lot of publicity about them, some of the buildings are adandoned and overgrown by weeds and some have been without teachers for the past six years. “Can Governor Amaechi justify the award of a 10 km Trans Amadi road for the sum of about N47 billion?”. Then, there is also the over N30 billion new stadium at Port-Harcourt which has been under construction for the past four years.

While alleging that the contract for the construction of the stadium was awarded to his political friend and acolyte, and new found political leader, former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu who is also a chieftain of the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, it is believed that the project and similar others have become the conduit pipe through which Amaechi is funding the opposition party which platform he is using against his former party, the PDP that brought him into office and political relevance.

The proceeds from this contract and other similar contracts have been the main source of funding the activities of the APC with the sole aim of wresting power from the PDP.

Also, Amaechi is yet to account for the alleged full payment of $39 million to Kleenotech, a construction company for the building of Karibi Whyte Specialist hospital that has not taken off till date as well as the initial payment of over N30 billion to Horman Engineering Ltd for the construction of the Rumuokwuta – Choba road, which was later re-awarded to another company, MCC for over N30 billion.

The much talked about Port Harcourt mono-rail project is another kettle of fish which  actual expenditure profile has become a publicly embarrassing subject of disagreement between Governor Amaechi and his Commissioner of Transport as they bandied differing figures of N36 billion and N16 billion respectively as current project cost.

PDP also wants Governor Amaechi to answer questions arising from the disposal of gas turbine power projects of former Governor Peter Odili as well as over N37 billion savings from compulsory levies in the coffers of the State government.

PDP hereby accuses Amaechi of mortgaging the future of the State to creditors with his unrestrained borrowing in the guise of funding infrastructural development. We are confused on the exact debt profile of the State, with even principal state government functionaries who should know quoting different figures at different times.

The State Commissioner of Finance, Mr. Chamberlain Peterside had for the past two years been quoting different figures as the state indebtedness to some Nigerian Banks: “In October, 2010, he (Commissioner of Finance) claimed the state had borrowed N30 billion from Zenith and GT Banks; in September, 2011, the same Commissioner said the state had borrowed N20 billion again from Zenith Bank. Later that year Mr. Peterside was reported as saying that government had again borrowed N100 billion as infrastructure loan.” The group noted that the different figures was in spite of earlier announcement of approval by the House of the borrowing of N120 billion, which the same Commissioner of Finance later explained would be sourced from Access, Guaranty Trust and First banks. All these amounted to key state officials selling outright confusion and misinformation to the people of Rivers, even as they called on Amaechi to tell Nigerians the actual debt profile of the state since he assumed office seven years ago, coupled with the 2014 N100b loan.

PDP notes that the Governor has left considerable “footmarks of destructions and destabilization,” in his administration of the State for the past seven years even as it also alleges wanton appropriation of assets of the State by Amaechi, his friends and cronies.

PDP recalls that the Governor had forcefully evicted and displaced millions of poor people from the Port Harcourt waterfronts especially Abonnema Wharf soon after he was sworn in with the promise that he will turn the ‘shanties’ then into a small London. But rather than fulfill this promise, PDP alleges that the Governor has distributed the land to his lackeys and associates without due process.

Amaechi’s promise to rebuild the old Port Harcourt General Hospital he destroyed over six years ago has not been fulfilled. Despite his inability to keep his promises in the instances cited above however, PDP noted that the State Governor has been disposing off assets of enduring legacy bequeathed to the people of Rivers State by visionary leaders like HRM King Alfred P. Diete-Spiff and Sir Dr. Peter Odili.

Investigations must be carried out on the process of sale of assets of the State like the Olympia hotel, Supaboard Stores, Golf Estate, Port Harcourt which was built on a public land, Risonpalm Estate and the Catering Rest House group of hotels to determine if they followed due process: “Was there any public advertisement for their alienation; were these purported sales in line with the Procurement Act, and the much vaunted transparency that he now claims to champion with so much empty swagger”, PDP queries.

It’s also shocking that the primary health centres Gov Amaechi claims are scattered across the State have remained malfunctioned as only one doctor is assigned to each of the health centres which operate only on week days and in most cases, only two times a week.

The acute water scarcity and epileptic power supply that are the main features of Amaechi administration have also not spared the health centres.

Consequently, most of the medical personnel deployed to these rural areas cannot stay and worse still, patients have refused to patronize these health centres because doing so is a great risk as they basically operate on OS (Out of Stock) always.

The State owned Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH) supposedly upgraded to a referral hospital is not better off, as the hospital has continued to function as a primary health centre due to lack of infrastructure and basic facilities.

To the PDP, there is nothing else that could constitute ‘democratic misrule’ and bad leadership than this, no thanks to Gov Amaechi.

The PDP State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah however urges Rivers people to keep hope alive, while charging them to continue to shun Gov. Amaechi and the APC, assuring that under the PDP government, Amaechi’s misrule shall be corrected.

Democracy Day: Amaechi Is A Failure, PDP Says