Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is not serious about his anti-corruption stance because he should not have included ex-governor Rotimi Amaechi who has been accused of looting state resources in his delegation to the United States.
In a statement issued on Wednesday on behalf of the Chairman of the party, Felix Obuah, by his Media Adviser, Jerry Needam, the party said “The fact that in spite of the obvious cases of looting of public facilities, siphoning of Rivers State funds, fraudulent sales of state-owned establishments and monumental financial fraud committed by Rotimi Amaechi and his administration in Rivers State, and for which a Judicial Commission of Inquiry has been duly set up by the present administration to investigate, the president has continued to shield the former governor, the latest of which is his inclusion in the presidential team to the United States to meet with President Obama.
“The PDP believes that if the president was sincere and dispassionate in his efforts to bring to book corrupt leaders in the country, the former Governor (Amaechi) will not be dining and having complimentary handshakes with him at the Presidential Villa.
“If President Buhari was also serious and not had marked certain citizens, particularly members of the PDP and those that served former President Goodluck Jonathan, for his selective punitive actions, Amaechi will not be flying abroad with him, but would be made to answer corruption charges against him and the administration he superintended for the period under review.
“The party feels strongly disappointed and worried that Mr. President is only being skewed in his widely publicised purported anti-corruption drive, as he has failed to match his words with action by not demonstrably condemn and dissociated himself from the visibly emboldened fraudsters and corrupt leaders, who are chieftains of his All Progressives Congress (APC) flocking around him.
“In view of this, we believe the president and the APC government are only on a witch-hunt mission against members of the PDP, which to us is unacceptable, unjustifiable and capable of causing undue anxiety and dissatisfaction with such programmes of government at the centre.
“We again, welcome any genuine efforts at fighting corruption in the land, a stand that informed the setting of the judicial commission of Inquiry in Rivers State, but we appeal to the president to stop shielding APC leaders, including former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and emboldening them with appointments and treatments that negate his claimed intolerance of corrupt practices and fraudulent acts.”
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