Still on the elaborate social reception for Amaechi

One does not have to be super-intelligent to recognise that the elaborate social reception held in honour of Mr Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State, at the Abuja International Conference Centre on Sunday, August 2, is part of an equally elaborate image laundering scheme for Mr Amaechi. The calibre of guests was A-List : […]

One does not have to be super-intelligent to recognise that the elaborate social reception held in honour of Mr Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State, at the Abuja International Conference Centre on Sunday, August 2, is part of an equally elaborate image laundering scheme for Mr Amaechi. The calibre of guests was A-List : Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Aishatu, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari; Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, national Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC); serving and former state governors, including Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna; leading political members of the APC, and a host of others.
The sentiments heaped on Amaechi that night were effusive, with Vice President Osinbajo describing the guest of honour as a person worthy of emulation. Others eulogised the former Rivers Governor for the role he played in ensuring victory for the APC at the last general elections, especially the presidential polls. Rotimi Amaechi was Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, a position he got after he was apparently passed over as nominee for Vice Presidential candidate.
The August 2 event was intended to muster support as a counter measure to any move intended to block Amaechi’s nomination for a Federal appointment. If other APC stalwarts in the other 35 states were to be hosted to similar ostentatious receptions, to garner support for their Ministerial nomination, the cost would be enormous, and the very idea itself offensive to decency. It is worrisome that, while the Buhari administration is trying to enunciate a regime of frugality, some persons are spending lavishly, to polish Amaechi’s image.
At the reception, Amaechi disparaged immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, dropping the innuendo of suspected graft in the high claims for fuel subsidy during Jonathan’s administration. Amaechi also went after his successor as Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike. “May God not give me the kind of ambition of Nyesom Wike; he can sell anybody,” Amaechi was reported as saying.
Amaechi further said: “Let me tell you what is currently going on in Rivers State. The governor and PDP are afraid of me getting an appointment to the national (Federal) Executive Council because that will determine what the politics of Rivers State will be. And they know that the current President abhors corruption and the only way they can stop me from getting the appointment is to paint me with corruption. And the people that know me in Rivers State know that I don’t like money…And I expect them to defend me that I don’t like money.”
Pray, what evidence is available that since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, the politics of Rivers State has been determined by whoever was Minister from the state? When Amaechi himself became Governor in 2007, what role, if any, did the Minister from the state play? While Amaechi was governor in his second term, Nyesom Wike was a member of the Federal Executive Council. Was Amaechi scared of Wike as Minister? At least, the impression created by his frequent vituperations is that Amaechi is a fearless lion.
Those present at the Abuja reception for Amaechi probably see only one dimension of the man. Rivers people see several dimensions. In the twilight of his eight-year rule as governor, Amaechi took on the unusual role of DG of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, which meant that Amaechi abandoned governance at the state level. He was unapologetically obstructionist in his last days as Governor of Rivers. He did not hand over to Wike, as the civil servants were under strict directive not to prepare any handover notes.
When he spoke at the August 2 reception, Amaechi made a song and dance of his claim that he “doesn’t like money”. The insinuation is that those who like money are corrupt, and therefore will not pass Buhari’s test of integrity.  How might we then classify abuse of office? Well, at the same reception, Mallam El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, committed a faux pas, by praising Amaechi for deploying (financial) resources to help fight electoral battles in PDP-controlled states. Amaechi is no Rockefeller, nor is he a Bill Gates, or a Dangote.
Whose resources did Amaechi deploy to fight electoral battles? How did he have access to the resources, bearing in mind the processes for spending government funds? And yet, Amaechi is saying that people want to tarnish his image. It is indeed a commonly held view that if Buhari is really serious in fighting corruption, he must begin with those who assisted him to power, particularly the money-bags who came with funds from yet-to-be-disclosed sources.
“I chose the path of honesty and truthfulness,” Amaechi said at the reception. While the jury is still out on Amaechi, he need not cry wolf. After all, a clear conscience fears no accusation. President Buhari, it is said, is intolerant of corruption, as he would not shut his eyes to red-hot evidence of a guy who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Above all, President Buhari has given firm assurance in recent interviews that no one, including members of the ruling APC, would be spared if found to be corrupt. Time will tell what granite-solid evidence will emerge as to the management of public resources by the immediate past administration in Rivers State.

Douglas, a public affairs analyst, contributed this piece from Port Harcourt