Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, in this interview with journalists in Abuja, justifies his ongoing probe of the administration of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi among other issues

We saw pictures of your men seizing cars from an official of your predecessor, was there any announcement before then because the former Governor said you are only out to witch hunt him?

If you can remember during our inauguration, we told the whole world that first of all, there were no handover notes. If there were handover notes that would have guided me that this is where we started and this is where we ended, this is what we give to people as parting gifts or whatever. For instance, I said the Government House was looted and it was shown on television, but they said that is not correct, that I asked people to take the pictures so that I could award contracts. And I said I don’t need to carry anything away before I award contracts. The former President ordered renovation of the Villa before the inauguration, the things formerly there were changed, so if I come in I can say these chairs are old, I need to have new chairs.

Now, we got information that most of the Government House vehicles are scattered here and there- first, we got the information that some of these vehicles are at Trans Amadi and we sent security men, we discovered the vehicles that were parked there and the security men helped to recover them. We also got information that a Lexus bullet proof 570 is parked in a former Commissioner’s house. The vehicle is not the one she was using in her office, as a Commissioner, she cannot use a bullet proof vehicle – a Lexus that is not less than N60 or N70 million. So, we sent security men to go and retrieve the vehicle.

Initially, she (the Commissioner) said on phone that it was given to her as a parting gift. I have no problem with that, but there should be record to show that this was given to you as a parting gift. We didn’t have such records. Later, she said it was her husband that bought the vehicle, we said if it is your husband own, we have no problem, you can come with the particulars of the vehicle your husband bought to prove that that vehicle was your husband’s own.

When I came in here last week, I went to the Bank of Industry building, the former Liaison Officer here, not knowing that I was around came with one of the vehicles we have been looking for here in Abuja, so we sent the ADC to retrieve the vehicle and bring the man and he came. He said: ‘Excuse sir, we were given as a parting gift.’ I said is there anything to show that it was given to you, he said ‘Yes sir.’ I said go and bring the papers. As I speak to you, it is more than two weeks, the paper hasn’t come. So, it is easy for her to go to the media to divert attention. There is nothing like monetization policy. The monetization policy is this- when I was a Minister, no vehicle was bought for me in the Ministry- whatever thing they will give you is inbuilt into my salary, even housing. That is the essence of the monetization policy. The point is very clear- if you did not hand over anything to me and I am getting information that this is where our vehicles, our properties are, Am I not in a position to see how I can recover those vehicles?

Now, you said the former Governor said witch-hunt, witch hunt for what? Is this the first time that a judicial panel of enquiry will be set up in Rivers State? When he set up his own judicial panel of enquiry, was it also a witch-hunt? When he came, he set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was that a witch hunt? He set up Judicial Commission of Enquiry after the crisis that happened in the State House of Assembly. Was that a witch hunt? Two weeks to his leaving office, he set up Odinkalu Panel which he said was on political killings and gave them two, three weeks to make recommendations. Is he witch- hunting anybody? So, why would this one now be witch hunting? We came, we didn’t get anything to start working and we started seeing certain things and we said look ‘nobody is here to explain anything’, we are not even aware of certain transactions and we said what do we do?

•Gov Nyesom Wike

These are Rivers State funds, these are Rivers State assets, let’s see how these funds or these assets were sold or purchased. He (Amaechi) said it is a witch-hunt and according to him, he ran a transparent system. So, what is the problem? Why is anybody going to witch- hunt you? What I am trying to say is that there is nothing like witch- hunt at all. Nobody has indicted you. We have a right to ask one or two questions. If we had worked with a transition committee, we would have been able to ask one or two questions, but in this case, no transition committee was set up by government. You remember that all over the country, it is only our state that never had any type of transition committee to interface with our own transition committee, even the Police ceremonial vehicle, the Governor denied us. We had to go to Ondo State to borrow a ceremonial vehicle. Where in this country was the inauguration ceremony not funded by the State?

We know what used to be your relationship with the former Governor. Where exactly did the relationship go wrong?

He joined another party

What about before then?

The point is: somebody said, ‘I won election and that you deny me, I am going to court and I have gone to court,’ but the next thing you did was to go and revoke the person’s C of O, that you will use his hotel as school simply because he went to court. Judgment was given to the person; you (former Governor Amaechi) came to our Council and dissolved the Council. What has the dissolution of the Council got to do with the person who went to court to claim that he won the party chairmanship election? And I said it is wrong. So, when you asked what went wrong, as far as I can remember, I don’t see anything personal because, yes, all of us were in PDP, some said this is where we are going to, you said this is where you are going, and there is nothing personal in that. Politics is about interests.

Two aides of the former Governor said on television that the Permanent Secretary of the Government House took custody of everything that was in the Government House, including the hand over documents and those things were handed over to you.

That is not correct. Let’s stop being legalistic, let’s look at it from the national level. When the President was leaving, did he hand over just the (Presidential) Villa? Did he not hand over the entire government structure, from one ministry to the other to indicate that this is where we started from, this is where we are, this is the debt profile; then you can ask one or two questions. The Permanent Secretary never one day handed over anything to me. I am not talking about Government House, I am talking about the government of Rivers State. When we asked, the Permanent Secretary said they never allowed him to come to the residence. When they asked him to come and take the keys, he refused because he said he didn’t know what and what have been removed from there. What the PS did was to brief us in office. In Government House, you have office and you have the residence and what was looted was in the residence.

So, when they said he handed over, I am not a Governor of Government House, I am a Governor of Rivers State. When we set up a transition committee, we wrote to him (Amaechi) that time is going, could you set up your own transition committee to interface with our own, but they sent back the letter. We went through e-mails, we copied the Permanent Secretaries, but they were told not to respond to us. It is when we took over that we now summoned all the Permanent Secretaries. They now started giving information to the Transition Committee. It was based on that we now saw that so many things had gone wrong. If you ask them ‘what about this?,” they will tell you that they are not even aware that something like that happened. So, what do you want us to do? We are working, starting from nowhere.

In any system, you must be able to say this is the document from the ministry of agriculture, this and that ministry, the documents may not add much value, but they serve as guides for the guy who is taking over from you. Who is the person that handed over to me? How could he have handed over to me after I have been inaugurated? Okay, for whatever it is, maybe on that day of inauguration, somebody will come and say ‘this is the document.’ Is there anybody who came and said this is the document I am handing over? (29th was Friday, I went to office that same day). Then, on Monday, I went to office during which I swore in the Acting Chief Judge and the Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal, I never saw anybody. In fact, when I called the Permanent Secretary, he said ‘Sir, there is not even diesel o,’ it is funny. I was the one now buying diesel for the Government House.

It sounds funny, but that is the reality. Okay, you sold our assets and the Permanent Secretaries never knew. We called the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power that we heard that our assets had been sold. He said ‘sir, that is what I heard too.’ So, you were not a signatory ? He said he was not a signatory

Which assets?

Our power assets, 70 per cent equity were sold at $302, 400,000.00.

Is it to a private firm?

The Panel will look into that, I don’t know. But you wouldn’t believe that $220 million was paid in December, but as at March/April this year, there was no one dollar in our account.