The Governor is standing by his earlier claims that the money belongs to his state’s treasury. Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has again laid claims to the $50 million loot discovered in April in Ikoyi, Lagos. He made the claims while on a programme on Channels TV saying his government is still waiting for an invitation from a panel constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the true ownership of the loot.
The loot was recovered by officials of the EFCC in Flat 7B, No. 16, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos during a raid on Wednesday, April 12, and its true ownership has been controversially linked to many parties. Wike had claimed ownership of the funds which he alleged were misappropriated from the state by his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi.
During the interview, the Governor said he is confident they will be invited by the three-man panel headed by current Acting President Yemi Osinbajo because “they know the right thing to do”, saying they deserve a “fair hearing” after laying claim to the loot. Justice Sule Hassan ordered the final forfeiture of the recovered loot (totalling 13 billion naira) to the Federal Government on Tuesday, June 6, 2017.
When challenged over the fact that the loot had been forfeited to the FG, Wike said, “That cannot be possible. What they have done is grant an ex parte order.
“Whether they like it or not, I’ll continue to say it, let the panel release their report and tell us actually who owns the money.
“Then you’ll see the next step that we’ll take.”
When asked for his interpretation on the forfeiture, he said, “We have facts to prove that that money belongs to the Rivers State government.
“We do know that there is a cover up somewhere because you don’t want the government to be embarrassed, or you don’t want their party to be embarrassed.
“What is stopping them from releasing the report?”
Wike’s stubborn stance that the money is evidence of Amaechi’s mismanagement of the state’s funds has caused a war of words between him and the current Minister of Transportation.
The loot was initially claimed to belong to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) when its director Ayodele Oke said the sum was marked for covert operations. The loot has also been linked to former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Mu’azu; senator representing Lagos west, Solomon Adeola; and an ex-managing director of Petroleum Products Pricing and Marketing Company (PPMC), Esther Nnamdi-Obue.
