CJN Onnoghen: Amaechi replies Wike

TRANSPORTATION Minister Rotimi Amaechi yesterday dismissed as another blatant lie, a statement by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, that he (Amaechi) masterminded alleged plot to pull down the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.

The minister, who doubles as the Director General of the Buhari/Osinbajo Reelection Campaign Organisation, said in an online statement that the governor’s allegation was aimed at putting him (Amaechi) on collision course with the judiciary.

“Amaechi is not a judicial officer and he is not part of whatever is happening in the judiciary. We challenge Wike to mention the name of the APC’s chieftain he falsely alleged that Amaechi discussed the ‘destruction of the CJN with,” Amaechi’s media team said in the statement.

It recalled how Wike, during the Ikoyi-Osborne-gate scandal, claimed that Amaechi was the owner of the $43 million cash found in the Osborne apartment and that the money was stolen from Rivers State government’s treasury.

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It said: “In Wike’s usual chicanery, up till today, he has refused to go to court to claim the $43million found in the Ikoyi apartment, which he claimed was Rivers money stolen by his predecessor. Even when a court of law openly asked anyone laying claim to the money to come forward and collect it, Wike ran far away from the court.”

The transportation minister said Wike should remember that the immunity he currently enjoys against prosecution for his many libelous attacks on him would not last forever.

Coninuing, Amaechi’s media office said: “At the appropriate time, he (Wike) will no doubt face the full wrath of the law and ultimately that of the Almighty God.

“Wike should by now know that Nigerians are tired and are no longer interested in his ranting and cock-and-bull stories against Amaechi.

“Wike’s outburst against Amaechi is diversionary. Rivers governor knows too well that he has nothing to show Rivers people for his almost four years in office, in a state obviously with one of the highest allocations, thereby resorting to casting aspersions on Amaechi, instead of telling the people what he has done for Rivers State.”

Transportation minister also called on Rivers people and other lovers of democracy to ignore Wike, whom he described as a frivolous.

The Rivers State governor had, on Thursday, accused Amaechi of working against his Southsouth brother (Onnoghen).