Amaechi replies Wike: I don’t owe Rivers workers

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi said he does not owe any civil servant in the state.
He made the clarification in response to a statement credited to Governor-elect, Nyesom Wike.
Speaking through his Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, at the weekend, Amaechi said the PDP was being mischievous by its deliberate resort to falsehood.

“We find it ridiculous that PDP and Mr. Ezebuwon Nyesom Wike’s media managers show lot of mischief and deliberate distortion of facts,” she said.
“We thought that if they lied during campaigns and electioneering, with election over, they would switch over to basic media style of information sourcing, verification and analysis.
“The rudimentary step in that is the sourcing and use of data, a critical segment available to even cob reporters”.
Amaechi said on the contrary, it is the PDP that owes Rivers people the return of its revenue diverted by the Federal Government to other states as well as the millions spent by Amaechi administration to fix its (FG’s) roads in the state.
“Governor Chibuike Amaechi has paid civil servants up to the month of March with plans to commence payment for the month of April.
“Gov. Amaechi had committed himself to the welfare of Rivers’ civil servants these past seven years and had exemplified that by regular payment of salaries in the face of dwindling national revenue.”
Rivers State is one of less than five states in the federation that have been able to keep up with salary payments in the face of empty federal coffers.
“While apologising on the recent delays in salary payment, Amaechi reiterated that civil servants must receive their wages for each month.
“PDP’s mismanagement of the national revenue, as well as its elevation of corruption to a national religion, has been responsible for dwindling federal allocation.
“In recent times, the Federal Government has had to withhold allocations meant for states, Rivers State being one of such unfortunate states,” he said.
The governor accused PDP of crying wolf where there was none, describing the statement as diversionary and meant to cover their obvious inadequacies.
“In its fatal admittance that it is approaching May 29 with more liabilities than assets, PDP sold the dummy to unsuspecting Rivers people and friends of the state to create an impression that he was leaving behind a pile of indebtedness.
“The Amaechi administration has nothing to hide. However, we must put the records straight as to the root cause of PDP’s paranoia.
“The party’s candidate, who was declared winner of the April 11 governorship election, with his team, is coming to loot the treasury of Rivers State.
“With several thugs hired to commit electoral malfeasances for the PDP – with about 11 ‘elected’ into the state House of Assembly – who must demand their settlement, the state treasury will be sucked dry.  “To begin to prepare the minds of civil servants who consequentially will be owed months of salary, PDP had to raise the falsehood,” Semenitari noted.