The Minister of Transportation, who is a former governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has threatened to sue those linking him with the property located in the Ikoyi area of Lagos, Punch reports.
Amaechi, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the telephone on Saturday night, also denied knowledge of the money allegedly discovered in the building.
He said those linking him to the property were lazy, and challenged them to find out details about the owners of the house from the Lagos State Land Registry.
He said, “I have no property anywhere in Lagos State. That’s the truth.
“Those making the unfounded allegation should go and find out from those living in the building, the landlord that sold the flats or the land registry about those who own the flats.
“I have asked my lawyer to sue those who are making such unfounded allegations against me.
“The Federal Government has come out to say the money belongs to it. Why the noise again?”
One of our correspondents gathered that a former governor from the South-East owned a flat in the building.
Wike had alleged at a press conference on Friday night that the money in question belonged to Amaechi, his predecessor.”
He also insinuated that the houses in Ikoyi equally belonged to the former governor.
But in a statement released by his media office in Abuja earlier on Saturday, Amaechi described the claims as malicious, frivolous and another failed attempt by Wike to divert attention from the mess he had created in Rivers State.
The statement read, “Wike has stolen Rivers State dry. Wike and his gang have frittered billions of naira of Rivers people away.
“Rivers State is perpetually in crisis. The state is in a mess as Wike has made a total mess of governance in the state. That child who sits there as governor is confused, he doesn’t know what to do. Wike’s only solution is to attack Amaechi.
“At this rate, if Wike is unable to perform his spousal duties, he will blame it on Amaechi. Yes, that’s how despicably low he can go in his consuming fixation to throw mud at Amaechi.”
The former governor challenged Wike to charge him to court if he has any shred of evidence that the money belongs to Rivers State and was kept in the Ikoyi apartment by him.
When contacted on Saturday to react to the claim by Wike that the seized fund was part of the money used to rig President Muhammadu Buhari to power, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, directed one of our correspondents to the ruling All Progressives Congress leadership.
“That is not a matter for the Presidency. You can get across to the APC spokesman for a reaction,” Adesina said.
Repeated calls to the mobile telephone numbers of the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; National Secretary, Mai Bala Buni; and National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, did not elicit a response.
While calls made to the mobile numbers of Odigie-Oyegun and Abdullahi were neither picked nor returned, the mobile of Buni was switched off. None of them replied the text messages sent to their mobiles on the subject as of the time of filling this report at 4:57pm.
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