The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), railed against the Rivers State Judicial Panel set up by Governor Nyesom Wike in angry response to reports that minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Ameachi is corrupt.
“Amaechi is innocent. All the charges were trumped up, Sagay told Punch Newspapers.
“As for allegations against Amaechi, he was indicted by a fake and useless judicial panel set up by Wike, who is himself under investigation for corruption.
“He set up a kangaroo panel, which Amaechi refused to answer to.”
Asked about the Appeal Court ruling which ordered Amaechi to answer to the panel, Sagay added, “He doesn’t have to answer to rubbish.
“Judges who allow themselves to engage in injustice deserve to be disregarded.
He also said that the decamping of former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio and others to the All Progressives Congress, APC, would not save them from probe.
He said though there was room for plea bargain, an option he noted stubborn people would never use.
He said, “I know Akpabio is still under probe and if he is found culpable, he would be invited and prosecuted.
“For me, the only import of him joining the President’s campaign is that he can be persuaded to make a plea bargain quickly, which everyone is entitled to, but the stubborn ones will not take that option.”
In 2015, the Rivers State Government presented a white paper demanding the immediate prosecution of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi and all persons involved in what the government called fraudulent.
The panel also said Ameachi should return the sum of N53 billion taken from the State Reserve Fund.
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