The Commissioner for Information in Rivers State Dr. Austin Tam-George has declared that his predecessor and now Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission Mrs. Ibim Semenitari of taking a whooping N1 Billion loan in the name of the Rivers State Ministry of Information.
Dr. Tam George made the declaration during a live radio programme on Rhythm 93. 7FM monitored in Port Harcourt.
He said the N1 Billion debt taken in the name of the Ministry by Semenitari is different from the general Financial recklessness which characterised the immediate past Administration of Mr. Chibuike Amaechi.
“I have just sat in that office for five days and what I saw after being briefed by the Director of Finance in the ministry of Information is alarming”, he said.
Ibim Semenitari, whose appointment as NDDC MD violates every conceivable precedence at the organisation, is also believed to have been drafted there by the influence of embattled former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi to mop up funds for an already scheduled Governorship rerun in Rivers State by the APC.
ALSO READ: REVEALED: How Amaechi Spent N82 Million Hosting Wole Soyinka To Dinner While Owing Salaries
The under-following is the precedence in the reconstitution of the NDDC Board and the appointment of sacked NDDC MDs and chairmen:
Engineer Godwin Omene, the first MD from Delta State was removed and replaced by Emmanuel Aguariavwodo, also from Delta State. Mr. Ugwoha, the MD from Rivers State was removed and replaced with Christian Oboh also from Rivers State. Ambassador Sam Edem, the second chairman of NDDC, who hails from Akwa Ibom was removed and replaced with Barr. Bassey Dan-Abia also from Akwa Ibom. Air Vice Marshall Larry Koinya, a native of Bayelsa State was removed and replaced with Dr. Tarila Tebepah.
Ibim’s mandate, according to high level sources, is to fund an aggressive and sinister campaign against the Governor of Rivers State and do everything possible to ensure he is ousted from office and her Opobo kinsman, Dakuku Peterside is made Governor, an act many see as the 3rd term extension in power of former Governor Amaechi in spite of the unpopularity of the APC in Rivers State.
Both Ibim Semenitari and Rotimi Amaechi have been known to give no scruples about accountability and transparency in governance. It is on record that they left government without leaving behind any scrap of paper as handover note to the incoming administration which amounted to a betrayal of trust of the people of Rivers State in them.
President Buhari who ran a boisterous election campaign hinged on corruption is now saddled with the debilitating burden of distancing himself from corruption within the APC or abdicating the alleged fight against corruption. Already, there is an obvious high level disregard for his directives within his administration as ministers in flagrant disobedience of his orders, an act that publicly undermines his office and erodes the confidence of supporters in him. It is not yet known how he intends to assert himself and take measures to forestall further acts of insubordination by his ministers.
Gift Jackson is a freelance journalist based in Abuja. He can be reached via email HERE.
