PDP alleges massive looting of government property as APC tenure in Rivers ends

Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged a ‘looting spree’ at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital as well as in some Ministries and parastatals as Governor Chubuike Amaechi prepares to exit the seat of government on May 29, 2015.

Frowning at ‘criminal act’ by political aides to Governor Amaechi ‘in connivance with some senior officials of government,’ the State chairman of the PDP, Bro Felix Obuah in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Jerry Needam, advised that change of guards in governance remains ‘a normal tradition and does not mean the end of government or discontinuation of political leadership in the State.’

“Also alarming is the illegal sale of government properties to close friends, political allies and family members of the outgoing Governor of Rivers State,” the party said.

The party also frowned at what it termed the ‘frightening’ spate of illegal employment in Rivers State Polytechnic Bori, where about 500 people have been secretly employed without due process.

“The chairman, Rivers State Civil Service Commission, Mr. Ngo Martins-Yellow and the 23 Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairmen are also secretly employing thousands of persons to swell the number of Civil Servants in government employ and local councils, so that the incoming PDP government will battle with the alarming wage bill.”

Obuah therefore, warned all those involved in this wanton looting to desist, stressing that the long arm of the law will surely catch up with such perpetrators of the act, adding further that information available reveals that some of the government property being stolen and vandalized are mainly the unregistered brand new cars assigned to different departments of government.

“Some equipment for the monorail, government farms, schools, hospitals, government-owned media houses and others have also been stolen and vandalized,” Obuah stated.

The party chieftain who fingered some government functionaries in the Amaechi administration including serving commissioners, directors and personal aides, added: “It is most unfortunate that this is happening in a government which officials are seeking the people’s mandate to continue in office and has explained why God who knows the inner hearts of all men has rejected them, Prince Obuah remarked.

Enjoining the Rivers people to take note, the PDP state chairman said the only reason ‘for the evil act is to get at the state’s Governor-elect, Chief Barr Nyesom Wike as though he is coming to personally inherit these property.’

“Unfortunately, it’s the state and the people that will suffer for the wickedness. Outgoing Gov Amaechi should therefore be called to order”, Bro Felix Obuah warned.