Rivers Denies Withdrawing N11bn from State’s Account   

By Anayo Okolie

Rivers State Government yesterday denied withdrawing N11bn from the Rivers State Government’s account between October, 2015 and February, 2016.

The Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr. Austin Tam-George, disclosed this while reacting to a report, which claimed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was to investigate the withdrawal of over N11bn from the Rivers State Government’s account between October, 2015 and February, 2016 under the administration of Governor Nyesom Wike.

The “suspicious withdrawals”, according to the report, were made in cash by the Director of Finance and Administration of the state’s government house, Mr. Kingsely Fubara from the Rivers State Government’s account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

But the commissioner said that Rivers State Government never conducted such financial transactions and the report was patently false.

According to him, “The Rivers State Government has no record of any staff known as Kingsely Fubara. This must be a fictional character created by the All Progressives Congress (APC)) and the Punch newspaper to embarrass the State Government and deceive the public.

“Punch report also indicated that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe these so-called withdrawals. Such a directive, if true, would be a manifestly illegal and ridiculous proposition.”

By law, Tam-George posited that Rivers State Government was accountable to the Rivers State House of Assembly and the people of Rivers State, not to the Attorney General of the Federation, adding that “This is a totally fictitious report typically orchestrated by the APC and its media allies.”

“The story raises fundamental questions about the moral horror of an anti-graft agency that is now openly partisan in all its intentions and actions.

“There is universal concern that the EFCC is playing an extremely corrosive role in the current political dispensation. Rather than fight corruption in a professional and dispassionate manner, the EFCC behaves like an integral organ of the APC,” Tam-George added.