‘Amaechi Bought Palliative Buses Being Celebrated Now in Rivers in 2011’

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has described the fanfare that greeted the flag-off ceremony by the Rivers State Government for its palliative bus transport scheme in the state as a mere jamboree and spending binge intended to attract unnecessary attention at the expense of public fund.

Eze declared that the buses being flagged-off by Governor Sim Fubara as part of cushioning effect for the removal of petrol subsidy in the country were purchased by former governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi in 2011.

Eze, who is a member of the APC Legacy Projects Media Team in Rivers State, therefore, cautioned Fubara not to use Amaechi’s legacies to loot the state treasury, saying the governor wanted to improve the arts of mis-governance from where Nyesom Wike stopped

He noted that the coaster buses displayed and being deployed for the scheme were purchased by Amaechi in 2011, when the state hosted the National Sports Festival and were thereafter used to transport civil servants from their homes to the state secretariat and back to their bases at the close of work on daily basis.

He said the Rivers Transport Company was a public investment, which continued to boom until around 2017, when it was frustrated out of business by the administration of Wike, which ran the state without any clear-cut policy framework and economic blueprint.

Eze, who stated this in a statement  in Abuja, noted that the buses laid idle all through the administration of Wike, who only revived them in 2022 to further his selfish presidential interest that was aborted prematurely.