The planned action by Governor Rotimi Amaechi to pay N20,000 monthly to 200 persons in each ward of the 23 local government areas in Rivers State is condemnable, fraudulent and outright waste of Rivers tax payers money.
The political action to pay N20,000 to 200 persons per ward in the 23 local government areas aimed to sustain loyalty and party membership on the side of Amaechi, we are aware, was hatched in a PDP Stakeholders meeting in Government House Port Harcourt over the weekend during which the Governor directed council chairmen and party stalwarts at the local government levels to enlarge the earlier selected 50 names to 200 names per ward and to be paid N20,000 each monthly.
“It is our information that the intention of the Governor and his team is to hold on to some PDP members who are unhappy with his style of government and attack on the President, and to regain domestic goodwill and confidence, lost over time as a result of neglect of the PDP elected and appointed representatives in the various wards across the state”, ACN statement said.
ACN statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam therefore called on the government to halt the planned waste of tax payers’ money and rather invest the money in the development of the state for the benefit of all, not a few individuals in the name of politics.
The party also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the source of the money and to further take appropriate actions against such fraudulent activities of the government officials accordingly.
We recall that Governor Rotimi Amaechi recently claimed that people, apparently his opponents, are aggrieved because he has consistently turned down the pressure on him to share Rivers State money with them.
By simple arithmetic, Amaechi’s belated Greek gift will amount to wasting N92m monthly on 4,600 persons who only are his paid agents. This is an outright wastage of Rivers State money which if utilized on meaningful projects would have gone far in affecting more peoples lives positively.
ACN also condemned using tax payers money to pay for solidarity visits, recalling that members of de-registered opposition parties who visited him on Saturday May 18, 2013 were paid N7m.
Jerry Needam, JP
Publicity Secretary
Action Congress of Nigeria
Rivers State.
