The governorship candidate of the
All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has warned the
state Governor, Nyesom Wike, against taking political actions that might have
negative effect on the economy of the state ahead of the 2019 elections.
Cole gave the warning when he
spoke with journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Monday.
Cole said “that the announcement
by the State Executive Council, SEC, cancelling the sale of power station to
subsidiaries of Sahara Energy was political and might have serious consequence
for investors willing to do business in the state.”
The governorship aspirants
explained that “some of business deals which included the concession of Olympia
Hotel, were done in line with international best practices.”
He said that “the sale of the gas
turbines power stations followed proper bidding process.”
But reacting to the statement by
the APC governorship flag bearer, the state government advised him to stop
sermonising about the tainted sale of high-value state assets to his companies.
Faulting Cole’s comments, the
state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, told the APC
governorship hopeful to search his conscience well about the sales of high-calibre
public assets to companies linked to him by the previous administration headed
by his friend and business partner.
Okah said the claim was coming
late in the day because the State Executive Council which approved the
implementation of the white paper is not a court and not equipped or authorised
to carry out judicial functions.
“At the level of implementation
of the recommendations of the judicial commission of inquiry accepted through
the white paper, the duty of the exco is to obey the law and implement the
stipulations as contained in the white paper and nothing more,” Okah said,
noting that the courts are open to anyone who feels otherwise.
Okah noted that the affected
companies linked to Cole defended themselves during the proceedings of the commission
and urged him to test the findings of the commission if he felt short changed.
“Rivers State government is under
an obligation to protect the interest of the people of the state and owes no
apology to Arch. Tonye Cole or his companies, if a judicial commission finds
that they acted improperly, especially where rules were compromised to make one
man acquire such highly-valued assets of the state like the four power
stations, Olympia Hotel in Old GRA and Abonemma Wharf.”
It would be recalled that the
Rivers State government, at its last Executive Council meeting approved the
implementation of the Government White Paper on the sale of highly-valued
assets of the state by the previous administration.
The White Paper contained the
recommendations of the report of the Justice George Omereji Judicial Commission
of Inquiry, which were accepted by the State Executive Council and now overdue
for implementation.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com