A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has said the recently launched fiscal accountability index report of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), has exposed alleged financial mismanagement and maladministration by the immediate-past State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
In the recently launched report, ICAN had said Rivers State under Wike recorded the poorest performance and emerged the least transparent in the country based on the 2020/2021 accountability index conducted by the institute.
Reacting to the development, Eze, in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt on Thursday, stated that the fresh expose by the governing body of accounting professionals in the country validated reports of wanton looting and misappropriation of public funds brought to fore through intensive investigations conducted into the licentious and corrupt culture of shameless profligacy that played out under the immediate-past administration in the state.
The APC chieftain said: “We shouted hoarse over the whirlwind of official corruption in the Rivers state government, which remained unchecked and kept progressing steadily at a galloping pace.
“Yet, those whose responsibility it is to investigate revelations of the sort paid no heed to the disturbing results of our systematic inquiry and at some point, our expository pieces against the state government were tagged scatological impropriety in a bid to restrain our voice but such fictitious imputation only amplified our tone.
“The trend of shrouding the annual budget of the state in secrecy had been a helpless practice customary to the Wike administration since 2015 when he became governor.
“His acts of prodigality, fanfare of squander mania, looting, spendthrift and all other forms of mismanagement of which he is guilty were anchored on this wrong practice of shielding the state’s fiscal policy from the public to cover-up his dishonesties and evade scrutiny.
“For society to grow, especially the Nigerian clime, it must dispense with individuals like Wike with very little or no sense of fiscal responsibility who prides in 10 over-blotted overhead bridges as legacy projects in this modern era when others built sustainable investments, embraced technologies and prepared their citizens to braze-up to the future through relevant skills and modern education.
“Such a morally bankrupt and flawed character constituted a clog on the wheel of progress and an unparalleled liability to society and should be swept into the trash-can of history.
“The cost of one of Wike’s 200 meters overhead bridge in Rivers State is five times the cost of the three-tier modern flyover with an underpass/tunnel built by former Governor Ganduje in Kano.”
