A Port Harcourt based group, Niger Delta Initiative for Equity and Justice, NDEJ, has condemned the current media attacks on the person of the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi.
The group in a statement in Port Harcourt, also questioned the integrity of what it called the campaign of calumny against the “revered politician and the producers of the documentaries currently running on African Independent Television, AIT.”
In a statement by it President, Barrister Chizy Enyi, NDEJ expressed its displeasure on the role of AIT again on a matter that is designed with a special objective to bring down the person it termed as an iconic Rivers man, whose past records has earned him raves and applauds for hs achievements as a disciplined and an astute administrator.
“Here is somebody who had in the past been applauded for being a symbol of unity and progress over the past 16 years, first as Speaker of State House of Assembly and later as executive governor of the state,” the statement said.
The group which described the management of the media outfit as a serial blackmailer, also expressed concern that the same AIT that laboured to discredit President Muhammad Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu during the run-up to the last presidential election, has again shown itself as a willing tool in the hands of mischief makers , with their targets now being Amaechi.
“We are further worried that a mere promise of a grant of Certificate of Occupancy of a land that belongs to Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation(AM Station) can confuse the top management of AIT such that the letter-headed papers of the Rivers State Government with cooked up figures can be used with Amaechi’s signature super-imposed on materials that does exist to ma;ign a person.”
“The group queries the intention of the promoters of the said documentaries, if it is not for mischief, wondering why they are circulating the same fake documents that had already been sent to the EFCC, ICPC and President Buhari via various petitions by some faceless individuals who are hell-bent on dragging the reputation of the former governor in the mud.
The group also wondered why the promoters of AIT could not wait for the outcome of the investigations of the anti-graft agencies probing the allegations, if they are not solely to malign or soil the reputation of the former governor.
The group said that it believed that the Presidency which had suffered similar fate of campaign of calumny by the PDP through the same medium, AIT, would not bother to be distracted by frivolous and spurious attempts at manipulating documents to suit “their wicked purpose. Why would the fall of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi pre-occupy AIT and their paymaster,”
The group alleged that it was aware that the ailing television station was rescued with over N5 billion Rivers State tax payers money, stressing that the management had made similar attempts during the tenures of Dr. Peter Odili, Celestine Omehia and Amaechi, to acquire the said land belonging to the state broadcasting station but was rejected.
“We are now surprised that Governor Nyeson Wike’s administration can go through the back door to seek for the grant of Certificate of Occupancy that belongs to a government corporation as a condition to blackmail Amaechi.”
The group also alleged that Gov. Wike has also helped AIT to procure an adjourning land located at its headquarters in Abuja and that its current efforts at tarnishing the reputation of the governor’s former boss was an attempt to pay back its benefactors.
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