The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has denied allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that he was attempting to seek for N10 billion loan from banks for infrastructural development in the state.
This is as the APC today released photocopies of alleged letters written and signed by the governor and the state commissioner for Finance, Dr. Fred Kpakol, to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Managing Director of Zenith Bank, seeking for N10 billion loan.
However, a statement issued in Port Harcourt by Wike's Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, read: “Rivers State APC has rehashed this false loan allegation for the seventh time in two months. It is simply an attempt to be heard in the face of massive developmental work by Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
“The Rivers APC and her leaders are merely trying to distract Nigeria’s best performing governor. As always, they will fail once again.
“Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike is committed to the development of Rivers State and will not be drawn into unnecessary politicking when he is seriously engaged in pro-people projects.”
Reacting, the APC, in a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Chris Finebone, to back the evidences, stated that the present administration in the state was out to defraud the people of their commonwealth, adding that this is not the time for the government to embark on borrowing.
“The APC condemns this obvious act of criminality by the Rivers State Governor and his clique of co-travellers.
“We believe that no one will still be in doubt that the Wike administration in Rivers State is only out to defraud Rivers people of their commonwealth because this cannot be an auspicious time for a government whose existence has been annulled by the tribunal to embark on borrowing even when Federal allocations have significantly shot up since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
“The APC joins the Rivers Progressive Front (RPF) to warn the Wike-led government and those who have chosen to travel this road of perfidy with them, to be conscious of the fact that they will all be held to account for the mindless fraud they have chosen to perpetrate against the good people of Rivers State as the APC joins to report this criminal collaboration to relevant agencies of the Federal Government for necessary action and prosecution of those found culpable,” the statement stated.