RSG Debunks ‘Fake Withdrawals’ Report …Urges EFCC To Act Within Law

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, has debunked a publication in The Punch newspaper of Friday, June 24, 2016, alleging that one “Mr Kingsley Fubara”, said to be a Director of Finance and Administration, in the Rivers State Government House, made repeated financial withdrawals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Zenith Bank to the tune of N11billion.
In a statement at the weekend, and made available to The Tide, Tam-George submitted that the  ”suspicious withdrawals” alleged to have been made on behalf of the Rivers State Government between December, 2015 and February, 2016, were not true, adding that no staff of the Rivers State Government House bears Kingsley Fubara.
“The Rivers State Government has no record of any staff known as Kingsley Fubara. This must be a fictional character created by the All Progressives Congress (APC)) and newspaper to embarrass the state government and deceive the public”, Tam-George said.
He described the publication as irresponsible and fabricated by the newspaper, insisting that the Rivers State Government never conducted such financial transactions.
On the claim that the Attorney-General of the federation (AGF) has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe these so-called withdrawals, the Commissioner observed that, “such a directive, if true, would be a manifestly illegal and ridiculous proposition.
“By law, the Rivers State Government is accountable to the Rivers State House of Assembly and the people of Rivers State, and not the Attorney-General of the federation”, he emphasised.
Tam-George described the report as fictitious and a ploy orchestrated by the APC and its media allies to tarnish the image of the Nyesom Wike-led administration.
He noted, “the story raises fundamental questions about the moral horror of an anti-graft agency that is now openly partisan in all its intentions and actions.
“There is universal concern that the EFCC is playing an extremely corrosive role in the current political dispensation. Rather than fight corruption in a professional and dispassionate manner, the EFCC behaves shamelessly like an integral organ of the APC.
“An anti-graft commission that targets only opposition politicians and critics of the failed policies of the APC government is a national embarrassment,” he added.
“Has the EFCC ever heard of one Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of Transportation? Despite receiving over N3trillion in eight years as governor, Amaechi left the most abandoned projects in the history of Rivers State, since 1967. Several petitions against Amaechi, supported by sworn affidavits, have all been summarily ignored by the EFCC,” Tam-George regretted.
“Even chieftains of the APC have publicly acknowledged Rotimi Amaechi’s stupendous financial contributions to the party’s presidential campaign in 2015. These financial contributions, estimated at billions of Naira, constitute serious financial crime against the people of Rivers State”, Tam-George maintained.
“It is clear that the EFCC is now a fully integrated unit of the All Progressives Congress with the sole mandate of hunting down opposition politicians and critics of the Federal Government,” he said.
“When will this embarrassing media roulette they call anti-corruption come to an end?”, Tam-George queried.
He assured that the government and people of Rivers State will resist any politically-motivated targeting of its leaders by any agency of the Federal Government, by whatever name it is called.
It would be recalled that the report had indicated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was finalising strategies to kick-start the probe of the Rivers State Government over the withdrawal of over N11billion from the government’s account, which occurred between October, 2015 and February, 2016.