Exclusive:More headache for Amaechi as Tonye princewiil accuses him of selling River's assets to fund APC

The governorship candidate of the Labour Party,
LP, in Rivers State, Tonye Princewill, has
accused Governor Rotimi Amaechi of selling the
state’s assets to an indigenous oil company,
Sahara Energy, and using the fund that accrued
from the sale to finance the activities of the All
Progressives Congress, APC.

Exclusive details below PREMIUM TIMES recently reported how assets
such as Olympia Hotel, Abonemma Wharf,
Risonpalm and the power generating stations in
the state were sold to Sahara Energy.
Mr. Princewill alleged that the over $800 million
realized from the sale of the assets was never
lodged into the coffers of the state government.
“Money changed hands but the accounts they
entered were not necessarily Rivers state
government’s officially operated accounts,” he
said.
He also alleged that there is no evidence of
competitive tendering, independent valuation or
a transparency in the entire process, arguing
that the “Rivers people cannot be sure they got
a good deal”.
“In one instance approximately $400 million
changed hands over an asset that could easily
be worth twice that. Why the secrecy?” he said.
Mr. Princewill, who said he worked for the
success of Mr. Amaechi during his election in
2007, also accused the governor of using threat
and intimidation to force the sale of the assets
to Sahara Energy after the company began to
develop cold feet funding the politics of an
opposition party.
“Incidentally the partners in the company (who
were) uncomfortable with the obvious attempt
to finance the politics of Amaechi hesitated to
approve the transactions.
“But a prompt threat from the Rivers
Government made them rethink. Can anyone say
they did not know what the money would be
used for?
“Amaechi is one of the chief financiers of the
APC election and a close ally of Buhari,” he
said.
He also accused the Rivers governor of using
some of the proceeds of the sale to launch
international propaganda for the 2015 election.
“Information reaching me is that international
media organizations have already been paid in
USD from these transactions to come and cover
the 2015 elections in a Tahrir square strategy.
“The aim of the opposition is to gather crowds
in a single location and beam pictures around
the world creating the impression that the
whole country is in chaos,” Mr. Princewill said.
Efforts to get the Rivers Information
Commissioner, Ibim Semenitari, to react to the
allegations were unsuccessful. She did not
return calls and sms sent to her at the time of
publishing.
Why I moved to Labour Party
PREMIUM TIMES’ exclusive chat with Mr.
Princewill was preceded by a Press Conference,
in which he told the media the reasons he
recently left the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
to the Labour Party, LP.
He said the PDP did not treat all the aspirants
in Rivers State fairly in the process that
produced former Minister of Education, Nyesom
Wike, as the candidate of the party in the state.
He said rather than agonise like others, he
chose to look for a platform that shares the
same belief and aspirations like him to actualize
his dream of running for governor.
“2015 has been on our mind since 2007, the
time has come and we have tried as much as
we could to play it fair, and reasonable, but the
PDP felt that in their best interest they are
going to impose a candidate on us.
“While other aspirants had not had the good
fortune, wisdom, courage or opportunity to move
parties, I have; and I have moved into a party
that I can quite comfortably call home,” he said.
He said he strongly believes that he has the
support of the people, because unlike most
politicians from the state, he declined to take
up positions in the Senate and the federal
cabinet.
“I declined both Senate and Ministerial positions
to remain with the people.
“I stayed out of government and kept my
political structure intact,” he said. Mr. Princewill
also stated that politicians are often forced to
move from one party to another because most
political parties in Nigeria lack ideology.
He, however, said the Labour Party is different
because it stands for something, which he also
believes in. “The Labour Party has an ideology
and concept of what government should be
doing which is similar to my own,” he said.
“I am someone who believes that business
should be allowed to thrive, but the ordinary
people must be carried along, jobs need to be
created and people need job security. I also
believe that we should be looking at jobs for all,
not just creating contracts for a few and in that
light, the Labour party and myself share quiet a
lot.
“We believe in social housing, free education,
free health care and also believe that business
should be partners with employees instead of a
master/ servant relationship,” he said.
Mr. Princewill said the Labour Party would be
his last political party.
“It is safe to say that I am not going to be
moving again, if Labour party disappoints my
constituency, then I will be quitting politics
completely. I am not going back to PDP under
any circumstances.
“I intend to finish my political career in the
Labour Party whether I win or lose the next
election,” he said.
He added that with his movement to the party
and his adoption as its candidate, eleven other
political parties have joined forces to endorse
him as their candidate in 2015
“A press conference will be held in the next few
days to unveil that position.
For 2015 in Rivers State, it is going to be the
PDP, APC, and the rest. We are the underdogs,
but that is the kind of underdog I prefer to be,”
he said.
Source: PREMIUM TIMES