Ikoyi N13bn discovery: Wike seeks God’s intervention

Full of convictions, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has resorted to God’s intervention to ensure that the Federal Government returns the $43million dollars (N13 billion) found in a luxury apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos to the Rivers State government.

Wike, speaking during the Easter Church Service at the Saint  Peter’s Anglican Church in Rumuepirikom, on Sunday, asked Christians in the state to aggressively intercede in prayers.

The governor, in a statement by his media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu, said the Church has a responsibility to pray that God touched the Federal Government to return the money to the coffers of Rivers State, because, according to him, the money belonged to the state government.

“We need the prayer of the Church, because there is nothing that prayer cannot do. Pray that God should touch the Government of Nigeria, so that they will return the money to us. What we are interested is for the money to come  back to us”, he said.

Governor Wike stated that, contrary to the false propaganda being peddled by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, he has not declared war on the Federal Government, adding that the state government was simply requesting the return of funds belonging to the state.

” I cannot declare war on the Federal Government. Anybody bringing President Muhammadu Buhari’s name, should leave Buhari and face his own problems.

‘The issue is who kept the money at the Ikoyi Residence? The money was kept there by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. No amount of blackmail, no amount of distraction will stop us from getting our money”, he said.

The governor further alleged that between 70 and 80 percent of the APC campaigns in 2015 were sponsored, using funds sourced by the Rivers State government under the leadership of the Minister of Transportation.

Speaking further, he said the idea of the alleged selective war against corruption would not help development in the country.

He wondered why security intelligence works on opponents of the Federal Government, but when glaring corruption issues, like the Ikoyi case, where billions of dollars have been found, popped up, the war became suspended and diversionary tactics allegedly adopted.