The Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has tendered an apology to Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka on the recent accusation by the Rivers state government against him.
Recall that the Rivers government recently expressed shock when it found that the ex-governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi had spent N82 million to host Soyinka to a three-hour dinner.
Austin-Tam George, the state commissioner for information and communication, made the disclosure while addressing journalists on Tuesday, January 5, at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
The Rivers APC chairman, in the state, Davies Ikanya, tendered the apology through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on media and public affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze.
Eze said: ”On behalf of the good people of Rivers State, we hereby tender an unreserved apology to Prof. Wole Soyinka and assure him that Wike’s vile attempt to link him to an imaginary corruption has failed.
”The accusation is nothing but the ranting of a drowning man looking for whom to pull into the stinking pool. But Wike has over-reached himself this time, because Prof. Soyinka is globally renowned as a man of unimpeachable integrity, who has never been associated with corruption in his over 80 years on earth.
”The fact remains that Wike is currently in a pit full of faeces, looking for whom he will splatter the faeces on; sadly, he remembered our revered Nobel laureate. As rightly observed by Prof. Soyinka, Wike is ready to splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions.
”The Rivers APC noted that Wike, in his desperation to demonise Amaechi and whoever that is associated with him, must have forgotten that his panel of enquiry, which investigated the former governor’s tenure, exonerated him of any financial misdeeds.”
”For Wike to try to disparage a respected personality like Prof. Soyinka in this manner only exposes him as a drowning man looking for any tool to stay afloat. If Wike is sure of his records, why doesn’t he go to court to retrieve the N82 million? ”
The party stated that the achievements of the Amaechi administration could not be wished away or cancelled through cheap blackmail.
Meanwhile, Soyinka has described the statement by the Rivers state government as ‘abominable distractions.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday, January 6, the Ogun-born professor said it was never his business to look into the catering logistics of the numerous luncheons, dinners, institutions, etc. that he attends all over the world.
Reacting to the allegation, Amaechi urged Wike to go to court if he has any cases of fraud or misappropriation of state funds against him instead of what he called ”silly distractions. ”
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