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| Amaechi |
Minister of Transportation, Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that he rejected a bribe of N1bn from a contractor while serving as governor of Rivers State.
Speaking at the first annual lecture of CKN news in Lagos, Tuesday, with the theme, “The Role Of The Social Media In Socio-Economic And Political Development Of Nigeria,” Amaechi said he rejected the bribe because of his principled stance on corruption.
“My first confrontation with bribe was with a big contractor in Rivers State,” he said, adding that after awarding the contract, the contractor brought N1 Billion to him. “I screamed. I asked, ‘where did you get the money? He said from what he got from the contract and I said, ‘look, that means you over-quoted the contract’. I said ‘the only reason you are giving me N1 billion was because if the contract was N32 billion, you made it N37 billion.”
In a statement from CKN News signed by its Editor-in-Chief, Chris Kehinde Nwandu, the minister informed the impressive gathering that having been special assistant to the governor for two years; speaker of the state assembly for eight years; governor for eight years; minister for nearly two years, he can conveniently describe himself as being very knowledgeable about Nigerian politics.
While speaking on social media in Nigeria’s political and socio-economic development, Amaechi said that in spite of its positive uses, the social media is capable of destroying Nigeria, if not checked.
According to him, so many politicians engage the social media to tarnish the image of their opponents. Most of them engage young men to come up with stories that do not exist against their political opponents, he explained.
“When it was published that I owned a property worth N50 million, I just waved it aside that the news won’t go anywhere until it became serious,” the minister revealed.
He said the social media brazenly misinforms the public since most users hardly verify their information; neither do they have rules and guidelines as they publish anything they just feel like publishing.
Said he: “It is one tool that politicians use to damage the reputation of each other. As a governor, if you don’t want crime to continue, the best thing is to create wealth, which is why the positive feedback the social media platform provides, on the other hand, helps to check the efficiency of the government, and in the bid to create employment, politicians have made use of the platform to reach out to prospective candidates.”
The negative side of social media, however, is that it can destroy the country. Existence of social media is why, for instance, Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), can say all he is saying and still get a forum, Amaech said.
The transport minister, who also said that seven out of the eight years he was governor, people used to say ‘this man is arrogant,’ wondered how they suddenly would turn round to say ‘this man is corrupt?,” more so when “PDP used to say ‘Amaechi is our response to Fashola.’
According to him, if the same people are suddenly saying he didn’t do anything, it is “because somebody just went to pay money for such falsehood to be peddled and moreso, on social media, there’s no rule.
“The first time they attacked us, we came out with document. But social media users don’t verify. On the controversial $43 million found at an Ikoyi building in Lagos, the transport described those claiming that he owned that money as peddlers of false information.
“When they said that I owned $43 million found at the Ikoyi building, I made just a one-page reply: ‘I don’t even own a house in Lagos’. “I thought people would have said, ‘Ah, eight years as governor, he should be a very rich thief, so he should be able to get a property in Lagos and use it as a form of investment’. Nobody did! Instead, many people started celebrating, ‘It’s Amaechi’s money, it’s Amaechi’s money.’
“But people, who know me, know when I have money. When people meet me and I am not able to spend, it is just basically because I don’t have money. The important thing is, money doesn’t govern me. But social media twist it the other way; so the problem with social media (users) is that they misinform…they don’t verify their information, they have no rules. That is not to say there are no few decent one,” he concluded.
On his part, Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Tony Ojobo, who represented the commission at the event disclosed that the agency has established a framework to caution frivolous and inhuman posts on the social media.
Speaking at the first annual lecture of CKN news in Lagos, Tuesday, with the theme, “The Role Of The Social Media In Socio-Economic And Political Development Of Nigeria,” Amaechi said he rejected the bribe because of his principled stance on corruption.
“My first confrontation with bribe was with a big contractor in Rivers State,” he said, adding that after awarding the contract, the contractor brought N1 Billion to him. “I screamed. I asked, ‘where did you get the money? He said from what he got from the contract and I said, ‘look, that means you over-quoted the contract’. I said ‘the only reason you are giving me N1 billion was because if the contract was N32 billion, you made it N37 billion.”
In a statement from CKN News signed by its Editor-in-Chief, Chris Kehinde Nwandu, the minister informed the impressive gathering that having been special assistant to the governor for two years; speaker of the state assembly for eight years; governor for eight years; minister for nearly two years, he can conveniently describe himself as being very knowledgeable about Nigerian politics.
While speaking on social media in Nigeria’s political and socio-economic development, Amaechi said that in spite of its positive uses, the social media is capable of destroying Nigeria, if not checked.
According to him, so many politicians engage the social media to tarnish the image of their opponents. Most of them engage young men to come up with stories that do not exist against their political opponents, he explained.
“When it was published that I owned a property worth N50 million, I just waved it aside that the news won’t go anywhere until it became serious,” the minister revealed.
He said the social media brazenly misinforms the public since most users hardly verify their information; neither do they have rules and guidelines as they publish anything they just feel like publishing.
Said he: “It is one tool that politicians use to damage the reputation of each other. As a governor, if you don’t want crime to continue, the best thing is to create wealth, which is why the positive feedback the social media platform provides, on the other hand, helps to check the efficiency of the government, and in the bid to create employment, politicians have made use of the platform to reach out to prospective candidates.”
The negative side of social media, however, is that it can destroy the country. Existence of social media is why, for instance, Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), can say all he is saying and still get a forum, Amaech said.
The transport minister, who also said that seven out of the eight years he was governor, people used to say ‘this man is arrogant,’ wondered how they suddenly would turn round to say ‘this man is corrupt?,” more so when “PDP used to say ‘Amaechi is our response to Fashola.’
According to him, if the same people are suddenly saying he didn’t do anything, it is “because somebody just went to pay money for such falsehood to be peddled and moreso, on social media, there’s no rule.
“The first time they attacked us, we came out with document. But social media users don’t verify. On the controversial $43 million found at an Ikoyi building in Lagos, the transport described those claiming that he owned that money as peddlers of false information.
“When they said that I owned $43 million found at the Ikoyi building, I made just a one-page reply: ‘I don’t even own a house in Lagos’. “I thought people would have said, ‘Ah, eight years as governor, he should be a very rich thief, so he should be able to get a property in Lagos and use it as a form of investment’. Nobody did! Instead, many people started celebrating, ‘It’s Amaechi’s money, it’s Amaechi’s money.’
“But people, who know me, know when I have money. When people meet me and I am not able to spend, it is just basically because I don’t have money. The important thing is, money doesn’t govern me. But social media twist it the other way; so the problem with social media (users) is that they misinform…they don’t verify their information, they have no rules. That is not to say there are no few decent one,” he concluded.
On his part, Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Tony Ojobo, who represented the commission at the event disclosed that the agency has established a framework to caution frivolous and inhuman posts on the social media.
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