Amaechi Is Speaking In Ignorance -Omokri Reacts To Minister’s Allegations On Jonathan

-Amaechi led governors to secure a restraining order to ensur Jonathan doesn’t use the excess crude account- Reno Omkri

-It is very wrong for Rotimi Amaechi to keep blaming the Jonathan administration while at the same time enjoying the fruits of its labour like the Abuja-Kaduna railway -Reno Omokri

Omokri blasts Amaechi over $65b allegation against Jonathan

Former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has lashed out at the  Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, describing him as ignorant.

Omokri’s statement was a reaction to Amaechi’s allegation that former President Olusegun Obasanjo left $65billion in the excess crude account (ECA), but Jonathan’s administration squandered it.

In his statement made on Wednesday, Omokri clarified that the Jonathan led government met $6.5billion in the ECA upon assuming office in 2010 and not $65 billion.

Omokri noted that when Amaechi served as the chairman of the Nigerian governors’s forum (NGF), he and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the then house of representatives, secured an injunction restraining the Jonathan administration from operating the ECA.

The ex-media aide said: “Mr. Amaechi led the governors in taking the federal government to court. The Jonathan administration offered an out of court settlement with the governors in a deal that would have seen the federal government sharing some of the money and saving up the rest for Nigeria’s future but the governors rejected the offer,” the statement read.

“In fact, the Jonathan administration had argued at the supreme court that sharing the money in the ECA would affect ‘the day to day running of the nation’s economy.’

“Working in tandem with Mr. Amaechi and his supporters in the Nigerian governors’ forum, the then minority APC members of the house of representatives approached a federal high court on the 7th of February, 2014, for a perpetual injunction restraining the Jonathan administration from operating the ECA and to pay all the proceeds of that account into the Federation Account for sharing amongst the three tiers of government.

“As a result of these actions, the Jonathan administration paid the 36 states of the federation a total of N2.92 trillion from the Excess Crude Account between 2011 and 2014. Using the value of the naira at that time that amount was just above $20 billion dollars.

“So it is quite clear that anyone who accuses the Jonathan administration squandering $65 Billion ECA funds is speaking in ignorance. What I would advise Rotimi Amaechi to do is to take his own advise from last week when he said ‘I agree with those who said we should stop criticising the last government and that we should do our own.’

“It is very wrong for Rotimi Amaechi to keep blaming the Jonathan administration while at the same time enjoying the fruits of its labour like the Abuja-Kaduna railway and the national railway that was revived by the Jonathan government after years of being moribund. If they are drinking from Jonathan’s well, let them appreciate the man who dug the well,”‎ he added.