"I Have Never Taken Bribe Before In My Life" Amaechi Defends Himself Before The Senate At Ministerial Screening

Immediate ex-governor of Rivers state and Ministerial nominee, Rotimi Amaechi finally appeared before the senate for his much-await...

Immediate ex-governor of Rivers state and Ministerial nominee, Rotimi Amaechi finally appeared before the senate for his much-awaited ministerial screening and the "show" was less than the fireworks we had all expected.

Expectations had been heightened prior to the screening due to the uproars hinged on the financial misappropriation and corruption "indictment" levelled against him by the current Rivers state government under the leadership of PDP's Nyesom Wike. Nigerians had

expected the hallowed chambers to become an Iraq of some sorts with a cross-fire of questions, accusations, counter-accusations and explanations; even the headlines of most of the newspapers screamed fire-cracking headlines, but when Amaechi finally took the stand yesterday, it was an anti-climax; like the fizzling sound of a leaking balloon. All that build-up, poof!

To his credit, Amaechi came fully prepared (a la Fashola) with bundles of document from the committee set up to investigate him, declaring that, no where in the report was he convicted of corruption. When the screening proper started, PDP senators under the leadership of the senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio protested against screening Amaechi since his case was still before the house ethics committee but the other senators insisted on him being screened. This led to the PDP senators refraining from participating in Amaechi's screening process. Like petulant kids whose parent refused to buy that bar of chocolate, the PDP senators kept mum throughout the screening process while only APC senators grilled Amaechi for the duration of 50minutes that his screening lasted.

When asked by Senator Ashafa about the bribery and corruption allegations , Amaechi said, “I have never taken bribe before in my life; if they send a girl to do something for her and you sleep with her, you are corrupt...If there is one man who doesn't like corruption, I don't like corruption".