Barely one week after President Muhammadu Buhari submitted his name alongside 20 others to the Senate for clearance as minister and 24 hours after his name was read on the floor of the Senate, former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, may have ran into a huge storm as the Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry Wednesday submitted its report to the State Governor, Nyesom Wike, in which it indicted Amaechi for embezzlement of public funds.

The report indicated among others that the staggering sum of N53 billion was stolen from the State Reserve Fund. The commission was set up by Wike to investigate the sale of valued assets belonging to the state by the Amaechi government. Both Wike and Amaechi had been public enemies since Amaechi defected from the PDP to the APC. They used to be friends and political allies.

The Chairman of the commission, Justice George Omereji, recommended that the state governor should take immediate action to ensure that billions of Naira stolen from the state’s treasury are returned while those found culpable should be prosecuted.

According to Omereji, 27 memoranda and 142 exhibits were received by the commission in the course of investigation, stressing also that 25 witness testified before the panel.

Omereji, who spoke to reporters after submitting the panel’s report, disclosed that investigation had revealed that the immediate past administration in the state had removed N53 billion from the N55 billion left in the State Reserve Fund between 2014 and May 2015.

He explained that the commission could not find any project linked to the withdrawal of the N53billion from the state reserve fund and added that the money was shared among cronies of the past administration.

Describing the task given to the panel as enormous, Omereji also disclosed that the immediate past administration could not actualise the building of the Justice Karibi Whyte Hospital, even when a huge amount of money had been paid to contractors for the project.

He said, “There was the sum of N55 billion in the State Reserve Fund. Between 2014 and May 2015, they (immediate past administration) were able to remove N53 billion and we found out that the money (N53 billion) was not used for the projects in the state. The money went to individuals. From the papers submitted to us, we also found out that the money was given to people they like.

“We went to the site of the Justice Karibi Whyte Hospital, we did not see anything at all. When I told the project contractor to come with us (panel) to the place, he said snakes would bite us.

“But I insisted that we should go there. Behold, by the time we went inside, we did not see anything. The whole billions of Naira given to the man cannot be accounted for. We have recommended that those found culpable should refund the money. We even recommended that some people should be prosecuted.

“I don’t want to tell you those that will be prosecuted. It is not good for me to reveal the content of the recommendations now because we have just submitted our report.”

“We hope that the government will act fast and by the time the government looks into this report and act fast, it will be able to recover billions that are still stashed in where they kept them.

“That money belongs to Rivers people and they should be recovered so that we can use it for the people of Rivers State,” Omereji insisted.

Responding, Wike assured the people that he would implement the recommendations of the Omereji-led panel, stressing that his administration would not be intimidated by any person or group of persons.

Meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a discreet probe of the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which had been in the spotlight recently for allegations of financial heist.

The investigation which is being coordinated by the office of the National Security Adviser and officials from the National Intelligence Agency as well as the Department of State Services.

A Presidency source said the President was not impressed by the sudden burst to life of the leadership of EFCC in which it has made so much noise about its investigations of former governors and public office holders without any concrete headway. “The President is not comfortable with the leadership of the EFCC; he sure will make a change sooner than later but first he was the agency audited to determine its own level of compliance in the war against financial crime which it was set out to fight”, the source said.

The investigation tends to confirm speculation that a change of guard is imminent at the anti-crime agency.