Senate Ethics C’ttee Not Divided Over Amaechi – Anyanwu

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has debunked reports that members of the committee are sharply divided over the case of former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi.

The Senate twice had to defer Amaechi’s screening as a minister last week owing to the committee’s inability to present the report of its investigation into the petition written against the former governor by a group in Rivers State.

Reacting to reports of division among the committee members, Sen. Anyanwu in an interview with journalists on Friday, said the committee members were all part of the decisions taken on the petition brought against the ministerial nominee.
“Everything was done in the open, we carried out our assignment in a transparent manner. We had to wait for a very long time for the author of the petition against Amaechi who came all the way from Port Harcourt”, he stated.
“We decided in our magnanimity, to take the respondent (Amaechi). The session didn’t last too long because he said the matter was in court regarding his indictment by the white paper by the Rivers State Commission of Inquiry”, the senator explained.
“Before the petitioner came we received documents from the attorney general of Rivers State accompanied with white paper indicting Amaechi. The petitioner came, made submissions and we demanded for supporting documents which he provided. There was no disagreement among us, there was no problem. We will make sure that we present our report. Having heard from Amaechi and the petitioner, our report is ready and we are all unanimous on it”, Anyanwu said.