I left office broke, says former Rivers deputy gov

Former Deputy governor Rivers State, Tele Ikuru

Former deputy governor of Rivers State, Engr Tele Ikuru, has said that he left office broke as he did not get any parting gift from his boss, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, before they bowed out  on May 29 this year. Ikuru, who spoke in Andoni Local Government Area of the state, during a church service to thank God for his tenure, recalled that he served as deputy governor under former Governor Amaechi for seven years and seven months, adding that he also did five month under deposed Governor Celestine Omehia.

Continuing, he said former Governor Amaechi did not think he deserved a parting gift at the end of their tenure.

He said that as deputy governor, he returned excess cash to the state’s coffer at the end of every assignment he was given, adding that transparency was his watchword while in office.

“I served the government for seven years and seven months under Amaechi, because I was with Omehia for five months. At the end of the seven years and seven months Amaechi did not think that I deserved any parting gift despite the fact that in the course of this administration, by reason of the office I occupied, I returned several monies to him valued at over N2 billion cash at different times during one assignment or another.

“By reason of my contribution, I also saved not less than N100 billion for the state government over the period. At the end of the seven years and seven months, my boss left me hard and dry, nothing and no penny to go home with,” he said.

It will be recalled that the former deputy governor parted ways with former Governor Amaechi when he dumped their All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, few days to the last presidential election.

Ikuru had told newsmen that his decision to dump the APC stemmed from the need to support the presidential aspiration of his fellow Niger Deltan, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.