The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has rejected the explanation of Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, Commissioner for Information and Communications in the immediate past Rotimi Amaechi administration in the state, regarding the about N82 million allegedly used to organise a birthday dinner for Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka. The party in a statement issued yesterday in Port Harcourt by the State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, described it as “a fraud committed under the guise of a birthday celebration for Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.” It dismissed the arguments of Mrs. Semenitari, who was recently appointed Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), as “not only hollow but petty and childish.”

The statement, signed by Obuah’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, said: “Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, bitten by the bug of pomposity and dancing in the ring of illusion, thinks that every Rivers person except she, is a dunderhead. In a manner typical of her, she tried to explain away her corrupt practices while serving as commissioner, by appealing to the emotion of Rivers people rather than to their intellect, as she struggled to justify the siphoning from the state’s treasury, a whopping N82,000,000.00.

“While we agree that the Nobel Laureate deserves any form of honour in any part of the world, we find it a terrible disservice to Professor Soyinka to use his name to steal public funds and mischievously pretend to be more protective of the man’s international reputation than the rest of us, thereby propagandistically portraying officials of the Rivers State Government as adversaries to the Laureate.

“How can a former Commissioner for Information and Communications become so uninformed as to misinform the unwary public and try in vain to deform their psyche? For lack of accounting straws to cover the crime she supervised, she said the N82,000,000.00 was not used only for the party but that the expenses covered costume design, set design, drama, highlife band, dinner, transportation, decoration and logistics.

“That was what N82m, tax payers’ money belonging to Rivers people was spent for. What a fallacy! Yet Mrs. Semenitari wants the people to believe these incoherent fabrications.

“These items should naturally be expected to form an important part of the birthday celebration. If they were left out, what else would make the party a befitting one for a man of the stature of Professor Soyinka? Is it only eating, drinking and dancing in a boring ambience that would be called birthday party for Professor Soyinka of all people? How much did the listed items amount to? Are we talking of N8,000,000.00 or N82,000,000.00? Shame to criminals in the garments of government officials!

“A pathological liar, Mrs. Seminitari during her days as Commissioner for Information and Communications, engaged in such pernicious propaganda that Josef Goebels’ propaganda art paled into insignificance before hers. Even the public servant with the shortest memory can recall the lies she transmitted about former Governor Amaechi’s politics of denying workers and pensioners their monthly pay. Many in certain sections of, and parastatals under her ministry then, can tell of her unaccountability exploits. Must every can of worms be exposed?

“Mrs. Semenitari should be advised to concentrate her energy on ruining the NDDC under her charge with half-truths, disinformation, deception, outright lies and embezzlement of public funds which she knows how to do best. After all, no APC member can be corrupt.”

•Photo shows Ibim Semenitari.

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