Former Rivers State governor and African Democratic Congress (ADC) vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of taking oil wells belonging to Cross River State during his tenure as governor of Akwa Ibom State.
Amaechi made the allegation at a town hall meeting in Calabar, Cross River State.
The session was organised to mobilise voters ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The former minister of transportation said he was not criticising Akpabio because he belongs to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but because he believed the Senate president knew what had happened to the oil wells.
“I am not calling Akpabio out because he is in the APC. I am calling him out because he knows that I know what he did. Tell him Amaechi says Akpabio knows what he did,” he said.
He challenged Cross Riverians to demand an explanation from Akpabio over the alleged transfer of the state’s oil wells to Akwa Ibom.
Amaechi also alleged that Akpabio had attempted to claim oil wells belonging to Rivers State but was challenged in court, where, according to him, Akwa Ibom lost the case.
On the non-extension of the railway line to Calabar during his tenure as transport minister, Amaechi said there had been an agreement to construct a coastal railway from Lagos to Calabar, with a spur to Obudu Cattle Ranch.
He put the estimated cost of the project at $11 billion but said the government lacked the funds to execute it.
Amaechi questioned the decision of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to embark on a coastal road project estimated at $16 billion, arguing that the government should have carefully considered its priorities.