#TheAmaechiIKnow: N5M Photo-Shopped Cheque Scandal! How PDP Propagandists Tried Blackmailing Omojuwa, Others [PHOTOS]

Barely about 48hrs ago, a story of how some supposed on-line agents of the All Progressive Congress (APC) otherwise known as ‘twitter lords’ recently visited Governor Amaechi of Rivers State for a thank you dinner and subsequently pocketed the sum of N5M each has since generated series of controversies.

The event which took place on May 29, 2014, Shybellmedia gathered had social media activists from different regions in the country totaling 49. Foremost Twitter activist and political blogger Japheth Omojuwa led the pack of those invited for the interactive forum with Governor Amaechi as it marked his 49th birthday and the formal launch of the #TheAmaechiIKnow hashtag.

WE gathered exclusively that 34 out of the 49 social media members were supporters of the Governor while 15 others were from the anti-Amaechi group; some of the notable names that were present at the event from the anti-Amaechi faction includes; Eze-Basil Chiwendu, Oluo D’oracle, Ross Alabo-George, Mark Olise and others.

A List of some of the acclaimed Amaechi supporters includes Kelechi Jeff Eme, Femi Adeoya, Petra Akinti Onyegbule, Preye Aganaba, Jasper Azuatalam, Japheth J Omojuwa, Soni Akoji, Theresa Ugwuanyi, Danjuma Azemobo Musa, Kelechi Deca, Oviebor Okeh Goodluck, Eba Okorodudu White, Mercy Ugo and Uche Igwe.

The event which availed the participants the opportunity to ask Governor Amaechi several questions ended with smiles and no drama or violence was recorded, however moments after all attendees had returned to their individual settlements; an online medium published a story stating that each attendee got a brown envelope that contained a signed cheque of N5million.

Soon after the story emerged online, the pictures of the acclaimed cheque were posted. Few hours later Shybellmedia was able to do few finds, make calls and was able to get pictures of the real blank cheque which was photoshopped and eventually used to blackmail and damage the name of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the cheques can be viewed below:

Above is the real blank cheque which was edited into the N5m cheque below

We also gathered that the whole N5m honorarium story emanated from PDP Propagandists in the state, we also x-rayed the supposed N5m honorarium which was said to have been given out to the #TheAmaechiIKnow participants and below are the three concrete reasons why we think getting a N5million ‘Thanks for coming’ would have been most impossible:

(1) The supposed cheque issued to one Soni above was an open cheque. Government cheques are ALWAYS closed/crossed cheques.

(2) There was only one signatory, this is not in line with global best practice as Government cheques are not always solely signed.

(3) In line with the CBN banking policy, the maximum withdrawal over the counter from second or third party cheque is N150,000. So this cheque will have to go through clearing.

(4) The Cheques displayed above clearly shows that the supposed cheque issued to one of the attendees by the name ‘Soni Akonji’ was purely photo-shopped giving the reasons below:

* The two cheques had the same serial number but obviously the photo-shopped cheque had other features missing such as the ‘Rs’ printed at the edge of the figure box, most importantly the signature on the fake cheque shows a poorly photo-shopped signature as the signature box suddenly white as against the faded box in the original cheque

* The real cheque with the account name ‘ Dr. Nassar Sheikh/ Mrs. Mahwash Sheikh’ has the account holder’s name written in an official font at the base of the cheque while the photo-shopped cheque had the account holder’s name “Rivers State Government’ written with a stylish font, this evidently justified another poorly edited graphic photo.

Which way Nigeria? Can’t politics be practice without propaganda in this country? Can’t people allow this young Governor (Ameachi) of our generation satisfy his people? His state has changed dramatically and nobody is talking about that.