Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi
has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of turning the Peoples
Democratic Party into a “one-man show” and of condoning “impunity and
authoritarianism” in an effort to ensure re-election in 2015.
Amaechi, in an interview he granted the Financial Times of London, added that the President and his wife, Patience, were bent on removing him from office.
He traced his travails to a perceived
fear in the Presidency that whoever was in charge of the Nigeria
Governor’s Forum had the capacity to influence the presidential
election in 2015.
The embattled governor said, “There is
this fear in the Presidential Villa that whoever chairs the governors’
forum will influence the presidential election,” Amaechi told FT in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
In a report posted by FT on
Sunday, he alleged that “what has happened has been engineered to the
point where the President and his wife are trying to remove me from
office.”
“We are seeing an absence of law and
order that can breed anarchy. It seems those at Federal Government level
are not interested in democracy, but impunity and authoritarianism. The
President needs to check this,” the governor added.
Amaechi also told the FT that
he had not decided on his plans for 2015. He said that efforts by some
in the PDP leadership to claim that he had lost the governors’ forum
vote, despite him obtaining 19 votes to his challenger’s (Jonah Jang of
Plateau State) 16, was a concerning sign ahead of 2015.
“If they can accept 16 over 19, people should be worried,” he said.
But spokesman for the President, Reuben
Abati, denied that Jonathan and his wife were in any way involved
in Amaechi’s travails.
“This is all local Rivers politics,”
Abati said. “It’s convenient to drag the President into this, but it is
not true. All these allegations are baseless.”
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Police
Command and the state government on Sunday traded words on the
whereabouts of the the Majority Leader of the House of Assembly, Mr.
Chidi Lloyd.
Lloyd was last week declared wanted by
the police command a few hours before Force headquarters in Abuja
invited him for allegedly attacking another lawmaker with a mace
during the free-for-all in the Assembly. The fracas was caused by an
attempt by five lawmakers loyal to the Minister of State for Education,
Nyesom Wike to unseat the speaker.
While the state government claimed that
the Police knew where to find the embattled lawmaker, the spokesperson
for the command, said they would not have declared him wanted if they
knew where to locate him.
Chief of Staff, Government House,
Port Harcourt, Mr. Tony Okocha, who accused the police of bias in
handling the crisis, said they (police) were free to search the
Government House for Lloyd.
He said, “Lloyd is not in Government
House. He has been receiving treatment since the incident in the House
of Assembly. I am sure that the police know where he is. You can see how
one-sided they (police) are.
“Even when Evans Bipi was the first to
hit Chidi Lloyd, the only person declared wanted is Lloyd. We saw a
video clip where Bipi was boasting that he hit Chidi Lloyd. We also
heard how he dealt Ngo, a lawmaker in the House a blow.
“We are shocked that nobody is inviting
them (Bipi and four other anti-Rotimi Amaechi lawmakers) for
interrogation. In the matter, there must be what we call cause and
effect relationship. Bipi was the first to hit Lloyd before he (Lloyd)
retaliated.”
Okocha however said the government was ready to embrace anything that would ensure that peace reigned in the state.
The State Police Public Relations
Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, however, said it was wrong for any person
to insinuate that the police knew the whereabouts of the Majority
Leader.
Agabe, who spoke with The PUNCH said that the police were not biased in handling of the matter.
“If the police knew where Chidi Lloyd
is, they (police) would not have declared him wanted. The search for the
lawmaker over the assault on a fellow member is still on,” she
explained.
The PDP in the state had earlier accused Governor Amaechi of hiding Lloyd in the Government House.
A statement by the Special Adviser to
the state party Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, called on the government
to hand over Lloyd to the police for investigation.
“The Rivers State Governor knows where
Lloyd, declared wanted by the police is hiding. We call on the state
government to hand him over to the police for investigation,” Needam
said.
Also on Sunday, the Action Congress
of Nigeria accused the PDP of being unrelenting in its determination to
overheat the polity and set the country on fire .
In a statement in Lagos on Sunday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN said it was
left with no choice than to reach that conclusion after a faction of
Rivers PDP reportedly loyal to President Jonathan expelled Amaechi, at a
time all people of goodwill were calling for a resolution of the
state’s lingering crisis.
It warned that since PDP ‘s sole
interest was power and not the responsibility that goes with it, it
must be checked through all constitutional means before it plunges the
country into chaos.
The ACN said one of the reasons
Amaechi had been targeted by his “all-powerful enemies”, who have used
national institutions – including the police – against him, was his
strenuous defence of the NGF.
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Governor Amaechi, please join ACN now and enjoy the love that PDP has denied you. See how the ACN has been sympathising with you. The honourable thing to do is to appreciate their gestures by joining them now so that the battle line will be clearer.
ReplyDeleteWell well well !!! Thats funny coming from you mr. Gov. Cos u are also running a one man show in RiVERS !! Why the grumbling ??? Abi u wan to tell a president how to run things ??? Nagging housewife !!
ReplyDeleteTRUE talks my able GOVERNOR, but if I'm in Ur SHOES I'll LEARN to TALKLESS in times like this. People will always EXAGGERATE any statement U make.
ReplyDeleteMy able GOVERNOR, pls apply the sentiments in PROVERBS 10:19 and it shall be WELL with U & our "ANGRY" PRESIDENT G.E.J.
BEWISE brother BEWISE!
The president we hv is nothing but a shoeless villager. Am sure u knw wat dat mins.
ReplyDeleteBe wise. There is wisdom in silence my Gov.
ReplyDeleteplease is Amechi in politic because of GEJ, answer is No. why must he support the 2nd term agenda by force. let popularity come to play and give peace chance. both are in politics cos of their selfish interest, why GEJ want to end courageous Amechi ambition.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha am loving this I swear down,Gov of Rivers I don't like u sorry to say!am a Rivers person but ur 2 head strong,dats wat I dot like about u!u use so much power on ppl,y are u crying now?
ReplyDeleteRespect is reciprocat ! If you abuse your leader today, tomorrow someone will abuse you. What we want is peace if you don't peace pls
ReplyDeleteppl should leave GEJ alone, he has a lot more to do than Amaechi.
ReplyDeleteAmeachi, are you not runing a one man show in Rivers State, are you not the one one that started this one man show thing??? you that dont respect anybody in Rivers State. You run the State like your personal estate. You ve not seen anything yet ohhhhhhhhhhhh. I just dey laugh ohhhhhh
ReplyDeleteSponsored idiots,even dose dt av not visited River n see d gd work dis Young Govnr is doin,dey still open der mouth n talk. Go to Akwaibom n talk any bad thing abt der Govnr,his killer squad will visit u dt night. Go to River n u'll do as u like n go,dts why d Minister of state n his cohorts is havin a free day in Rivers. We Nigerians are washing n recording evrything dt is happening. Wen d time comes,who no know go know!
ReplyDeleteOur dear governor , leave the President alone and give the good people of Rivers state good governance they have been expecting from you . Let it not be said of you that you are being sponsored by the northern politician to destroy your brother . If it is so when you become whatever they are promising you , you will be their next target to b e dealt with , yours cannot be different . Divide and rule is their game .
ReplyDeleteAll things work together for good to them that...
ReplyDeleteWith what we are seeing today, we can now imagine how 2015 election will be.I'm not supporting anybody.Both of them are equally found wanting in one way or the other.God bless Nigeria.
ReplyDelete