There are indications that the political
crisis in Rivers State may linger following the condition given to
President Goodluck Jonathan by the State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
Amaechi, who had visited the President
in Aso Villa Friday last week, had gone into a brief meeting with
Jonathan with a view to resolving the crisis rocking the state,
including the dwindling security situation in the state.
An impeccable source had told Saturday PUNCH
that one of the conditions given to President Jonathan by the state
governor was the sacking of the Minister of State for Education, Mr.
Nyesom Wike.
The governor, according to the source,
who is a stakeholder of the PDP in Rivers State, had expressed his
discomfort over Wike’s overbearing attitude in the state.
It was gathered that Amaechi had told
the President that the minister’s utterances in recent times were
worsening the already tensed situation in the state.
“He specifically told President Goodluck
Jonathan that Wike should be sacked so that peace would come back to
Rivers. That was one of the things he (Amaechi) demanded from the
President.
“The governor believes that with Wike’s
utterances, it will be difficult for peace to reign in the state.
Amaechi was particularly not comfortable with the influence of the
minister on the PDP in the state,” the source said.
Wike had told his supporters to be ready
to fight, a directive that appeared not to have gone down well with
Amaechi and his supporters.
But the Chairman of the state chapter of
the PDP, Mr. Felix Obuah, explained that Amaechi could not have asked
President Jonathan to sack a man who was the brain behind his rise in
politics.
Obuah pointed out that if Amaechi had
made such a demand, the President would not accede to it, even as he
described the minister as one of the best in Jonathan’s administration.
On the call by the minister on his (Wike) supporters to fight, the state PDP state chairman, in a telephone interview with Saturday PUNCH, said the move was aimed at ensuring that his followers stood for their right.
Obuah said, “I am not sure that he
(Amaechi) made such demand because I was not there. I don’t think that
Amaechi will ask for Wike’s sacking because he (Wike) is the brain
behind the governor’s rise in politics.
“But if Amaechi said so, I don’t think
the President would sack one of his best hands. Wike has tried his best
in terms of performance and has imbibed the principle of ‘go-round’
because he believes in reaching out to everybody.
“When Wike told his supporters to fight,
what he meant was that his supporters must fight for their right. A
situation where the governor does not embrace the rule of law, what does
he (Amaechi) expect?”
Also, the Chief of Staff to the
Governor, Mr. Tony Okocha, insisted that his boss would not demand for
the sacking of the minister.
Okocha, who spoke in a telephone
interview with our correspondent, however, pointed out that although
Amaechi was not interested in the removal of Wike as a minister, it did
not remove the fact that the minister was the hatchet man fuelling the
crisis in the state.
The governor’s aide explained that the
minister’s call on his supporters exposed his (Wike) inordinate ambition
to become the governor in 2015, even when the zoning principle did not
favour him..
“He is an Ikwerre man and the governor
is also from Ikwerre and we do not think that it is fair for another
Ikwerre person to be governor in 2015 based on the zoning principle,”
Okocha added.
PUNCH
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NE n other Nigerian media are also fuelling dis crisies in Rivers. Why dis caption. Why can't u caption ur story, 'JONATHAN n AMECHI meet in Abj on Peace Talk' If u were d governor n another hijack d state party mechinary frm u,wot wil u do? Less be sincere wit ourselves. D minister of state for Education shld be sacked. OBJ always do dt everyday durin his tenure. QED.Govnor Amechi shld be recognize as d Chairman of NGF n Amechi shld giv full support to d President as expected.
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