Tag: Amaechi

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has assured that his supporters in the All Progressives Congress (APC) would vote out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections.

He urged them to prepare for mobilisation and registration as APC members.

Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), spoke on Wednesday during a New Year visit to launch 100 motorcyles to kick-start registration of APC members in the 10 wards of Tai Local Government, including Sime, Nonwa, Koroma and Botem communities.

Addressing APC supporters, the governor said the non-implementation of the recommendations contained in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoni land by the Federal Government was one of the reasons for his defection to the APC.

He said it was wrong for the Federal Government to deprive Ogoni people in the four local governments of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme of receiving their compensation and enjoying a habitable environment, as well as the provision of potable water.

Amaechi said: “I have left PDP. When I was in PDP, UNEP report said $1 billion should be spent to clean up the oil spills in Ogoni land, pay compensation and provide potable water for the indigenes.

“We cannot have a Southsouth President (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) and allow the UNEP report to die a natural death. It shows the Federal Government does not care about us.

“As a governor, I played a vital role, ensuring that potable water was provided for Eleme and Gokana people. Why must our people suffer this neglect and deprivation, despite attempts to remind the Federal Government to implement the UNEP report?”

The governor enjoined the people to vote en masse for the APC in the general elections and protect their votes.

He said: “On the day of election in 2015, I want you (the people of Tai Local Government) to support en masse the APC and vote out the PDP and you will get the implementation of the UNEP report.

“In the 2011 elections, Tai people were among those, who voted President Jonathan into office and we have nothing to show for it as dividends of democracy. The only way you can pay back PDP is to vote it out.

“PDP has the police to intimidate us, but I tell you, as a people, in a democracy, power belongs to the people to choose their leaders. So, you must protect the Rivers interest, because we have suffered much in the hands of the PDP. We must therefore defend APC interest.”

As part of his administration’s commitment to bring government closer to the people at the grassroots, Amaechi said there was need to continue effective development in the rural areas, towards ensuring a better life for the people, if APC was voted to power in 2015.

The leader of Tai politics, Chief Bari Mpigi, the lawmaker representing Oyigbo/Tai/Eleme Constituency in the National Assembly, who provided the motorcycles, assured that APC would sweep the polls in the 10 wards of the council in 2015.

The legislator representing Tai in the House of Assembly, Chief Felicia Tane, said his people would support APC in 2015.

The Chairman of the Council of Traditional Rulers, King Godwin Gininwa, who is also the Gbene Mene of Tai kingdom, said he was proud of Amaechi’s achievements.

He lauded the governor for establishing model primary and secondary schools, primary health centres and granting overseas scholarship to Tai indigenes.

The monarch said: “In all that you (Amaechi) have done for Tai people, we have found favour, peace and prosperity among our people. We are proud of you. Please consider and see yourself as one of us.”

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday slammed the Amanyanabo of Abonnema, the headquarters of Akuku-Toru Local Government, King Disrael Gbobo Bobmanuel, accusing him of betrayal over the Soku oil wells ceded to Bayelsa State.

He said if President Goodluck Jonathan returned the Soku oil wells and the 41 oil wells in Etche Local Government ceded to Abia State, to Rivers, he would support him, even as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Amaechi said he was sure the President would not return them.

The Rivers governor, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt as a guest on a phone-in programme, Today, on 95.1 FM Radio.

Soku oil wells are in Akuku-Toru Local Government, while Abonnema is one of the Kalabari communities, comprising Akuku-Toru, Asari-Toru and Degema local governments.

Bobmanuel, a few days ago, hosted in his palace, Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, who was accompanied by the Supervising Minister for Education Chief Nyesom Wike; the Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus; the Rivers Chairman of the party, Chief Felix Obuah and other PDP leaders.

The Abonnema monarch said he was satisfied with the way President Jonathan handled the Soku oil wells matter.

Amaechi said: “It has to do with the interest of Rivers State. It has nothing to do with my interest. There is an attempt by the Federal Government to undermine the development of Rivers State. Everybody is talking about Soku oil wells. There are over 41 oil wells belonging to Rivers State, which have been ceded to Abia State.

“They (the Federal Government) want to impoverish Rivers and as a governor, you expect me to keep quiet? It is not just Soku alone, it is also the fact that they have taken the oil wells in Etche.

“I heard my colleague, Bayelsa State governor, went to Abonnema the other day and the Amanyanabo of Abonema received him and said he was satisfied with the way the President is handling the oil wells. For me, that is a betrayal of his people.

“He (Bobmanuel) is a king in Kalabari kingdom and he says he is satisfied that the Federal Government has taken the oil wells and Bayelsa is receiving the money. It is not about me, it is about the Kalabari people. It is about the Rivers people.

“When the Bayelsa governor came, what was he doing in Abonnema? Why would the traditional ruler of Abonnema not tell the governor that Abonnema people are not happy over the oil wells taken away from them? The traditional ruler was expected to say ‘return our oil wells to us.’

“I have told the President that if he returns the oil wells, I will support him. But he (President) cannot.”

It does not matter whether I go back to the PDP or not, I will support him. He has not been able and he will not. If he (President Jonathan) thinks it will favour me, then let him keep the money in an escrow account, because the money was first and foremost in an escrow account.

“When he became President, he went to the escrow account and took the money. If it is about me, let them keep the money in an escrow account and give it to the next government in Rivers State. What I want to see done is the fact that our resources are returned to us.

“Now, there is no money in the escrow account, because Bayelsa State has expended the money. Even if we go to court today and the court says we are right, there is no money in the escrow account again. So, it is a hopeless and helpless situation for Rivers State.”

The Rivers governor added that he did not need to visit Soku before siting development projects like model schools and health centres, among others there, while accusing President Jonathan of taking sides in the ceding of Soku oil wells to his Bayelsa state.

He said: “President Jonathan stated that Rivers people call it Soku, while Bayelsa people call it Oluasiri. We do not need to go to court. Judgment has already been given by President Jonathan,” lamenting that the National Boundary Commission was yet to correct the mistake, as promised.

The NGF chairman also berated Wike, his former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and the Director-General of Amaechi Campaign Organisation in 2011, whom he said he made minister, which the two-term Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government council of Rivers State (Wike) denied.

Amaechi said: “I will not join issue with Wike. He is my junior in age. I graduated before him in the university. I ensured his re-election as Obio/Akpor Chairman. I made him Chief of Staff and Minister. I am a Governor by God’s grace, he is not. I have character. I do not know if Wike has character.

“I apologised to my friends for join issue with Wike. I do not want to be dragged to the gutter with Wike. The Obio/Akpor LG matter is not about political vendetta, but they are sharing the council’s funds.

“I have dissolved the Obio/Akpor LG council. Anybody who pays taxes, levies and other monies to Timothy Nsirim (the sacked chairman) will pay twice. The Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI, which has Wike as the grand patron) is a group of bandits, undermining the security of Rivers State.

“Police are being used to abuse my administration in Rivers State. Militants are now letting loose. They are now using the police, but Dr. Jonathan will not be the President forever. I do not have refinery in Ghana as being insinuated. I do not steal like them.

“They have served in government and they have nothing to show, except corruption. Some people who served briefly in government are now building mansions all over the place and the people are not asking questions.”

The Rivers governor also stated that he heard that the aides to President Jonathan went on the Internet and enumerated all the projects that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) did in Rivers State, from when the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo established the commission and said they were what President Jonathan achieved in Rivers State.

He said: “Let us even assume it is true that the President (Jonathan) is building six-classroom blocks. They have forgotten that we have demolished those six-classroom blocks, because we have phased them out, because they do not have sanitary facilities, computer laboratories and libraries like our schools. As we progress, we will continue to demolish them, until we achieve what we want.

“They even added Chinda Street that is my administration’s project and called it a Federal Government project. If I were the President, I will fire them.”

Amaechi also described the monorail in Port Harcourt as a noble project, stressing that in Nigeria, Rivers was the only state that was using its own funds to construct a monorail, noting that the Lagos light train was being funded by the World Bank, but the Rivers government was using its funds to pursue the monorail project.

The NGF chairman described the monorail as a brand new technology, stressing that there was nowhere in the world that the monorail was more than 16 kilometres, stating that the Port Harcourt’s monorail was nearing completion, with the incoming government to take it to the end of Aba Road.

On the defection of Amaechi and the four other governors from the PDP to the APC, he said: “If you observe, I do not like discussing the judiciary. The right thing to do is to keep me away from that controversy of what they think about the judiciary.

“Let us assume that the Federal Government or the PDP has done that (influencing the court), we still have the Court of Appeal and one place that is difficult to influence is the Supreme Court. If it is true that the PDP is doing that (trying to influence the judgment of the court on the defection of the governors), hope will not be lost, because we have the Court of Appeal, we have the Supreme Court.

“Courts do not impeach, but we are waiting. The courts’ position has been very clear. Zamfara Governor moved to the PDP and the court held that he had a right to move, if there is a disagreement with his party.

“The Bauchi State Governor moved from the ANPP (All Nigeria Peoples Party) to the PDP and the court held that he had the right to move. Abia Governor moved from the PPA to the PDP. Kebbi Governor moved from the ANPP to the PDP. They are so many and the PDP was so happy absorbing them.

“Now that five of us have gone and the chances of more governors moving to the APC appear to be there, PDP is panicking. We are ready to meet them in court. We have hired lawyers and our lawyers can battle with them.”

The Rivers governor also reiterated that the annual budget of Rivers state was the same with Ghana, with investors developing the neighbouring West African country (Ghana), while running away from the Niger Delta state (Rivers), because of insecurity, recently created by the Federal Government.

He noted that in stayed in Ghana for ten months, when he fasted throughout from 6 am to 6 pm, in the days of the infamous K-leg of the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and some leaders of the PDP, before becoming governor on October 26, 2007, in view of the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court the previous day, with Ghanaians trusting their government.

Amaechi assured that the 13,000 newly-employed teachers for the state’s primary and secondary schools would soon be paid the six months’ arrears of their salaries, stating that the Rivers Ministry of Education did not carry along the state’s Ministry of Finance, while recruiting the new teachers.

He noted that his administration was pursuing integrated development, which he said was changing the face of Rivers state, while disclosing that the Trans-Amadi Road in Port Harcourt, being dualised by his administration, would be tolled upon completion.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has said there is no personal quarrel between him and President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said the state government had misgivings about certain actions of the Federal Government towards the indigenes.

Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said the politics of self interest and greed had put Rivers at the end of national development, saying: “Our doors remain open to a negotiated settlement of the issues within the context of the constitutional relationship between the state and the Federal Government.”

The governor yesterday in Port Harcourt in his New Year broadcast, titled: “2014 – A Year of Promise,” said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not reciprocate his commitment and devotion, but the ruling party was used to undermine Rivers State and erode the peace and order, which he noted his government had worked hard to enthrone, making him to defect to the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “As you are aware, recent political developments in and around the state have attracted deserved national attention. Ours is a young democracy. Therefore, when politicians take positions informed by principles, which appear unusual, it becomes a test case for our emerging democratic culture. The recent developments in and around our state are not about me. They are about conflicting interpretations of the Rivers interest. You elected us into office to represent you. That sacred mandate means we have to protect your interests at all times.

“There is no personal quarrel between President Goodluck Jonathan, an illustrious son of the Niger Delta and myself. But the Rivers State government, which we have been privileged to lead, has some misgivings about certain actions of the Federal Government towards Rivers people. As your elected leader, we will be failing in our duties if we do not draw attention to such actions.

“First, we have expended huge resources in executing approved federal projects, such as the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road, without any refund. Second, there is hardly any reasonable federal project ongoing in the state. Work on the Port Harcourt International Airport, a major gateway to the eastern part of the country, has been abandoned.

“Third, the Federal Government has embarked on a reduction of our natural resource endowments. A number of oil wells and gas fields located in the state have been carved out and ceded to neighbouring states, while the resources due from these have also been paid to those states. Fourth, the major industrial and strategic security projects, which were originally slated for location in Rivers State, have been moved to neighbouring states, without even the courtesy of an explanation.

“Fifth, there is evidence of discrimination against Rivers State indigenes in key federal appointments. Of all the councils and boards of federal universities and tertiary institutions recently announced, there is hardly any Rivers indigene considered fit to head any of them.

“Sixth and most importantly, the Federal Government has encouraged the destabilisation of security in the state through tacit encouragement of the return of militants onto the streets of Port Harcourt and by encouraging the police to play a partisan role in the affairs of the state.

“Efforts to reach a peaceful resolution of our differences on these issues have not yielded results.”

An ostensibly private visit to Rivers State yesterday by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, sparked fresh tension over an alleged plot to impeach Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Deputy Governor Tele Ikuru.

Mrs.Jonathan, who is from the state, is scheduled to attend the wedding of one of her relations today in Port Harcourt.

Rumours of a planned session in the state House of Assembly by the six anti-Amaechi lawmakers had spread earlier in the day,but the complex remained locked by the police.

The police last night warned the warring state lawmakers to keep off the House after receiving the notice of appeal filed by the National Assembly against a High Court judgement declaring as unconstitutional the take-over of the functions of the Assembly by the federal legislators.

It was gathered that the First Lady met yesterday in Port Harcourt and her Okrika hometown with the anti-Amaechi legislators and politicians, including executive members of the PDP in the state.

Details of the discussion were not immediately known.

The calculation of the pro-impeachment group is to have the self-acclaimed Speaker of the House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, take over the affairs of the state once the plot succeeds with the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike,waiting in the wings to fly the PDP ticket in the governorship election that will follow.

The main entrance of the House of Assembly remained barricaded yesterday with Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), several police patrol vans and battle-ready policemen on stand-by.

23 of the 25 pro-Amaechi lawmakers are understood to have signed an undertaking with the police to be of good conduct once the Assembly is re-opened.

None of the six anti-Wike legislators has signed the document.

Bipi, in an interview, said that the Clerk of the Rivers House of Assembly, Sir Emmanuel Amewhule Ogele, did not notify his group of the signing of the undertaking with the police.

Bipi’s spokesman, Itobo Ofem, in a telephone interview at 3:21 pm yesterday, described the six anti-Amaechi lawmakers as law-abiding citizens who stood for justice.

Ofem also hinted that the rebel legislators were holding a crucial meeting, but declined to give details.

The Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Otelemaba Dan Amachree, Udede Jim-Opiki, at 3:16 pm, through the telephone, insisted that his boss remained the authentic helmsman.

Jim-Opiki also expressed optimism that the 31 members of the Rivers House of Assembly would soon sit with Amachree presiding.

A state High Court, sitting in Ahoada, has restrained Bipi from parading himself as speaker.

The factional speaker, however, declared that he would not obey a “kangaroo” court order.

The state Police Command, in a statement last night, said the complex would remain shut until the Court of Appeal rules on the matter.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has spoken on his frosty relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the state is being victimised.

The state is neglected by the Federal Government, which ceded its oil wells to neighbouring Bayelsa State, the governor said.

 Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), noted that he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to protect the interest of Rivers.

 He urged Rivers indigenes to be politically-conscious and become agents of progressive change, thereby voting out the ruling PDP at the federal level.

 The governor spoke on Wednesday at the Government House, Port Harcourt, the state capital, while interacting with medical doctors.

 Amaechi said the APC held the light to the country’s rapid development and to reducing the general impoverishment in the country.

 He said one of the reasons for his disagreement with the Federal Government was the Soku oil wells in the Kalabari area of Rivers State, which were ceded to Bayelsa State and which the Rivers State government contested in court.

 The NGF chairman said: “For Rivers State, basically that is the cause of the quarrel and you have a choice to make. The choice for me is to vote out PDP and there is no sentiment about that.

 ”Legally, we have not lost Soku (oil wells). We have just lost Soku to the fact that the President is from Bayelsa. When a President that is not from Bayelsa comes, he will look at the facts and the facts are there.

 ”The Federal Government, in writing in the court, said to the court: ‘sorry, court, we made a mistake; we will correct the mistake’ and we have told the Federal Government: ‘don’t call us for a meeting; go and correct that mistake. How could you people wake up in 2011… suddenly changed the map of Nigeria and take Soku into Bayelsa State?”

 Amaechi also said the Jonathan administration failed to execute a road project awarded by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to link the oil-rich Bonny Island in the state.

  He said: “That road to Bonny was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. They started; they have done just one bridge. The road has been abandoned. Yar’Adua tried to restart it, but he stopped.

“President Goodluck Jonathan has forgotten about that road completely, despite the fact that part of the money that feeds the Nigerian economy comes from that place, Bonny. That’s where you have the natural gas plant.”

 The governor said the Federal Government had not reimbursed the state for the N105 billion spent on the Port Harcourt-Owerri federal road, Eleme and Agip flyovers in Port Harcourt, among others.

 On his administration’s bid to secure a loan to provide potable water for residents, Amaechi said the loan was being held up because of the challenge posed by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whom he noted had not signed off on the loan.

 Amaechi said: “I will start from water. We got African Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank to give us a loan, for which we will pay 0.4 per cent for 40 years, which is a wonderful loan and we planned to give Port Harcourt people water first.

 ”If everybody in Rivers State is drinking (potable) water that will reduce the number of patients that go to Braithwaite Memorial Hospital or any other hospital. World Bank agreed; Federal Government agreed; ADB agreed. They said, ‘go and do due process’. We have finished due process. What is remaining is for the Minister of Finance to just sign off.

 ”In fact, you know, like I tell people, I have no appetite for money, they can award the contract to whoever they want; all I want is water, because that will impact on other sectors of the Rivers State economy. ‘Oh, you are quarrelling with the President, we will not sign’; that is why they have not signed.

 ”Should the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that schooled in the University of Port Harcourt, worked at OMPADEC, Ministry of Education, University of Education or College of Education (COE) sit down there and deny Rivers people water?”

 The people chorused ‘No’. “Should I remain in that kind of government (party)?” Again, the people chorused ‘no.’

Amaechi said his decision to join the APC was not for his personal interests, but for the state. The people of the state to discourage politics based on tribe or region and play politics for the collective interests of the people.

 He said: “It is not about Ijaw. It is not about Southsouth, because the first question I will ask myself is ‘what have I benefitted in the government of President Goodluck Jonathan?  We gave him between 1.5 million to 2.1 million votes. What have we got?  What has the Federal Government done for Rivers people?” ”Nothing,” the people chorused.

 Amaechi also decried the grounding of the state’s aircraft by the Federal Government and its refusal to sign to allow the state to bring in two surveillance helicopters from the United States to check kidnapping and other crimes.

 The NGF chairman also stated that his critics in the state had been angry with him for his refusal to be corrupt, stressing that the Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, was influenced in his actions by the Presidency.

 The Rivers Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Ibitrokoemi Korubo, assured the governor that they would continue to support his good policies.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi plans to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan over allegations of non- remittance of some funds by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the federation account.

Amaechi, who is the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), said the Forum, after its meeting in Abuja yesterday underscored the need for the meeting.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in a letter to President Jonathan, said the NNPC had failed to remit $49.8 billion to the Federation Account.

The sum, he said, represented the proceeds from crude oil sales between January 2012 and July 2013. But the NNPC has denied the CBN governor’s allegation saying it was borne out of Sanusi’s misunderstanding of the workings of the oil and gas industry.

The communiqué by the NGF after the meeting said: “There is a weighty allegation contained in a recent letter to Mr. President by the CBN Governor on the state of the economy.

“Therefore, members mandated the forum’s chairman to request for a meeting with Mr. President in order to deliberate on issues of critical national importance.

“The meeting with the President has become necessary because the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for November, planned for Dec. 9 and 10, was shelved for undisclosed reasons.”

It also pointed out that the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, scheduled for Dec. 12, where such issues could have been discussed, was postponed indefinitely.

The NEC meeting, the forum said, had not been convened in the last four months.

But it condoled with the government and people of South Africa over the death of its former president, Dr Nelson Mandela, noting that Mandela left a legacy of quality and selfless leadership which was worthy of emulation.

The NGF also remembered the late Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa, who died a year ago.

The NGF said the forum would identify with the Yakowa family during the memorial event being organised by the family.

Among the governors who attended the meeting which started on Wednesday night at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro are those of Zamfara, Kwara, Lagos, Borno, Adamawa, Rivers, Ekiti, Imo, Osun

Deputy governors at the meeting included those from Jigawa and Oyo states.