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Tag: Amaechi

  • Amaechi, Wike’s camps in fresh exchanges

    Amaechi, Wike’s camps in fresh exchanges

    The Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has asked the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and his supporters to move to another political party to test his popularity, declaring that change has come to the Niger Delta state.

    An ally of Amaechi, Emma Chinda, however, described Wike as a political jobber whose primary interest was how he could become the governor of the state in 2015.

    Chinda, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Rivers Commissioner for Agriculture declared that the Minister of State for Education resisted moves by Amaechi to deliver Rivers State for President Goodluck Jonathan during the 2011 presidential election.

    Wike equally described Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), as disobedient to President Jonathan and the traditional institution in Rivers State.

    Wike, the grand patron of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), spoke through the Secretary-General of the GDI, Samuel Nwanosike, yesterday in an interactive session with reporters in Port Harcourt.

    The Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, had earlier asked Wike to stop his 2015 governorship campaign and face the strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).

    The Chief of Staff also urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, to call Wike to order for violating the rule of campaigning 90 days to elections.

    Nwanosike said: “In 2011, Barr. Wike was the Director-General of Amaechi Campaign Organisation and he used the platform to get President Jonathan and Amaechi elected.

    “Amaechi and six Northern Governors, who are now friends, wanted Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2011, but Chief Wike opted for Dr. Jonathan.

    “Chief Wike wants change in Rivers State. He has come to liberate Rivers State from mismanagement and underdevelopment. The Minister of State for Education is not campaigning, but participating in the GDI’s thanksgiving and inauguration at the ward and LGA levels.

    “Amaechi and his confused supporters should move to another political party now to test their popularity. The era of money politics has gone in Rivers State. You must now be popular to win elections.”

    Chinda urged Rivers people not to take Wike seriously, but to continue to support the focused Amaechi’s administration in its transformational agenda.

    The Rivers governor’s ally said: “Wike resisted moves by Governor Ameachi to deliver Rivers State for President Jonathan in the 2011 general elections when he was the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt. The present posture of Wike is a deception to achieve his political ambition of becoming Rivers Governor in 2015.

    “Wike is playing political gimmicks. He has just announced himself clearly as a political jobber.

    “I still remember that in 2011, when we were doing the presidential campaigns, Wike was the person who headed a campaign against President Jonathan.

    “If not for the intervention of Governor Amaechi, Dr. Jonathan would not have got many votes in Rivers State because Wike was bent on making sure that President Jonathan was not elected.

    “I know that Wike does not care if President Jonathan loses the 2015 election or not. What he wants is to see how he can use Dr. Jonathan’s name to launch his own political programme in Rivers State. He should realise that Rivers people are more than that.

    “We need to tell him that we have passed the era when we say: oh, this person is there, to an era when we now say: oh, road is there; health centres, schools, employment opportunities are there.”

    Chinda challenged Wike to quickly bring an end to the ASUU strike which has been on for over three months and that of the ASUP, thereby stopping to heat up the polity in Rivers State.

    He said: “Wike has got a plethora of problems to solve. Let him go back to his Federal Ministry of Education. He has a tall task of making sure that Nigerian universities and polytechnics reopen, of making sure that teachers do not go on strike.

    “Wike is not ashamed as a supervising Minister of Education that policemen chased away with teargas at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, 13,000 newly-recruited teachers who had gone to collect their posting letters. Till date, he has not made any comment about it.

    “What kind of minister is that? We should realise that this man is just clueless and what he is doing is political jobbing.”

    Nwanosike later added: “In what capacity can Emma Chinda describe Wike as a political jobber when he (Wike) facilitated his (Chinda’s) appointment as a commissioner in Rivers State?

    It would be recalled that the face-off between Amaechi and Wike (both Ikwerre) started with the governor declaring that it would not be ideal for another Ikwerre person to succeed him in 2015, while preferring another ethnic group or senatorial district, which did not go down well with Wike.

  • Amaechi, Wike in war of words over 2015

    Amaechi, Wike in war of words over 2015

    •NGF Chair wants INEC to call minister to order
    •I’m not campaigning, says Wike

    The Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has asked the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, to stop his 2015 governorship campaign. He advised him to face the strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).

    Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), yesterday, in a telephone interview, stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must call Wike to order, for violating its regulation of campaigning only 90 days to elections.

    The minister of state for education, however, stated that he was not campaigning for 2015 governorship, asking Amaechi to face infrastructural decay in Rivers State, while alleging that the Rivers governor and his “cohorts” were behind ASUU and ASUP strike to embarrass President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition (NDCSC), through its Chairman, Anyakwee Nsirimovu, declared that the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, must be redeployed forthwith, to ensure peace in the Niger Delta.

    Wike is the grand patron of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), while he and members of the group have been moving round the state’s 23 local government areas for GDI’s inauguration and they will be in Etche LG today (Sunday).

    Prior to his emergence as the minister of state for education, Wike, a two-term Chairman of Obio/Akpor LG Council, was the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and doubled as the Director-General of Amaechi Campaign Organisation in 2011.

    Amaechi expressed surprise that the minister of state for education, who is now supervising minister of the ministry, was acting as if he was above the law, in view of his closeness to President Jonathan, with INEC leadership being helpless.

    He noted that emphasis must be placed on the rule of law and due process, in order not to make mockery of the hard-earned democracy.

    The Rivers governor, who spoke through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, said: “ASUU members have been on strike for over three months. ASUP members decided to resume their suspended strike over Federal Government’s insincerity and inability to honour the agreement signed with the union. Is it not shameful that the Federal Government signed an agreement with ASUU in 2009 and yet to fully implement the terms?

    “Whether ASUU and ASUP members are on strike for one year, is not Wike’s business. He is gallivanting all over Rivers State for his 2015 governorship campaign and using President Jonathan as a smokescreen

    “The leadership of INEC cannot pretend not to be aware of Wike’s governorship campaign which was transmitted live on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). It is no longer secret.”

    He accused the minister of moving round the state to campaign. “You cannot give what you do not have. Wike is dry intellectually and has never practised as a lawyer. He is not interested in qualitative education. He is only after award of contracts for Almajiri schools to his cronies for his cut, without following due process.

    “President Jonathan is very happy with Wike’s governorship campaign and activities in Rivers State, believing that he (Wike) is checkmating Governor Amaechi. It is a case of your enemy’s enemy is your friend. The focused and performing NGF Chairman has no problem with Dr. Jonathan.

    “Wike’s governorship campaign calls for concern. INEC made it clear that there must be no campaign until 90 days to the elections. Prof. Attahiru Jega, as a man of integrity, must rise to the occasion and call Wike to order.”

    The minister of state for education, who spoke through the Secretary-General of the GDI, Samuel Nwanosike, asked well-meaning Nigerians to call Amaechi to order, in order to stop embarrassing Rivers people.

    Wike also declared that the people of Rivers State were very proud of President Jonathan, not because his wife, Dame Patience, hails from Okrika in the state, while insisting that the president would be re-elected in 2015, in view of his “impressive” performance.

    Nwanosike said: “Wike is not campaigning for 2015. GDI is doing thanksgiving and inauguration at the ward and LGA levels. GDI is a socio-political organisation to promote good governance and not a political party.

    “Chief Wike is very successful as a minister of state for education and he is trying his best as the supervising minister of education to resolve the strike by ASUU and ASUP. Amaechi and his cohorts are behind the strike, because of their political interest, to embarrass President Jonathan, who is transforming Nigeria.

    “Whether Amaechi and his co-travellers like it or not, President Jonathan will be overwhelmingly re-elected in 2015.”

    The minister of state for education added that the NGF chairman was deceiving Rivers people, alleging that the government’s poorly-constructed roads in Port Harcourt and other parts of the state had become an eyesore, in spite of the huge allocations to the crude oil and gas-rich state.

    Amaechi had earlier declared that the only condition for peace in the state would be the immediate redeployment of Mbu, for taking sides in the deepening political crisis.

    The Senate and the House of Representatives, in separate resolutions, before they proceeded on recess, stated that the police commissioner must be redeployed forthwith, for acting like a politician.

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, however, noted that Mbu had been told to be a professional police officer and would remain in Rivers state.

    NDCSC, yesterday in Port Harcourt, stated that it was very concerned about the cruel fire set against the fundamental rights and freedom of unsuspecting Rivers citizens, by stationing a government within an elected government by the Presidency, using Mbu as a most retarding instrument.

    It said it was not only repugnant to the requirements of the rule of law, but a fundamental abuse of the sovereignty of citizens in a democracy, to freely elect or reject their governors and government.

    The group pointed out that it was becoming the worst time to live in the state, stressing that Mbu, instead of being the guardian of effective law enforcement and of good behaviour, was overzealously teaching the geography of impunity, anarchy, chaos and fully guided and funded by the authorities that designed his heinous agenda.

    It noted that citizens had wondered where the thundercloud was coming from, until the police commissioner recently chased away 13,000 newly-recruited teachers with teargas at the Liberation Stadium, Elekahia, Port Harcourt, when they gathered to collect their posting letters.

    NDCSC said: “Mr. Mbu’s political policing habit is not only irresponsible, but discriminatory, unethical and unprofessional, failing the test of any civilised global standard of policing. Mr. Mbu, if not stopped immediately, will graduate from throwing teargas canisters on innocent law-abiding citizens, to shooting live bullets at them.”

    The group also stated that quite unfortunately, the Rivers police commissioner was creating the impression that he had a duty to protect only the interest of President Jonathan.

    NDCSC called on civil society oganisations and the community of democrats globally to take more than a passing interest in a most serious threat to democracy and fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens in the state.

    It asked President Jonathan to show leadership by reaffirming faith in the fundamental human rights of Nigerians, as one of the highest purposes for his office and save the present and succeeding generations, who might suffer the scourge of inhumanity, if the imminent explosion was allowed to happen.

     

  • Fresh crisis brews in Rivers as pro-Amaechi lawmaker dies of heart attack

    Fresh crisis brews in Rivers as pro-Amaechi lawmaker dies of heart attack

    Fresh crisis brewed in Rivers State with yesterday’s death through heart attack of one of the 27 lawmakers loyal to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Tonye Ezekiel Harry, 47, who was also the immediate past Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly.

    The ex-Speaker died in Nigeria, while arrangements were being made by the Rivers State government for him to be flown to Paris, France for further medical attention, having slumped in a gym in Port Harcourt earlier in the week.

    In spite of the sad development, the supporters of the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, are strategising to replace Harry, during the by-election to be conducted later by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The Deputy Speaker of the Rivers Assembly, Leyii Kwanee, confirmed the former speaker’s death in a telephone interview.

    While reacting to the death of the former Deputy Speaker, the Rivers Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, an engineer, through his Acting Press Secretary, Godswill Jumbo, noted that it had robbed the state and nation of an erudite politician, whose contributions to the growth of democracy could not be quantified.

    The ex-Deputy Speaker schooled both in Rivers and Lagos states, and he resigned as an Accountant from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, before joining politics.

  • Rivers Police disperse Amaechi’s loyalists

    Rivers Police disperse Amaechi’s loyalists

    •We are in a police state – Rep
    •Police spokesman denies disruption

    Barely72 hours after the Rivers Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, chased away 13,000 newly-recruited teachers, who wanted to collect their posting letters at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, Mbu was at it again yesterday morning.

    Over one hundred policemen, on the orders of the controversial police commissioner, disrupted the inauguration of the Rivers Leadership Advancement Foundation (RIVLEAF) in Bonny Island, headquarters of Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    RIVLEAF members are loyal to the Rivers governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    The representative of Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Constituency of Rivers State in the House of Representatives, Dakuku Peterside, declared that with the ugly development, Rivers people were now in a police state.

    The chairman of Bonny LG Council, Edward Pepple, described the action of the policemen as barbaric and unexpected in a democracy, stressing that the security personnel initially raided the Bonny Government House Lodge, before disrupting the RIVLEAF’s inauguration.

    Pepple noted that the policemen invaded all the venues of the inauguration and declared that the members of RIVLEAF, a socio-political organisation, must not gather, stressing that the policemen could not give any justifiable reason for their action.

    Peterside, a former Rivers State Commissioner for Works and an ally of Amaechi, said: “Police in Rivers State today (yesterday) at Bonny, stopped the inauguration of RIVLEAF, a non-governmental organisation of young Rivers professionals.

    “Police first mobilised over hundred men to storm Bonny Industrial Centre. Then, the organisers moved the event to the Local Government Council. Police also went there to disrupt them.

    “They moved it to a private individual’s house on Hospital Road, Bonny, yet police went there. Finally, we are in a police state.”

    The coastal Bonny is the base of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company Limited and the crude oil loading terminal of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), among other oil and gas firms.

    The National President of RIVLEAF, Wele Alex Wele, who is also the Special Adviser on National Economic Affairs to Amaechi, was contacted by telephone for his reaction, but he didn’t pick his call, while a text message later sent to him had not been replied as at press time.

    When also contacted at 1:54 pm, the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Kidaya Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said: “I am not aware of disruption of RIVLEAF’s inauguration at Bonny,” promising to find out and get back, but did not do so.

    A senior police officer, who would not want to be named, stated that the Bonny’s inauguration of RIVLEAF was not allowed in view of the current ban on demonstrations, protests and unauthorised assemblies, while describing the gathering as political and could lead to the breakdown of law and order.

    When reminded that the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, who is also the grand patron of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), had been moving round the state’s 23 LGAs for GDI’s inauguration, without police’s disruption and preparing to go to Etche LGA this weekend, the police officer said: “No comment.”

    Amaechi, through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, had earlier stated that Wike had been busy with his 2015 governorship campaigns, contrary to the regulation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which made it clear that campaigning must only take place 90 days to elections.

    The Rivers governor noted that the Minister of State for Education had been busy deceiving his “confused” supporters of mobilising support for the 2015 re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan, while campaigning for his governorship, ignoring the nationwide strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), in its third month.

    On Friday in Port Harcourt, the organised labour in Rivers State gave the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, and the Police Service Commission (PSC), 21-day ultimatum to redeploy Mbu or face indefinite strike.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers State councils, asked the IGP and the police commissioner to also tender unreserved apology for using teargas to chase away 13,000 newly-recruited teachers, who were at the Liberation Stadium on Wednesday to collect their posting letters.

    The River State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, however, stated that asking 13,000 teachers to collect posting letters at the stadium was unwise and mischievous.

    Amaechi and Mbu had been at loggerheads since the police commissioner’s redeployment from the Oyo State Command in February, with the NGF chairman declaring that the only condition for peace in the state would be the redeployment of Mbu, who was accused of taking sides and described as a politician.

    The Senate and the House of Representatives, in separate resolutions, before they proceeded on recess, also called for the immediate redeployment of the police commissioner, but the IGP later stated that Mbu had been told to be a professional police officer and would remain in Rivers state.

    However, a civil society group has appealed to the National Council of State (NCS) to intervene and end what it described as “the reign of terror being orchestrated in Rivers State by Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu who is playing power politics in the state while neglecting his police duties and the crime rate is escalating.”

    The group, Coalition of Concerned Citizens, Indigenes and Non-Indigenes Residents In Rivers State (CCCINRRS) decried the police blundering in the state, accusing Mbu of a plethora of derelictions while cozying up with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) politicians in the state in a comedy of the absurd which residents of the state do not find funny at all.

    It urged the National Council of State to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan to call Mbu to order because the state police chief’s professional non-performance “is a disgrace to our national psyche.”

  • Rivers crisis: Labour to I-G: sack CP Mbu now or face strike

    Rivers crisis: Labour to I-G: sack CP Mbu now or face strike

    The face-off between the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, deepened yesterday with the organised labour giving the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, and the Police Service Commission (PSC) 21-day ultimatum to redeploy Mbu or face an indefinite strike.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers State chapters, asked the IGP and the police commissioner to tender unreserved apology for using teargas to chase away 13,000 newly-employed teachers who were at the Liberation Stadium on Wednesday to collect their posting letters.

    The organised labour also described the actions and inactions of Mbu as invitation to anarchy in Rivers State, insisting that the police commissioner must be redeployed forthwith to avert imminent industrial disharmony in Rivers State.

    The Rivers Chairman of the NLC, Chief Chris Oruge, and his counterpart of the TUC, Chika Onuegbu, at a joint news conference yesterday at the NLC Secretariat, D-Line, Port Harcourt, declared that the issues raised by the organised labour must be addressed expeditiously, declaring that they were not afraid of blackmail.

    The Rivers Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, however, stated that asking 13,000 teachers to collect posting letters at the stadium was unwise and mischievous.

    The Rivers Integrity Group, through its Coordinator, Joseph Peter Chukwu, asked Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), to stop deceiving Rivers people with the “so-called” teaching employment by the state Ministry of Education.

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), through its President, Yinka Gbadebo, after yesterday’s Senate meeting of the association at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), also asked the Rivers governor to leave Nigerian students alone and not drag them into the political crisis.

    Amaechi and Mbu had been at loggerheads since the police commissioner’s redeployment from the Oyo State Command in February, with the NGF chairman declaring that the only condition for peace in the state would be the redeployment of Mbu who was accused of taking sides and described as a politician.

    The Senate and the House of Representatives, in separate resolutions, before they proceeded on recess, also called for the immediate redeployment of the Rivers police commissioner, but the IGP later stated that Mbu was a professional police officer and would remain in Rivers State.

    The police commissioner, on Thursday in Port Harcourt, declared that he would always abort gatherings without police permit, alleging that the 13,000 newly-employed teachers were “touts and miscreants,” hired by Amaechi to protest against President Goodluck Jonathan and that they were 18,000 youths with anti-Jonathan placards.

    The NGF chairman, however, accused Mbu of fabricating lies to justify his nefarious actions, describing the police commissioner as a pathological liar and urged Rivers people not to be distracted by Mbu’s many deafening lies.

    On the allegation of being bribed by Amaechi to discredit Mbu and embark on strike, the NLC chairman stated that people had the right to say whatever they liked, but they must crosscheck the facts.

    Oruge stressed that if he and Onuegbu did not serve the Rivers workers very well, they would not have been re-elected, while noting that with the three-day warning strike, the workers of Obio/Akpor LG council were paid their April salaries, but had not been paid again since then, which he described as sad and unacceptable, adding: “We are ready for the real fight.”

    TUC chairman declared that if the organised labour refused to kick, it would get to a point that persons who wanted to collect their salaries from banks, marry, hold family meetings or have church services, among others, would need to obtain permits from the police commissioner.

    The Rivers PDP chairman, in his online statement, titled: ‘The Cynical Antics of Governor Amaechi,’ claimed that the police acted at the stadium to prevent an imminent breakdown of law and order.

    Obuah said: “The decision to gather 13,000 persons in one place, for the purpose of collecting letters of employment is unwise, mischievous and a deliberate attempt to orchestrate a breakdown of law and order with the sole aim of vilifying the Rivers State Police Command for failure to prevent the breakdown of law and order.”

    The Rivers PDP chairman claimed that the police commissioner was “clearly” right to see through the absurdity of the exercise and stop it, stressing that Mbu prevented the unwarranted loss of limbs and lives which Amaechi and his “cronies deliberately and wickedly” designed to cause.

    The Rivers Integrity Group also “unequivocally” condemned Amaechi’s “deceptive” design to lure the teeming unemployed people, whom it claimed were deliberately frustrated by bad governance, to protest against President Jonathan.

    The group claimed that Amaechi’s actions had continually created an atmosphere of disorder and insecurity, giving the impression that the police in the state were incompetent.

  • 2015: Amaechi blasts Rivers monarch over Wike

    2015: Amaechi blasts Rivers monarch over Wike

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has stated that he is not disturbed by the support of the traditional ruler of Ogbaland, Eze Chukwumela Nnam Obi II, for the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike ahead of the 2015 general election in the state.

    Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), described the monarch as a traditional ruler who has lost his place of pride in the state and as such has little or no support to offer anybody.

    He added that the New Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, had come to stay in the state. He, however, expressed shock that the politics of the state has left the realm of ideas to that of mudslinging.

    He maintained that he would not resign as governor and would not pack out of the Government House in Port Harcourt, as suggested by Wike and his co-travellers, in view of his impressive performance.

    Amaechi insisted that Wike needed help and should be ignored, stressing that the Minister of State for Education and his confused supporters were exhibiting frustration.

    “They would continue to be haunted by the law of retributive judgment, having benefitted immensely from our government,” he said.

    The Oba of Ogbaland had while receiving Wike and members of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), in his palace at Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, stated that the state was becoming a mockery and had never been so since after the civil war.

    The monarch said President Goodluck Jonathan must be respected.

    “Those who will develop Rivers State are here (in his palace). We have been left undeveloped and our people are left to roam as sheep without shepherd. You are the ones to develop Rivers State.

    “Those who are fighting and quarrelling cannot develop Rivers State and its people. Leaders must be humble and upright and be servant leaders. They must come down to serve the people. A leader is never above his people. We have never danced naked like this in Rivers State.

    “President Jonathan is the symbol of the unity of Nigeria. Nigeria must be one. Those who say otherwise must die,” the monarch reportedly said.

    Amaechi, through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, said the monarch should be ignored, considering the many people-oriented and capital-intensive projects by the administration across the state’s 23 LGAs.

    “The Oba of Ogbaland has long lost his face, even in his kingdom. We respect elders, but the Oba of Ogbaland has lost the integrity to speak or advise Governor Amaechi. We do not reckon with him.” He added that Wike rather than focus on how to end the nationwide strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), is gallivanting all over the state for his 2015 governorship campaign, pretending to be mobilising support for the President.

     

  • Rivers crisis: Police harass 500 youths on tour with Amaechi

    Rivers crisis: Police harass 500 youths on tour with Amaechi

    Policemen yesterday harassed about 500 youths on tour of projects with Rivers State Governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi.

    The harassment of the youths aged between 14 and 21 occurred barely one week after policemen prevented Amaechi and visiting former speakers of Houses of Assembly in Nigeria from accessing the Government House, Port Harcourt through the Forces Avenue on September 12, after the inauguration of the New PDP secretariat on the GRA avenue, near the Government House.

    The leader of the touring group, Virginia Major, a past youth President of the Rotary Club, said Governor Amaechi had announced at an event at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) on Thursday that he would be taking the youths on a tour of his administration’s projects the following day.

    Major, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Host Organising Committee of the Rotary Young Future Leadership Awards, an annual event by Rotary worldwide to bring together youths identified as potential leaders, disclosed that the youths had gathered at the RSUST campus preparatory to moving to the Government House.

    The group leader said: “Policemen came to RSUST and forced us to give an undertaking that there would be no problem during the tour of projects. I assured them that there would be no problem.

    “But in spite of the assurance, three police vans loaded with armed policemen were detailed to follow us everywhere we went with the Rivers governor.

    “The policemen alleged that the youths were planning to protest in Port Harcourt over the ongoing strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), but we told them that there was nothing like that.”

    A source, who asked not to be named, said the youths had gathered at the campus of RSUST to cook the food they would eat before embarking on the tour while the policemen waited in their vans outside the premises.

    The source added that Amaechi was not with the youths when they initially gathered at RSUST, but the policemen followed the youths as they were moving to the Government House to join the governor for the tour of projects.

    The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, expressed shock over the development.

    Semenitari said: “Rotary District 9140 held its Youth Leadership Award at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology in Port Harcourt. Over 500 teenagers and young persons attended the annual event, which had Rivers Governor as special guest of honour and keynote speaker.

    “The governor invited them to undertake a tour of Port Harcourt and see some of the projects. But in the morning of Friday, September 20, as the young people were preparing to leave the campus, they were stopped by the police.

    “The DPO (Divisional Police Officer) said they heard reports that the youths were mobilising to protest against the President (Goodluck Jonathan). The organisers explained that this was not the case, but the police asked why they had so many buses taking them out.

    “The organisers were made to sign a statement, promising that they were not mobilising the children for a protest. The police asked them not to clap, sing or protest.”

    In a terse reaction to the development yesterday, Governor Amaechi asked sarcastically: “Even if the youths indeed wanted to protest, would they have done that in a rotary T-shirt?”

    While the Chief Felix Obuah-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers state urged Nigerian students to be wary of the Rivers government’s plan to engage them to protest against President Goodluck Jonathan, the Chief Godspower Ake-led PDP, through its Publicity Secretary, George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, said political jobbers would stop at nothing to scuttle the peace efforts in the state.

  • Nigeria’s economy shaky, says Amaechi

    Nigeria’s economy shaky, says Amaechi

    Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has disagreed with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Delta State Governor Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan over the state of the economy and Southsouth’s support for President Goodluck Jonathan.

    In Amaechi’s view, the economy is battling to survive, contrary to the rosy picture being painted by the minister.

    According to him, the Federal Government is yet to pay fully the Rivers State allocation for July.

    Amaechi spoke at a programme organised by the Rotary International, District 9140 for young future leaders at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, yesterday.

    On Governor Uduaghan’s remarks that opposition to President Jonathan should not come from the Southsouth, Amaechi said he considered Nigeria’s national interest far and above any other (regional) interest.

    He challenged youths to become interested in governance and demand responses from those in government.

    The governor, who is also the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Chairman, bemoaned the fact that those fighting a just cause were being maligned on the altar of public criticism, adding that Nigerians do not ask relevant questions.

    “When you are principled in Nigeria and you stand on your principles, what do they call you? “Stubborn”, the audience chorused. “They expect you to compromise at a point but when you refuse to compromise, you are a very stubborn man”.

    “We(NGF) asked the Minister of Finance to resign if she is not able to manage the economy and she replied that ‘I dey kampe’. As at now, we are yet to receive complete, the federation allocation for July. How strong is an economy that cannot fund its statutory state government federal allocation? Our entitlement as Rivers State Government in July was N19 billion, they have paid us only N14 billion, you get the point? Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published receipt of N1.05 trillion in July, so why do they say that there is no money? If we receive N1.05 trillion by July, why are they saying there is no money”? , he queried.

    “Now, why am I saying this to you? I am saying it because as potential leaders, you must learn to ask questions. If you think that the youth spur me, you don’t, you don’t inspire me. Why don’t you inspire me? Because you are learning to be like us. Let me paint the image of us – corrupt, poor leadership, that’s what you are copying…”

    “We produce oil and we are one of the poorest nations in the world, are we not? Which nation would allow a Commissioner of Police like (Joseph) Mbu to continue to be Commissioner of Police other than in Nigeria? ‘Iraq, Syria’, the crowd chorused. “Maybe, Syria. So, you see our peers: Syria, Iraq, Pakistan. I am sharing experiences with you before I talk about the issue of leadership.”

    “Now, I read today’s newspapers and my friend (Governor Emmanuel) Uduaghan (of Delta State) says anybody who is from Southsouth should not oppose our President, should not have a different view from our president. Did you read it? I will reply him but let me start replying him from here. First, I am a Nigerian… The reason why you have Southsouth, Southwest, Southeast, South this, Northwest, North that, is because in Nigeria what you have in leadership is a wreck culture. I would have brought you a book titled ‘It’s our turn to eat’ in Kenya. In Nigeria, it should be what, ‘It’s our turn to chop’.

    “Now the reason why you have this South-West, South-East, North-West, North this, North that and all that is because you have a wreck culture where all we care about is how to share the till… So, South-South has shared for four years, how many of you have benefitted from the sharing for four years, raise your hand, how many of you, ‘none’, “ the crowd again chorused. “So none. How many of you passed through East-West road, how was the road”. “Bad”, they again chorused. “And our President is from South-South, so you see why I should support the President? “No ooo”, the crowd chorused again.

    “So, the basic rule is that none of us should oppose our President if you are from South-South, that is what the man(Uduaghan) tells us…”

    He urged the youths to arm themselves with education to revive Nigeria which is comatose, expressing sadness that the country’s poverty rate has risen to an unbearable level where many Nigerians hardly get enough to eat.

    “Now for you as young men and women, we present you a nation that is yearning for repair. For me, the nation does not only need repair, it requires change.”

    “In 1970, the poverty rate in Nigeria was 30 per cent. How many of you know the poverty rate now? I was in a meeting where I said it was 70%, the Minister of Finance said it was 68%. What’s the difference between 68 and 70? So, we are giving you a nation that is in the state of comatose, that’s what we are handing over to you.”

    “If it is a nation that is progressing, from 30% in 1970, we should be talking about 15% now. So you have work to do and the first step to that work is education”, Amaechi said.

  • Ex-Rivers PFN chairman defends Amaechi

    A former Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Rivers State, Apostle Eugene Ogu, has said there is nothing wrong in the rumoured vice presidential ambition of Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    He slammed those castigating the governor, wondering why it was right for Jonathan to seek re-election and Amaechi victimised for allegedly exercising his right to contest.

    Ogu, who is founder of Abundant Life Evangelic Mission, traced the crisis rocking Rivers and the ceding of the state’s oil wells to Bayelsa State to the rumoured ambition.

    He said: “What is the problem? We read in the newspaper that Amaechi wants to be VP and he said it is not true. Why not wait and see what he wants to do first?”

  • Amaechi dares Wike to open up on how 2011 poll was won

    Amaechi dares Wike to open up on how 2011 poll was won

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, has dared Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike, to open up on how the 2011 governorship election was won and lost in the the state.

    Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), yesterday in Port Harcourt, declared that Wike must show gratitude, since he brought him up politically.

    The minister of state for education reiterated that Amaechi became governor through the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment of October 25, 2007, while insisting that he knew how the re-election was won and lost in 2011, maintaining that party structure could not be bought.

    Wike on Sunday at Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Council, during the inauguration of the council and wards executives of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), declared that he knew how the Rivers governor was re-elected in 2011.

    But Amaechi, through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, said: “The minister of state for education ought to respect his office. I sympathise with those following him (Wike) about. He is using them to solidify his position in the Federal Executive Council FEC).

    “Wike abusing and attacking Governor Amaechi is to get support and earn sympathy of President Jonathan, because of the perceived disagreement between the President and Governor Amaechi.

    “Governor Amaechi cannot pack and go, because he is performing excellently.

    “Let Wike talk about how Amaechi did not win 2011 governorship election. Let him tell Nigerians how the election was won and lost.