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Tag: Amaechi

  • Why our expulsion cannot stand, by Amaechi’s loyalists

    Why our expulsion cannot stand, by Amaechi’s loyalists

    oyalists of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and functionaries of the state government have dismissed their expulsion from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Rivers PDP chairman Felix Obuah on Monday announced the expulsion of 18 members, most of them officials of the state government and a former Deputy national chairman of the party for failing to appear before a performance-assessment panel to defend their stewardship. Amaechi himself is currently on suspension by the party.

    Those expelled include: Secretary to the State Government (SSG), George Feyii; the Chief of Staff, Chief Tony Okocha; a former Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Sam-Jaja; and the Administrator of the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority (GPHCDA), Mrs. Aleruchi Cookey-Gam.

    The expelled commissioners are Victor Giadom (Works), Augustine Wokocha (Power), Worgu Boms (Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice), Joe Poroma (Social Welfare and Rehabilitation), Ezemonye Ezekiel Amadi (Lands and Survey), Fred Igwe (Sports), Emmanuel Chinda (Agriculture), Joeba West (Women Affairs), Patricia Simon Hart (Water Resources and Rural Development), Okey Amadi (Energy), Charles Okaye (Chieftaincy Affairs), Dr. Nnabuihe Imegwu (Culture and Tourism), Ibim Semenitari (Information and Communications) and Samuel Eyiba (Local Government).

    Giadom, said only the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP could expel public officers.

    He said Obuah and his associates did not understand the importance of party politics.

    “They need to go back and understand that the calibre of people they claimed to have expelled from the PDP will enable PDP succeed in this state.

    “The constitution is clear on public officers. It is only the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party that can decide my fate.

    “I will not even believe what they have done. I will sleep well. I will not even remember that they have done anything, because I know it will not see the light of the day.

    “You do not expect something that is opposite the law to survive. Our expulsion will start and end at Aba Road (Rivers PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt).

    A PDP chieftain, Adokiye Oruwari, who is a lawyer said the leadership of the ruling party had not been communicating with its members.

    Oruwari noted that the expelled eminent persons could have either been reached by phone or in writing.

    A former member of the House of Representatives, Lasbry Amadi, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to quickly intervene in the deepening crisis.

    Amadi said: “I look at a lot of things happening in this party (PDP) as arrant nonsense. One can always say that this is an acculturation. Something that you borrow and begin to learn. A culture where things are said, actions are taken, without people thinking about the imminent result.

    “It is a very big surprise. It is something that is completely condemnable. The PDP had a serious issue bigger than this, especially when I was in the National Assembly. What I am seeing today is completely different.

    “A situation where this Rivers state continues to give the highest vote to the PDP and today, the party is treating the state in this manner. I do not really know whose interest anybody is serving.

    Counsel to Amaechi and the 27 members of the House of Assembly loyal to him (Amaechi) in the on-going political legal battles, Emenike Ebete, dismissed the expulsion as unconstitutional, null and void.

    Ebete told our reporter in an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt that the case between Amaechi and the Evaluation and Performance committee is before a state High court in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice Silverlyn Iragunuma , prior to the announcement of the purported expulsion and suspension of the members.

    He said the court had already granted Amaechi the leave sought to serve all processes of his ex parte application on the PDP national secretariat by registered post while that of the state PDP should be served by pasting.

    Ebete explained that the suit before Justice Iragunuma, (a vacation court), was the same suit in which the governor, members of the National Assembly from the state, 27 members of the state Assembly, and Council chairmen are seeking an injunction to stop the Evaluation committee from assessing them.

    Justice Godspower Aguma on August 21, dismissed the application based on the preliminary objection by the defendants that the court lacks jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of the party.

    Aguma held that “once a public officer is elected and sworn the oath of office, he/she no longer represents the interests of the party or any platform in which he was elected but the people, and as a result it becomes the responsibility of the people to evaluate his/her performances and not the party.”

    The PDP, the nation learnt, has appealed the decision of the court, while Amaechi refilled the suit before the vacation court.

    He expressed the hope that when the suit is heard, the errors would be corrected and the expulsion and suspension would be set aside, and those affected re-integrated.

    “Assuming that they people they purported to have expelled and suspended actually did contravene the party constitution, does the evaluation committee have the right to carry out any actions against these persons?

    Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly Leyii Kwanee called for the intervention of the party’s national secretariat in the expulsion of the 18 members. Kwanee said this became imperative owing to the manner the party is being destroyed in the state.

    The deputy speaker said “what is happening in the state is a grand design by the opposition party, which has used its top notchers to infiltrate the PDP and incapacitate it.”

    To buttress his point, he cited instances of Dr.Abiye Sekibo and Jerry Needam who hitherto were in Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and were strong critics of PDP but now deciding and speaking for the PDP.

     

     

     

  • PDP expels Amaechi’s SSG, 14 commissioners, others

    PDP expels Amaechi’s SSG, 14 commissioners, others

    Chief of Staff: action illegal

    The crisis in the Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deepened yesterday, ahead of Saturday’s mini convention of the ruling party.

    The party’s state executive expelled 18 associates of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who has been suspended by the party.

    Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan have been at loggerheads, with Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike leading the anti-Amaechi group in the Rivers PDP.

    Among those expelled is the immediate past Deputy National Chairman, Chief Sam Sam Jaja.

    They were expelled for “failure” to appear before the Osinakachukwu Ideozu-led Committee on Performance Assessment of Political Office Holders, elected and appointed, on the ticket of the PDP in Rivers State, which was set up by party Chairman Felix Obuah.

    Also expelled are: Secretary to the State Government (SSG) George Feyii; Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Tony Okocha and the Administrator of the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority (GPHCDA), Mrs. Aleruchi Cookey-Gam.

    The expelled commissioners are Victor Giadom (Works), Augustine Wokocha (Power), Worgu Boms (Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice), Joe Poroma (Social Welfare and Rehabilitation), Ezemonye Ezekiel Amadi (Lands and Survey), Fred Igwe (Sports), Emmanuel Chinda (Agriculture), Joeba West (Women Affairs), Patricia Simon Hart (Water Resources and Rural Development), Okey Amadi (Energy), Charles Okaye (Chieftaincy Affairs), Dr. Nnabuihe Imegwu (Culture and Tourism), Ibim Semenitari (Information and Communications) and Samuel Eyiba (Local Government).

    The Rivers PDP also alleged a plot by the governor to scuttle the party’s August 31 special national convention in Abuja through a court injunction.

    Okocha, however, said the Obuah-led PDP had no power to expel him and other associates of Amaechi. He described as untrue, the allegation that the governor was planning to scuttle the party’s national convention.

    Sources said the decision was to prevent the expelled persons from attending Saturday’s special national convention.

    But Obuah told reporters in Port Harcourt that the 18 Amaechi associates were expelled for failing to submit themselves before the party’s performance evaluation committee.

    The Rivers PDP chairman noted that the party, acting on the recommendations of its disciplinary and the performance evaluation committee, decided to punish the 18 to serve as a deterrent to others.

    Obuah said: “The refusal of the 18 affected persons to send in written reports of their stewardship, if they were not chanced to put up appearance, despite the well-publicised sitting arrangements of the committee is considered as an affront, insubordination and lack of respect for constituted authority.

    “The committee duly notified all concerned and was willing to accept any written report from such persons where necessary but did not receive any supervening circumstance that made it impossible for any of them to honour the invitation.

    “We had no choice but to show them the way out of the party, because we cannot continue to operate in this disorderly manner, being a serious and disciplined political party.”

    The chairman also said the PDP members who did not appear before the committee escaped the sanction because they reached both the party’s leadership and the committee, but most importantly, sent in documentation of their performances, which he said the committee accepted as satisfactory.

    The Chief of Staff, however, said: “The PDP does not have such powers to expel me or any member of the state executive council. The matter involving Felix Obuah’s executive is in court. So, it is subjudice.

    “We challenge them to publish the names of the eight commissioners who they said wrote to them, why they could not attend the invitation of the so-called performance evaluation committee and which yardstick.

    “What they are planning is to use fake delegates to the sub-convention of the PDP that is coming up this weekend. The thing to ask is, why is PDP fighting PDP? A house divided against itself cannot stand. The whole thing looks like people who are ignorant.

    “The matter is in court and we are not perturbed. Who are those they said they wrote letters inviting them to appear before a committee? Let them also show us the letters they claimed to have sent out.

    “We all know that the PDP in the state has two factions: the original one led by Chief Godspower Ake and Felix Obuah’s.”

    Okocha also stated that those alleging that Amaechi and some prominent Nigerians were floating a new political party must be soothsayers.

    The chief of staff stressed Amaechi had said he is still a member of the PDP, but declared that if he is suffocated in PDP, he would leave.

    On the claim by Rivers PDP that Amaechi and the Rivers Chief Judge, Justice Peter Agumagu, were plotting to get a court injunction to prevent the state’s delegates from attending the convention and to stop the convention in Abuja from holding, Okocha noted that anybody who knew Amaechi would confirm that he would never engage in “a fight of fools”.

    Okocha went on: “There is no plan by Governor Amaechi to seek a court injunction to stop the PDP’s convention. Why it is that the party is trying to reduce the number of the state’s delegates, when others are thinking of increasing.

    “We expect the party to act wisely by respecting the matter in the Appeal Court.”

    The Obuah-led PDP also stated that it had uncovered a “subterranean move” by Amaechi and the newly-appointed Acting Chief Judge of Rivers state, Justice Peter Agumagu, to prevent the state’s delegates from participating in the convention.

  • Amaechi vows to rescue abducted lecturer

    Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi has assured students of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Port Harcourt that one of their lecturers, who was abducted two weeks ago, will be rescued soon.

    Addressing the protesting students of the school, who came to the Government House, Port Harcourt at the weekend, Amaechi said security agencies had begun efforts to rescue her from captivity.

    Speaking through his Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, the governor lamented that the abduction of the lecturer, Beauty Frank Daminabo, was capable of instilling fear into the students.

    He pleaded for their understanding.

    Said he: “When you start kidnapping the few lecturers they have, who will take care of them?”

    The Principal of the School of Nursing, Rumueme, Port Harcourt, Florence Manda, told reporters that “this is not the first time the school will experience such an ugly incident,” as one of the students died early this year in the hands of her abductors.

    Manda said: “The first victim died in the hands of her abductors following a slow response by the authorities. Now another one is about to happen. We want the government to help us intensify efforts to locate her and release her.”

     

  • ‘Wike can’t give Amaechi conditions’

    A group, the Rivers Peoples Forum (RPF), has dismissed as laughable and ridiculous, reports that the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, has said for peace to return to Rivers State, the suspended Obio-Akpor Local Government chairman and councillors must be recalled.

    The group, in a statement by its president, Charles Bekwele, said Wike cannot give anyone conditions and insisted on its earlier call that he must be arrested and prosecuted for threatening the peace and people of the state.

    “It is sad, very sad and unfortunate that Wike, who has been certified to be a danger to democracy, who has threatened the peace and people of Rivers State, is still being allowed to roam the streets and make inciting statements.

    “Who does he (Wike) think he is to say the suspended Obio-Akpor Council executive must be recalled for peace to return to Rivers State?

    “For crying out loud, these people were suspended for a monumental fraud and a serving minister is saying they should be recalled just like that, without any investigation!

    “This clearly shows the world the kind of character Wike is. It shows that he loves and enjoys corruption, and even thrives in it,” the statement said.

    Continuing, RPF lambasted Wike for denying that he didn’t threaten the peace and people of the state and reiterated its call for the arrest and prosecution of the minister.

    The group said Wike is already campaigning to become the governor of Rivers State, adding that it is too late for him to deny this.

    “Wike threatened the peace and people of Rivers State. He said the state would be uncomfortable, ungovernable. It is on record, on tape, the video is on the Internet and many newspapers reported it. He cannot try to twist it now. Wike must be arrested and tried for threatening the peace and people of Rivers State. The Inspector-General of Police must act now. This man should not be allowed to roam the streets and make more inciting comments.”

  • Rivers crisis: Wike gives condition for peace with Amaechi

    Rivers crisis: Wike gives condition for peace with Amaechi

    •Suspended council chairman, councillors must be recalled, he insists

    •Denies Rivers govt claim of heating up polity

    •Says ‘We can’t force ASUU to go back to work’

    The suspended chairman and councillors of Obio/Akpor Local Government in Rivers State must be recalled for peace to return to the state, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, said yesterday.

    The minister, who is the arrowhead of the opposition to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, hails from the local government area.

    Speaking to reporters yesterday in Port Harcourt after appearing before the Performance Assessment Committee set up by the Felix Obuah faction of the PDP to evaluate public office appointees and elected officials from the state, he denied heating up the political temperature of the state as alleged by the state government.

    The government had accused him of violating the ban on campaign for the 2015 elections by circulating his posters for the governorship race.

    The Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, said that contrary to the minister’s denial, he (Wike) and his supporters were the brains behind the circulation of the posters.

    However, Wike, reacting to the allegation, said: “I was told that my posters are everywhere. These are politicians. They will just wake up one early morning and try to be mischievous. Do not bother yourself. We know their antics. We know this game. People just do what they like.

    “One of them was even defending it this (yesterday) morning that I was the one who put the posters. As a good politician, does it make sense? I am a minister and I will be pasting my posters. Does it make sense? You can see that people are very mischievous, just to find one thing or the other to say.

    “What utterances have I made that are heating up the polity? I said those who want to destroy Obio/Akpor LGA, they will not sleep. If you want to destroy my house, will I allow you to sleep?

    “Those who are accusing me of not doing my work, are they those who appointed me? Has Mr. President said I am not doing my work? I do my work. From Monday to Friday, I am in Abuja. Then Friday, I come back home to see my people. What is wrong with that?

    “For me is that PDP must go from strength to strength. We do not want PDP to lose any election. Nobody will take us by surprise. I am doing my work. Mr. President knows that. There is nothing you will do that people will not criticise. If you are quiet, they will say why is he quiet? If you are not quiet, they will say why is he talking too much?”

    He also denied that he will be leading the state’s delegation to this weekend’s mini convention of the party in Abuja in the absence of the governor who is currently on suspension by the PDP.

    “In my local government (Obio/Akpor), I know who the delegates are. I do not know the delegates from other LGAs. It is only the party chairman who can ascertain who are the delegates.

    “Except those who are automatic delegates, like the governor, who is a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT), senators, House of Representatives members, party chairmen, assembly members. 27 (of 32 loyal to Amaechi) Rivers House of Assembly members have been suspended and will not be able to participate.

    “Since they have been suspended from the party, they cannot take part in the activities of the party, until their suspension is lifted. It has nothing to do with me. Me leading the delegation is neither here nor there.”

    On ASUU strike, Wike said: “Am I not part of the negotiating team? My comment is what the Federal Government has done. We are pleading with ASUU members to go back to the classroom, with the N130 billion the Federal Government has released. Let us start from there and let them go back to the classroom.

    “I do not know what you mean by force. Nothing can be enough. We are appealing to them (ASUU members). The Federal Government has done something. In the interest of our children and in the interest of our nation, they should go back to the classroom. Nothing like force. We cannot force anybody.”

    Sources indicated that the performance assessment was to prevent the associates of the NGF chairman from attending the party’s special national convention in Abuja on August 31, as they would be suspended before the convention.

    The Rivers Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, ministers, senators; members of the House of Representatives, commissioners, five members of the Rivers Assembly loyal to Wike, LG chairmen, among others were invited by the committee for the three-day assessment, which commenced on Thursday, but Amaechi’s loyalists refused to appear.

    The minister of state for education, while commenting on what transpired between him and members of the Rivers PDP’s Performance Assessment Committee also stated that nobody forced him to appear, but he was invited by the party, while describing the interaction as normal.

    Wike added: “They asked me, as a minister, what have I done for the PDP? I told them I am a minister, through the approval of Mr. President (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan), most of the PDP members today can say that they are members of federal boards. Not less than 15 of our people are members of federal boards, which is part of serving the country and people are happy.”

  • PDP panel to reconcile Jonathan, Amaechi

    PDP panel to reconcile Jonathan, Amaechi

    Determined to resolve the crisis of confidence between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors have decided to raise a three-man reconciliation committee.

    The committee, which will be under the watch of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, may be constituted within the PDP Governors Forum, it was learnt yesterday.

    But the governors have asked President Jonathan to checkmate the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, and demanded a probe of his activities.

    The decisions of the governors were communicated to the President last Friday by the Chairman of the Forum, Obong Godswill Akpabio.

    According to a governor, who pleaded not to be named, PDP governors are eager to reconcile the President and Amaechi as part of steps to put the party in good stead for 2015.

    The source said: “Actually, there was a meeting of PDP governors as a fall-out of a meeting with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr. President called a meeting with Akpabio and said we should harmonise the outcome of the meetings with Obasanjo.

    “We summoned the meeting of PDP governors to consider reconciliation and how to move forward.

    “Some of the governors mentioned the resolution of the crisis in Rivers as central to the reunification of the party and insisted that a reconciliation committee be set up.

    “We decided to raise another three-man committee to reconcile Mr. President and the Rivers State governor. We agreed that the new committee should not be part of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson’s Reconciliation Committee.

    “We also reached a consensus that National Chairman Bamanga Tukur should make no input in the constitution of the panel. But we said the committee should be under the watch of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.”

    Asked when the reconciliation committee will take off, the governor said: “I think by Friday, August 23rd, we should be able to constitute it. It may be an intra-PDP Governors Forum committee.”

    The source also highlighted other issues tabled before the President. They include complaints against Wike, why Tukur should remain in office as the National Chairman and 2015 polls.

    The source added: “Some of the governors said Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike should be checkmated and warned by the President because he is taking the Rivers crisis too far against the Chief Security Officer of the state, who is Amaechi.”

    They said the President should ask relevant agencies to revisit how some governors were stoned during a solidarity visit to Rivers State by Wike’s supporters.

    Adamawa State Governors Murtala Nyako was said to have come up with some allegations against Wike and asked that the President be notified of the minister’s activities.

    On the fate of Tukur, the source said although some governors raised issues against the national chairman, most did not want him removed.

    The source said: “Some of the governors said the alleged high-handedness of Tukur should be curtailed. They complained of not being carried along on party matters.

    “In spite of the fact that at the tail end of the meeting, emotions rose on Tukur’s leadership style, majority of the governors said he should not be removed.”

    The source also said the governors agreed that “2015 poll is around the corner and Rivers State is vital to PDP.

    “They said PDP should not lose 2.3million votes from Rivers to the ongoing crisis.”

    Another governor confirmed that early last Friday, Akpabio met with Mr. President on the decisions of the governors.

    The source added: “Akpabio tabled all the decisions of the PDP governors to the President, who promised to look into all the issues, including observations on Wike.

    “Akpabio, who is presently in the United States, is expected to meet with the President again on August 20.”

    But it was learnt that Akpabio had also been reaching out to Amaechi and Wike.

    The source said: “In the last three weeks, Akpabio has spoken four times with Amaechi. He is trying to see how reconciliation can be effected between the President and the governor.

    “Akpabio has tried to call Wike to order to restore peace to Rivers State.”

  • Amaechi swears in acting chief judge

    Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has sworn in the President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Peter N. C. Agumagu, as the acting chief judge.

    Justice Agumagu, a senior judge in the state, was sworn in as the CJ at a brief ceremony by the governor.

    He was sworn in after the former Chief Judge, Justice Iche Ndu, retired.

    A statement from the Government House said Justice Agumagu was sworn in yesterday at the Council Chambers, Government House, Port Harcourt.

    Governor Amaechi said the acting chief judge shall hold the office pending the approval by the National Assembly of the candidate recommended as chief judge by the National Judicial Commission (NJC).

  • Amaechi rejects judgment restraining commission of inquiry

    The Rivers State Government is taking steps to appeal Friday’s judgment which restrains from further sitting, the members of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the July 9 and 10 crises in the Rivers House of Assembly.

    The Rotimi Amaechi’s administration also rejected the judgment outright, declaring that it was not well reasoned.

    The presiding judge, Justice Iyaye Lamikanra, of the Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt, described the Justice Biobele Georgewill-led commission as illegal and unconstitutional, ordering it to stop sitting forthwith.

    One of the five anti-Amaechi lawmakers, Victor Ihunwo, who represents Port Harcourt III Constituency, instituted the suit, stating that the executive had no right to dabble in the affairs of the legislature, under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Ihunwo described Amaechi as an interested party, with his presence in the hallowed chambers of the Rivers House of Assembly on July 9, and could not be a judge in his own case, while alleging that some members of the commission were the governor’s loyalists and relatives.

    Ihunwo’s counsel, Dike Udenna, also stated that by the doctrine of separation of powers, the legislative arm of government is different and distinct from the executive arm, while the executive could not set up any inquiry to investigate the internal workings of the legislature.

    The commission’s lawyer, Olusola Dare, on Friday, said his clients accepted the judgment “for now,” but would further consult his clients.

    The Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, in an online statement yesterday, on behalf of the Rivers State Government, declared that the Lamikanra’s judgment would not stand.

  • NGF crisis: Amaechi, Jang renew battle

    NGF crisis: Amaechi, Jang renew battle

    •Rivers Gov asks members to shun rival’s meeting today
    •Five northern govs back Amaechi

     

    A fresh muscle-flexing has ensued between the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State over the leadership of the group.

    Although Jang, whose claim to the NGF chair is disputed by 18 of the 36 governors, sparked the fire on Friday after inviting all the governors to a meeting of his faction of the Forum, Amaechi stoked it yesterday.

    He asked his colleagues to ignore Jang’s invitation.

    He said Jang remains an impostor and cannot convene the meeting slated for today.

    There were indications yesterday that the five Northern governors who are trying to salvage the nation’s democracy had joined Amaechi to dissuade their fellow Northern governors from attending the meeting.

    The Jang faction, backed by the Presidency, is determined to go ahead with the Abuja deliberation.

    The summoning of the meeting created fresh tension yesterday following suggestions that security agencies had been mobilised to provide security at the meeting.

    Some mobile policemen were sighted on guard at the Maitama, Abuja office of the Jang faction.

    More policemen and plaincloth security men are likely to be deployed at the venue today.

    It was gathered that some elements in the presidency encouraged Jang to convene the meeting as part of the moves to whittle down Amaechi’s alleged grip on the Forum.

    A source said: “The forces in the presidency backing Jang believe that this time around, they will be able to secure the confidence of the majority of the governors.

    “They are after a simple majority of 19 or 20. They have spent the last few weeks to lobby governors to see reasons why they must dump Amaechi.

    “You know, Jang had failed twice to earn the backing of more governors than the 16 following him. The anti-Amaechi forces want to use this third attempt to demonstrate that Jang is now in control of the NGF.”

    But to serve as bait for the governors, Jang in a notice claimed that the Forum would discuss input into the ongoing constitution amendment.

    The notice for the meeting reads: “The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau State has summoned an emergency meeting of members of the forum.

    “The meeting will be held on Sunday, August 11, 2013 at the NGF Secretariat, 2 Nana Close, off Erie Crescent, Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja at 7.30 PM.

    “The agenda for the meeting is: Constitution Amendment.”

    Amaechi and his supporters were invited to the meeting by Jang.

    It was learnt that the agenda would cover autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country, oil theft in the Niger Delta, local government financial autonomy that was killed by the Senate but endorsed by the House of Representatives and dwindling oil revenue which may affect revenue allocation to states and LGAs.

    Governor Amaechi, in a terse message last night, said: “I have not convened any emergency meeting. Again, I want Nigerians to know that Jang is an impostor, having tried to steal my victory. He was not elected by the majority of governors, who were in attendance during the election on May 24.

    “On what basis does he summon a meeting of the NGF? Nigerians should tell Jang to respect himself and desist from impersonating me.

    “I am already in touch with the National Assembly leadership on constitution amendment and at the appropriate time, we will take position on some of their recommendations.”

    Information available to The Nation at press time suggested that most members of the Progressive Governors Forum would boycott Jang’s session.

    Also, some governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by the five Northern governors trying to salvage the nation’s democracy, seem unlikely to attend today’s meeting.

    A governor from the North-West said: “Why will Jang call a meeting at a time some of our colleagues are trying to facilitate peace and reconciliation between President Goodluck Jonathan and Amaechi.

    “We have always suspected that some of our colleagues do not want this cold war between the President and Amaechi to end.

    “Is it in the interest of any Nigerian to heat up the polity again? This is why some of us are opposed to Jang’s leadership.

    “The last discussion the five Northern governors had with the President was that he would convene a meeting of the 36 governors to resolve the NGF crisis amicably.”

    One of the five governors, Admiral Murtala Nyako (Adamawa State), who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmed Sajoh, said he won’t attend Jang’s meeting.

    Nyako said: “As far as we are concerned, Jang cannot call a meeting of the NGF because he is not the chairman and there was no time that we elected him as such. That is our position.”

  • Wike wrong to aspire to succeed Amaechi, says Rep

    Wike wrong to aspire to succeed Amaechi, says Rep

    •‘He’s drowning man’, minister’s supporter replies

    THREE-term member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Chief Andrew Uchendu, said yesterday that it was wrong for the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike to aspire to succeed Governor Rotimi Amaechi in 2015.

    Uchendu (Emohua/Ikwerre Fed Constituency) in an interview also condemned the recent threat by Wike to make life more uncomfortable for the governor until he begged him (Wike).

    He described the minister as a rascal and an ingrate, who should not be taken seriously or allowed to succeed Amaechi since the two of them are from the same part of the state.

    However, an ally of Wike, Mr Samuel Nwanosike, dismissed Uchendu as a politically-drowning grandpa whose views on Rivers politics carry no weight.

    He said Uchendu should be the last person to talk about zoning, having ‘monopolised’ the seat he is currently occupying for the third term.

    But the Rep charged back, saying: “You can imagine the level of ignorance displayed by Wike and his foot soldiers. Don’t they know that legislators can go for as many times as possible?”

    “The allegations levelled against me are mere hearsay and untrue. All the roads have been completed.”

    However, Nwanosike said although Wike had not declared his intention to vie for the governorship, Uchendu should point to any section of the 1999 Constitution criminalising an ambition by any qualified person, including Wike, to be governor of his state.

    He said: “Chief Uchendu is the wrong person to talk about zoning of elective office, because he has not lived by example. If he did, why did he not relinquish the House of Representatives slot to Ikwerre LG, the way his predecessor, Appolos Amadi, did after one term in office?

    “Instead, Uchendu kept the office to himself for three solid terms. At that time, he saw nothing wrong with one man from one section of the constituency holding on to office for 12 years, to the exclusion of all others.

    “By jumping to the arena in order to please his master, Governor Amaechi, on Wike’s statement that he would make life uncomfortable for persons who want to destroy Obio/Akpor LG, Uchendu has merely admitted that he is one of those who want to destroy Obio/Akpor LG.

    “By that admission, does Uchendu expect the Obio/Akpor people to fold their arms and watch him and his collaborators destroy the LGA? Those who have no intention to destroy Obio/Akpor LG have nothing to worry about what the minister of state for education said.

    “Uchendu is a man who is looking for soft-landing, so that he can escape the wrath of the people of Emohua and Ikwerre LGAs, who he has cheated by poor representation in the House of Representatives for 12 years.

    “He should address the press on his record of achievements for 12 years and say which of the road projects given to him by the Amaechi government that he executed or failed to execute. Has he forgotten the Elibrada-Oduoha Road that he abandoned, after collecting so much money from his master, Chibuike Amaechi?”

    Uchendu said he has fixed all the roads in question.