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Tag: Rotimi Amaechi

  • Rivers lawmakers approve N4b agric loan

    Rivers lawmakers approve N4b agric loan

    Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA) yesterday approved Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s request for a N4 billion loan from Zenith Bank Plc.

    The loan is under the Federal Government/Central Bank (FGN/CBN) commercial agricultural credit scheme available to states.

    Before giving the approval, the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree read a letter from Amaechi requesting the lawmakers to give him approval to access the loan.

    In the March 5 letter, the governor said a similar loan, which the government obtained in 2012 from Zenith Bank under the same scheme, “was utilised for the establishment of fish farms at Buguma, Ubima, Opobo and Andoni.”

    Amaechi said the government had been diligent in repaying, adding that the last instalment would be repaid this month.

    He noted that the state had identified the need to invest and develop the agriculture sector for food security and employment.

    The governor added that this loan, to be “used for farm implements, input and tools for farmers”, would attract an interest rate of six percent per annum.

     

  • Come, let us reason together

    Come, let us reason together

    SIR: I hereby, appeal to all Nigerians to come and reason together. Let us reflect deeply on the various ethnic, religious or political crises that we have passed through as a nation from 1960 till date. The main actors have always been behind the scenes. The major foot soldiers and victims of these senseless crises have always been the poor Nigerian youth.

    I continue to be amazed that our reactions to the several challenges and issues we face as a country are consistently based on primordial sentiments of ethnicity and religious affiliations. Take the recent cases of Bugaje versus the Niger Delta; Sanusi versus Jonathan; Amaechi versus Jonathan and Oduahgate amidst many others. When are we going to stop being used by the political elites for their selfish purposes?

    We have had 14 Presidents/Heads of State – nine from the North, two from the South-East, two from the South-West and one from the South-South. Why are we so deeply and foolishly concerned about the particular ethnic origin of who becomes the President in 2015 instead of being more reflectively concerned about the candidate with the best visionary ideology on how to move the country forward?

    Why is the level of poverty so high in the North today despite the fact that nine of our Presidents/Heads of State are of northern origin? We are all agreed that one of the factors that fueled the Boko Haram crises is abject poverty in the North-east. Lest we forget, BH is also a creation of the political class!

    Why is there sustained poverty and infrastructural deficiencies in the South-south in the more than four years of a President from the region? Has the life of the average poor Niger Deltan fared better than before 2010 when compared to Nigerians from other regions?

    Lest we forget, the longest serving President (11 years) is from the South-west. The Nigerian economy is road-driven. Why were the Ilorin – Lagos (the main West-North route), Sagamu – Benin – Ore (the main West – East – South-South route) roads not completed under his presidency?

    How exactly have we, the Nigerian masses, fared better as Christians or Muslims under a Christian or Muslim President? Why can’t we deliver ourselves from our self-imposed socio-political delusions?

    When the elites meet and complain of their region being marginalized, they do not speak for us the masses being marginalized, but for the political elites who have lost out in the political control of our resources!

    Come to think of it: Which of the regions in Nigeria is not afflicted with poverty and infrastructural deficiencies? Which of the regions is free of poor roads, poorly – equipped schools and institutions, insufficient water supply or irregular power supply? Our problems are the same. Let us all work best to begin solving our problems by voting for the best President come 2015.

    The year 2015 is a defining moment for our nation. Let us reflect creatively on how to deliver Nigeria from the clutches of socio-political retrogression, poverty, infrastructural deficiencies and systemic corruption. Let us all agree to vote for a visionary leadership irrespective of whether the candidate is from the North, West, East or South-South. Let us all shed the toga of primordial attachments to ethnicity or religion, and embrace the collective destiny of a more prosperous Nigeria.

     

    • Akinlolu, Abdulazeez Adelaja,

    University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

     

  • Stone that the builders rejected …?

    Not too long ago, his governorship ticket got “K-leg”. Now, that leg has been straightened, and it is so strong and sturdy that it offered its former traducer a platform to stand on. Is it then a question of the stone that the builders rejected becoming the head cornerstone?

    O yes, you guessed right! It is the riveting story of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

    On the virtual eve of the 2007 election, All-mighty President Obasanjo and sole-controller of the All-mighty ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suddenly declared Amaechi who contested and won the Rivers PDP governorship ticket, stood disqualified. It was a classic from the PDP house of imposition. Hence, the infamous “e don get K-leg” quip.

    But thanks to the courts, impunity was vanquished, and the once-rejected Amaechi became the shining armour of an otherwise opaque PDP, with his good governorship performance. Of course too, the once-upon-a-time All-mighty president is now in decline. He is even threatened with irrelevance by his estranged godson and current president, Goodluck Jonathan.

    Now, Amaechi must have a grim sense of humour or was on a cynical demonstration of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” dictum — or both.

    Whatever it is, it is strange that the same Obasanjo who almost wilfully annulled Amaechi’s governorship right became the chief launcher of the latest of projects the Amaechi administration was delivering, even with the huge distraction of Mbu Joseph Mbu (whoever remembers him now?), Nyesom Wike and other Jonathan Rivers local political enforcers.

    Without any sense of irony, Baba, ever mortally scared of slipping into irrelevance, made himself available. What should be Jonathan’s as of right then became the happy chore of the Ebora Owu, as he strutted, commissioning one project after another.

    But the irony is not lost on any discerning mind. Back then, but with a wink, Obasanjo nearly torpedoed Ameachi’s hard-won ticket. Indeed, but for the courts that taught the polity a lesson in the futility of impunity, Amaechi’s “K-leg” would have stayed that way and, as Nigerians love to say, “nothing would happen!” But see the underdog of yore come to give the former thundering over-dog a rare platform in the sun, after his own godson had practically run him into a ditch?

    From Amaechi’s side, it is a study in resilience. A country should be governed by law. Even then, citizens themselves should wake up those laws — rudely if possible — whenever their powers were threatened by the powers-that-be. The beauty of Amaechi’s story is that he fought a good fight and crowned it with good service to his people.

    Lesson for Jonathan? Power is transient. After all, what people will remember you for is not how many high-profile sacks you pulled off or how good you were at political intrigues. Obasanjo was master of all those, but see how he craves attention now — even from mere boy, Amaechi.

    Jonathan must learn from Obasanjo and do his job meticulously. But so far, the signals are not too good. But perhaps if Saul turned to Paul, there is always hope of some Pauline conversion to good — is there?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Anti-Amaechi protest in Rivers

    Anti-Amaechi protest in Rivers

    Scores of youths marched on the streets of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, yesterday to protest against Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his administration.

    The protesters carried placards bearing messages, such as “Ameachi be bold to resign;” “Amaechi abuses court order;” “No CJ, No good governance;” “Amaechi stop insulting traditional rulers”; “Government House Assembly is illegal”; “Amaechi 2014 Budget is Fake” and Amaechi lied on Soku oil wells.”

    The protest caused a traffic snarl on UTC Junction-Azikiwe road and other adjoining roads for more than six hours, prompting motorists to seek alternative routes.

    Leader of the protesters Onari Awo Tariah said: “The choice of UTC Junction is deliberate and strategic because it is the terminal point of the administration’s multibillion monorail project.”

    Tariah apologised to motorists and residents of Port Harcourt for the inconveniences.

    “The temporary suffering is a delayed gratification for a better future,”he said.

    Tariah said the protesters would have stormed the Government House but chose the UTC Junction to draw attention to the monorail project.

     

  • PDP chieftains launch re-election campaign for Jonathan

    PDP chieftains launch re-election campaign for Jonathan

    •National chair mounts pressure on Amaechi, Kwankwaso, others to return

    Chieftains of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday in Minna expressed support for President Goodluck Jonathan in his re-election bid ,in what appeared to be a flagrant violation of the ban on campaign by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Speakers after speakers at the North Central Solidarity and Unity rally of the PDP led by the Senate President David Mark and the party’s national vice chairman, Yusuf Ayetogun, assured the President, of maximum support in the 2015 election.

    The national Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, made a fresh appeal to Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Ahmed Abdulfatah (Kwara) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), who dumped the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to the ruling party.

    “We are willing to welcome them back home and I can assure them that they will be treated equally. Please come back home,” the PDP chairman said.

    He saddled the Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum and Niger State governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu with the responsibility of bringing back the ex-PDP governors.

    He said: “if the Niger State governor, as the leader of the G7 and Jigawa State governor, can remain in the party, I call on Gov. Aliyu to ensure the return of the other five PDP governors who went to APC.

    “Gov. Aliyu saw the light at the end of the tunnel and stayed. Your job has not finished: go back and make sure your people (G5) see the light and get them to come back home to PDP.”

    But President Goodluck Jonathan saw the defectors as retrogressive politicians.

    He described the PDP as the only stable and democratic political party in Africa. He said: “PDP is the only party that has not changed its name, logos, slogan or colour. Some parties change colours at will, they are chameleons and cannot be trusted. PDP can be trusted, we have vision and mission. If you have a vision, you will not be changing slogans, logos and colour everyday. PDP is still the dominant party in Nigeria.

    “We still remain PDP, not like some parties that today, they are red party, tomorrow, they are green party, next time, they are blue party, they are chameleons and they cannot be trusted. PDP has its vision and mission, if you have a vision, you will not be changing name, slogan, logo and colour everyday.”

    He said that those who defected from the PDP were a problem when they were in the party.

    “Some people were founding members of PDP; they were in PDP for 14 years. They had been Ministers, Commissioners, Speakers, Governors and held various positions under the party, now they say they are decamping (sic) to another party because they say they need progress, that PDP is not good enough.

    “This means that when they were in PDP, they were retrogressive elements, it means they were a problem to us in the party. Now that they have left, we will progress more, now, PDP will move faster and bigger. It is a party that will take Nigeria to development.”

    Though the president said he was not in Minna to campaign, he predicted that come 2015, “PDP will regain, recover and reconstruct the states it had lost in 2011. For us in PDP, there is no shaking, in the North Central, there is no shaking; we will recover Kwara and Nasarawa States. We will regain, recover and reconstruct these states that we have lost in 2015.”

  • College of Education teachers protest against Wike

    College of Education teachers protest against Wike

    MEMBERS of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, on Friday trooped out to protest what they called the ‘maladministration’ of the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike.

    Taking a swipe at the minister for his performance in office so far, the union’s former National President, Comrade Remi Makinde, said it would have been logical if Wike holds the office of “Special Adviser to the President on Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s affairs” rather than be in an office that decides the future of all Nigerian students.

    During the protest, the lecturers expressed their anger over the ongoing strike which is now in its fourth month.

    The lecturers during the protest which was led by the chapter’s chairman, Dr. Samuel Akintunde, carried placards with different inscriptions such as “IPPIS is repugnant; Jonathan should respond to the cries of the masses; FG should safe education from drowning.”

    The protest was initially disrupted by men of the Nigerian Police led by Mr. Emmanuel Okoi, a Chief Superintendent of Police, who prevented the teachers from obstructing the free flow of vehicles along the Akure-Ondo-Ore-Lagos road.

    Explaining the rationale behind their agitation, Akintunde said the objective is to improve the academic standard of the students.

    The COEASU chairman noted that the Federal Government has been recalcitrant in addressing their grievances, stressing that the government has only met with the lecturers twice, adding that on these two occasions, it was different groups who represented the government on the dialogue table.

    He declared, “Our fight is about bringing up quality education in Nigeria. The Federal Government prefers dialoguing with university lecturers but neglect other stakeholders in the education sector.

    “We are saying that it is high time all these things changed. Secondary schools workshops and laboratories are better than those ones in Nigeria’s Colleges of Education,” he lamented.

     

  • APC councillor stabbed to death in Port Harcourt

    APC councillor stabbed to death in Port Harcourt

    •Amaechi condemns murder as PDP warns against threat to members’ lives

    A member of the Legislative Assembly of the Akuku-Toru Local Government of Rivers State, Sotonye Melford Georgewill, was on Sunday night stabbed to death in Port Harcourt.

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi described the murder of the All Progressives Congress (APC) councillor, who represented Ward 2, as “very sad and shocking.”

    He said the state government would await the outcome of police investigation, before deciding on the next line of action.

    Amaechi, who spoke yesterday at the Rivers State House of Assembly, Port Harcourt, while presenting the state of the nation address to the lawmakers, urged the good people of the state to be calm and never to take the law into their hands.

    Witnesses told our reporter yesterday in the Rivers State capital that the councillor, who was married with two children, was murdered in front of his grandfather’s residence, along Accra Street, near the Lagos Bus Stop in the old Port Harcourt Township, popularly called Town. It was about 9:45 pm.

    It was also gathered that Georgewill came to the front of the house to attend to someone who earlier called him through the telephone and indicated that he was waiting for him outside.

    On getting to the car that was waiting in front of the house, the witnesses stated that two men came out of the vehicle, one of who stabbed the councillor on the chest. He fell to the ground, while the murderers escaped, shooting into the air in the thickly-populated neighbourhood.

    Shortly after the killing, some policemen in a white Toyota patrol van took away the body of Georgewill.

    Rivers Police Spokesman Muhammad Ahmad said he was indisposed and not able to speak.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State chapter, which claimed that the murdered councillor was a member of the party, however, warned against the continued threats to the lives of its members across the state.

    The Rivers PDP said: “Hon. Sotonye Bobmanuel, a serving councillor in Akuku-Toru LGA and a member of the PDP, was assassinated a few days after the kidnap of three stalwarts of the party, who are still being held captive.”

    The Special Adviser on Media to the Rivers Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Jerry Needam, alleged that the councillor’s murder was nothing short of a calculated plot by political opponents to provoke the party’s members and ignite crisis in the state.

    He said: “It is now crystal clear why these agents of disharmony and destruction were hell-bent on seeing the former Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, transferred out of Rivers State.

    “There is no denying the fact that Governor Amaechi’s agents, the APC and the Save Rivers Movement (SRM), are responsible for the unfortunate acts of lawlessness in Rivers State.

    “Even in the face of all this, Governor Amaechi remains unperturbed and is rather busy celebrating.

    “We condemn these inhuman and lawless acts in their entirety and call for an immediate  stop of the senseless insurgency and also appeal to the security agencies to wake up to these challenges posed by these undesirable elements and enemies of the state. This is the only way to guarantee peace and harmonious co-existence in the state, since no one person or group has a monopoly of violence.”

    Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the Senior Special Assistant, Media to the Rivers Chairman of the APC, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, urged Rivers people to ignore the confused and violent PDP members, who were asked to produce the killers and kidnappers.

     

  • Court joins Rivers CJ nominee in suit

    Court joins Rivers CJ nominee in suit

    Justice Lambo Akanbi of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Riv- ers State, yesterday joined the Rivers State chief judge nominee, Justice Daisy Okocha, as a party in the suit by the National Judicial Council(NJC), challenging the refusal of Governor Rotimi Amaechi to inaugurate her as the chief justice.

    At the last sitting, Justice Okocha, through her lawyer, Emmanuel C. Ukala, told the court that she should be joined because the outcome of the suit would affect her.

    The NJC had, prior to the retirement of Chief Justice Iche Ndu in August last year nominated Justice Okocha; but the governor refused to inaugurate her.

    The NJC last month sued the Judicial Service Commission, joining Amaechi and the Attorney-General Worgu Boms.

    Yesterday, the court granted the application, saying the applicant should be joined, since she would be affected by the outcome of the matter.

    Justice Akanbi adjourned the matter till March 7.

     

  • Why PDP can’t retain Rivers in 2015, by Amaechi

    Why PDP can’t retain Rivers in 2015, by Amaechi

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi spoke with reporters in Port-Harcourt, the state capital, on the visit of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crises, the future of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the 2015 elections. Excerpts:

    Why did you request former President Olusegun Obasanjo to commission your projects?

    He was a foremost Head of State and Government that we have had in the country. So, what is wrong in asking him to commission the projects. It was important that he came to have a look at what we have done. Like I told him in the public, we same a common friend and anytime and anytime common friends say what about these things, is Amaechi working, that can be assessed. It was important to bring him so that he can assess things for himself so that next time that question is put forward, he will give them an answer.

    Don’t you think that the President will be annoyed that Obasanjo has taken the shine off him by not being invited to commission the projects as the President and Commander-In-Chief?

    Today, some governors commission for themselves. Would you take offence when they commission their projects by themselves? I saw Fashola recently as he was commissioning projects. I saw Akpabio as he was commissioning a General Hospital. Why will the President take offence about that? It depends on the choice that the governor makes. I can ask the President or governor to commission projects. My colleagues have invited me to commission projects before in Jigawa. I had an invitation from Yobe. Adamawa has invited me. I don’t think that the President will take offence with that.

    Will the commissioning by Obasanjo enhance your profile?

    Well, looking at Obasanjo’s status, you will certainly get some benefits by identifying with him. He is a man with this national clout. I was surprised by the kind of reception he got among the people that came out to receive him. There were those that were brought by the organisers. There were those that came on their own hailing him, shouting baba, calling him all sorts of name, baba iyabo, baba this, Olusegun. Some calling him without respect by calling the former President by such name. I can share this with you. He told us how he acquired the name, Mathew. He said that his parents said that he should have a Christian name and when he got to the secondary school, they looked at how long his names were and one has to be dropped and that he decided to drop Mathew and the reason he dropped Mathew was that Mathew was a tax collector. I think you can’t ignore the fact that identifying with such an important character will rub off on you, and I think positively.

    Does the likelihood exist that you will return to the PDP, which is the predominant party in Rivers?

    You should be careful with your choice of words. How do you know that the PDP is the predominant party? Why can you wait and see whether it is true? You have to be careful. What you assume to be the predominance of the PDP may be the predominance of the manipulation of the elite. It is now that we will source the votes from the down-trodden and then, you can say whether it is a predominantly PDP state or not. I think we should be careful in the choice of such words.

    What is likely to be the fate of the APC in Rivers in 2015?

    I am not God. Don’t give me such powers.

    How about your succession plan?

    I leave that to God. Don’t forget the way I was anointed as the governor. Even, the greatest of all Christians never thought that it will happen. There were occasions where I had sat down in Ghana and asked: how did it happen? I started thinking about these prophets who prophesised that you will be governor and I asked, how will it happen? We don’t know. We just wash and see how God does His things. You must take that into consideration. So, there is God’s elements. Then, you do your human planning. But, I am not focusing on human planning. I am focusing on building a party called the APC because there was none some few months ago. That is why we say, if the PDP says that they are the biggest party , the largest party in Africa, I will say APC is the fastest growing party in Africa. No party has grown at the rapid rate the APC is growing. Some few months ago, there was no opposition party in Sokoto. But, the PDP is now struggling to retain its status as the opposition party in Sokoto. It is the same in Kano. It is the same in Kaduna where the Vice President comes from. And the APC is rearing its head in Bayelsa. So, you can see we are the fastest growing party.

    Are you saying there is tension in the PDP?

    Honestly, the tension in the PDP over the sharing of the loot in Nigeria is enough to put it into crisis. But, look at here now, all of us are at peace with one another.

    What is your comment on the NNPC 20 billion dollar controversy?

    You heard Asiwaju saying that the NNPC is the ATM of Jonathan. We are not involved. We are not talking about it. We will allow the country to decide.

    What does the revelation about the missing oil money portends?

    Nigerians should react. The Governors’ Forum has taken a position that he dwindling revenue at he state level is not because of the oil theft, but because of financial diversion.

    Would all these your projects be completed before you leave or they would be abandoned, especially the mono-rail?

    Where you there when I was interviewing the contractor? Everything about that mono-rail is inside the city of Port-Harcourt. They say they will complete the terminus in October. We will start the power project very soon so that the train will have power to use. The train is built in such a way that, if there is no power, automatically, it will use diesel. You can see the cost. You have power and diesel.

  • Sanusi’s suspension: Jonathan breached Constitution, CBN Act- Governors

    The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) led by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has accused President Good luck Jonathan of breaching the 1999 Constitution by suspending the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
    According to the governors, the suspension was aimed at diverting attention from the missing $20bn from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation account, which Sanusi claimed was not remitted to the Federation Account.
    The governors spoke in Abuja at the end of their meeting in the early hours of Tuesday. The meeting started around 8pm on Monday night.
    They also threw their weight behind calls for a forensic audit of the NNPC Account to unravel the truth about the issues.
    Reading a four-paragraph communique at the end of the meeting, Amaechi said: “The suspension of Sanusi by Mr. President is in clear breach of the Nigerian Constitution and the CBN Act, 2007.”

    “The suspension is aimed at diverting attention from the current national discourse on the allegations of corruption and questionable accountability.”

    “We support the call of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Senate Committee on Finance for a forensic audit of the NNPC Account.”
    The governors also accused the Presidency of plotting to impeach the Governor of Nasarawa State, Mallam Tanko Almakura.

     

    The alleged plot, they say, is an assault on the 1999 Constitution.
    The communique reads: “It has come to our notice that the Presidency is plotting to illegally impeach the Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Tanko Al-Makura.”

    “We condemn this renewed assault on constitutional democracy.”
    They also faulted the Presidency for what they called deliberate refusal of the Presidency to convene the National Economic Council meeting for seven months.

    The refusal to call the meeting, the governors said, is preventing them from their constitutional opportunity to discuss the “perilous state of the Nigerian economy thus plunging the nation into an economic and political crisis.”

    The governors therefore appealed to the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, to accelerate the hearing on all constitutional cases especially the suit on the Excess Crude Account and other illegal deductions.

    They condemned the killings in the North-East, but the commended the Nigerian military and other security agencies for their efforts against the insurgents.

    The Forum called on the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property in the country, especially in the North-East.
    Among the governors that attended the meeting included Rivers, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kano, Lagos, Imo, Sokoto, while deputy governors from Osun, Borno and Edo were also in attendance.