The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Rotimi Amaechi

  • PDP’s breakaway members have genuine grievances – Anenih

    PDP’s breakaway members have genuine grievances – Anenih

    The Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has admitted that some chieftains of the party that broke away from the party on Saturday have genuine grievances for their action.

    In a statement he circulated in Abuja on Tuesday, Anenih however expressed the optimism that their grievances would soon be addressed and that the chieftains would return to the fold.

    He said: “I believe some of them have genuine grievances; but I have hope that once the grievances are addressed, they will come back. I am happy that the PDP has an internal mechanism for effective conflict resolution, and at the end of the day, the problems will be addressed and the PDP will come out of the crisis stronger.”

    The BoT chair said the ongoing peace talks with the factional members had been postponed till next Tuesday, on the request of the aggrieved governors in the breakaway group. The talks were initially scheduled to continue today (Tuesday).

    He stated that the aggrieved governors had told the Presidency and the PDP leadership that they needed more time to make wider consultations, a request which he said the Presidency and the leadership of the party were not averse to.

    “The Presidency and PDP leadership would take advantage of the postponement to also consult widely on how to amicably resolve the crisis, “Anenih added.

    According to him, selected party leaders would meet with former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday as part of the wider consultations demanded by parties to the crisis.

    “Part of the wider consultations is the meeting of selected party leaders with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday morning and thereafter, we will meet with the governors on Tuesday, next week.”

    Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, seven governors elected on the PDP platform, last Saturday, stormed out of the party’s convention ground to announce a breakaway faction of the party.

    The seven Governors in the faction are – Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Musa Kwankwaso (Kano); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).

    A former national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, was named chairman of the faction, while the embattled former national secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was made the secretary.

     

  • Rivers crisis: Amaechi hits back at Okupe

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi has  hit back at the Presidential Assistant on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe over his comments against him that he is a tyrant.

    He said Okupe’s comments were infantile vituperation  that will not help President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015.

    He said the  earlier the President purged the Presidency of characters like Okupe, the better for us all.

    Amaechi, who fired back at Okupe in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, David Iyofor, said it was regretful that “small minds like
    Okupe in a democracy, still see holding a different opinion from the Presidency on any issue as anti-Jonathan and fighting Mr. President.”
    The statement said: “Again, on Saturday August, 18, 2013, Presidential Assistant on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe on a radio programme, continued his grossly irresponsible, repugnant and contemptuous, albeit, feckless mission of denigrating and disparaging the person and office of the Governor of Rivers State and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum(NGF), the Rt. Hon. Chibuike RotimiAmaechi.

    “In the past few weeks, we elected to ignore scurrilous statements from Okupe, as we do not wish to, wittingly or unwittingly, avail him with a sparring partner as he strives, though fecklessly yet again, to elevate his act from an attack puppy to an attack dog.

    “Moreover, like most Nigerians, we believe that Okupe is an irrelevant in the political equation that no serious-minded person should take seriously. Over time, his comments and statements are akin to some sort of notice-me monkey dance in front of his boss and his band of cheerleaders.

    “However, it has become pertinent to alert/notify the populace and Mr. President that the likes of Okupe represent the very worst of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    “With an aide and adviser like Okupe, President Jonathan certainly does not need any enemy. Indeed, Okupe is more than a handful. Pray, what kind of advice will an aide/adviser like Okupe give to Mr President? The earlier Mr President purged the Presidency of characters like Okupe, the better for us all.

    “Okupe sank to a new low when he falsely and indecorously claimed that Governor Amaechi used the police to harass, intimidate and punish people unjustly and could not provide one instance or any evidence to back up his claims.

    ” He bragged about some phantom text messages from “ordinary people” whose families have suffered grave injustice in the hands of Amaechi and, yet again, did not tell us the content and senders of the text messages. What does Okupe take Nigerians for? The phantom text messages exist only in the devious mind of Doyin Okupe.

    “The Presidential spokesman then sank even deeper as he condescendingly descended to become the Chief Advocate and Defender-in-Chief of the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu, who the National Assembly has resolved categorically should be removed from Rivers State.

    “Okupe’s warped argument is that the call for the redeployment of Mbu from Rivers State by the State government is because Mbu has refused to be a ‘tool in the hands of Amaechi’.
    ” Pray Okupe, if that is the case and Mbu is such ‘a professional with dignity’, why then did the House of Representatives and the Senate(who sent a committee to Rivers State to investigate the issues) passed two separate resolutions calling for the immediate removal of Mbu from Rivers State?
    “If Okupe’s trend of agbero logic is anything to go by, his likely response would be that it’s because Mbu refused to be a tool in the hands of the National Assembly!”

  • Oboh’s stay as NDDC boss shaky

    Oboh’s stay as NDDC boss shaky

    The crisis of confidence between the Presidency and the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, may soon consume certain government officials believed to be close to Amaechi. One of them is the MD of Niger Delta Development Comission (NDDC), Dr. Christian Oboh. The youthful NDDC boss was nominated for the position by Amaechi, who has since fallen out with the powers that be.

  • Rivers Crisis: Monarch invites Jonathan, Amaechi, others for peace talks

    Rivers Crisis: Monarch invites Jonathan, Amaechi, others for peace talks

    In a bid to resolve crisis rocking Rivers State, Her Royal Majesty Queen Akasoba Duke-Abiola, the Akasoba of Kalabari and Chair, Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ACPCR), has invited some political leaders in the country and outside Nigeria for a meeting.
    According to a statement issued on behalf of Queen Akasoba by Secretary of the ACPCR, Dr. Jen Clarence, the invited leaders included the Nigerian President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,  the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi,  ex Nigerian Head of State, Dr. Yakubu Gowon, first  President of Zambia, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda and former United Nations Secretary General, Dr. Boutrous Boutrous Ghali.
    Other personalities billed to attend the Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference include all traditional rulers of Rivers State and patriots  including the Emir of Zazzau His Eminence Alhaji Shehu Idris, the Alaafin of Oyo His Royal Majesty, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, former governor of old Rivers State, Air Marshal Ernest Adeleye and former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mofia Akobo.
    Stressing that attendance at the conference is strictly by invitation, the statement said that the peace meeting became necessary, adding “in view of the seemingly intractable socio-political problems presently besieging our beloved Rivers State, and taking into consideration the need for reason and moderation at these trying times of our nascent democracy.”
    The meeting, which will take place at the ACPCR Centre, Kula, Ekulama, in Rivers State (near the Atlantic ocean) on August 3, 2013, will focus on the restoration of peace and progress in Rivers State, the need for creation of more states, and the need to continue to maintain the indissolubility of the Nigerian Nation state.
    On the earlier conferences held, Queen Akasoba said: “I have been involved in peace efforts and conflict resolution around the world, it is therefore necessary that we deploy some vital strategic appurtenances and modus operandi designed to bring lasting peace to Rivers State, the entire Niger Delta Region and Nigeria as a whole.”

  • Rivers crisis is about 2015 says Amaechi

    Embattled governor of Rivers State, Chubike Amaechi has maintained that the crisis rocking his state is as a result of belief by some interest groups that he was preparing to contest the 2015 general elections.

    There has been growing insinuations across the country that the Rivers governor will contest the 2015 Presidential election as running mate to Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido.

    Speaking on the Hausa service of thje British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitoresd in Kaduna, Amaechi said his primary concern was to govern and deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Rivers state.

    He noted that it was rather too early for anyone to be talking about contesting the 2015 elections and dismissed insinuations that he was teaming up with those opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan because of his (Amaechi’s) 2015 ambition.

    According to him, those who are supporting him were not supporting him because they want him to be president, but because of they think governors are the ones to decidewho should lead them in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

    Amaechi whose response in English to the questions was interpreted in Hausa language stressed that it will be wrong for anybody to say he would want to run for 2015 elections now although he admitted that the political crisis in his state was tight to a lot of assumption by some people about what is going to happen in 2015.

  • Rivers’ lawmakers to Evans Bipi: You are an impostor

    Rivers’ lawmakers to Evans Bipi: You are an impostor

    The 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Governor Rotimi Amaechi have warned a member of the House and “Speaker” of the five lawmakers, Hon. Evans Bapakaye Bipi to desist from impersonating the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Otelemaba Amachree.

    It would be recalled that Hon. Bipi, a protégé of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, was controversially elected Speaker by five of the 32-member House last week, who had earlier “impeached the Speaker.” His election later led to a bloody clash between the two sides.

    Bipi and his group insisted on the legality of his election maintaining that Amachree remains impeached.

    However, in a statement titled: “Our Position, “on Friday morning, the lawmakers explained their roles in the recent crisis and described Bipi as an impostor.

    The statement chronicled the events leading to the purported impeachment claim by five members of the House and urged the public to disregard the false claims.

    “The attention of the Rivers State House of Assembly has been drawn to the plethora of stories and conjectures that have constituted the bulk analysis at the public domain on the crisis of Tuesday 9th of July, 2013… the House leadership received a communication from the Executive to amend the Rivers State Appropriation Law 2013. Sequel to this, the House reconvened on the 9th of July, 2013.”

    “Following the reconvening of the House on 9th of July, 2013, five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly (Evans Bipi, Okechukwu Michael Chinda, Kelechi Nwogu, Victor Ihunwo and Martins Amaewhule) in alliance with the Rivers State Police Command and their thugs, carried out unprovoked attack and assault on members including the Speaker (Rt. Hon. Otelemaba Dan Amachree), the Leader of the House (Hon. Chidi Lloyd) and Hon. Wanjoku Chikere Azubuike.

    “Thereafter they made a spirited but unsuccessful attempt to impeach the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly in obvious disregard of the amplifying procedures set out in section 92 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Order 12 and Order 28 of the standing orders of the Rivers State House of Assembly.”

    “Since the botched impeachment attempt, one Hon. Evans Bipi has rather surreptitiously impersonated the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly in Defiance and gross violation of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and has gone ahead to make publications in the national media. We hereby call on the public to disregard the impostor (Hon. Evans Bapakaye Bipi) and his fabricated fallacies which are targeted at misinforming the general public,” the statement read.

    The lawmakers explained that the state Assembly acted within its powers when it suspended the Obio/Akpor Local Governmet Council which is believed to be one of the underlying issues fueling the crisis.

     

  • QUOTE OF THE DAY

    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    “With the latest drama in the Rivers State House of Assembly, the PDP is at it again. The ruling party has inflicted yet another mortal injury on Nigeria’s democracy. As the House reconvened after a recent adjournment due to a police failure to provide adequate security to this legislative body, thugs hired by sinister forces allied to the powers in Abuja were unleashed on the unsuspecting majority in the State Assembly. While the House was to consider a necessary budgetary matter, a cell of five legislators, making a mockery of their title as lawmakers, had plotted anarchy in their own chamber. They engineered this coup against the very body in which they serve.

    This group of five and their sponsors attacked the other 27 members and the deputy governor who was making a presentation on a budgetary matter pending before the House. All this occurred under the watchful eye, but idle hand of the police officers deployed to guard the chamber.

    We can say the police in Rivers became an accomplice to an illegal attack on the very government and constitution they pledged to uphold. This was a shameful moment but even worse, it is a likely foretaste of the partisan role the police will take in coming elections.”

     

    Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on The Rivers State House of Assembly Crisis.

  • Rivers PDP crises regrettable- Jonathan

    Rivers PDP crises regrettable- Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday expressed worries about the recent political developments in Rivers State as he called on all those involved in regrettable acts of political violence to show greater respect for the constitution and the rule of law.

    In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President urged members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and all other political gladiators in the state to put the interests of the state and the nation above their personal egos and ambitions that “seem to have gotten in the way of their expected commitment to uphold the principles of democracy and good governance.”

    He called on all those who were remotely or directly involved in heightening political tension in Rivers State to put an immediate end to their actions, which he said, are capable of plunging the state into public disorder.

    To this end, he urged them to strive to settle their political differences without further recourse to barbaric acts of violence.

    The statement reads: “President Jonathan expects all members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, irrespective of their current affiliations or loyalties, to comport themselves with greater restraint while efforts continue to resolve existing differences and restore internal harmony to the state branch of the party.

    “The Presidency has also noted with regret the continuing attempts by some individuals and groups to place responsibility for the unpleasant developments in Rivers State on President Jonathan.

    “We are constrained to state once again that there is absolutely no factual basis for suggestions that some of the politicians involved in the current dispute are acting at the behest of the President.”

    “President Jonathan certainly did not instigate the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly and as President of the nation, he will never support any actions that negate his avowed commitment to the rule of law. The President will also never violate his oath of office to always defend the Nigerian Constitution.”

  • Free-for-all fight in Rivers Assemby,

    …Amaechi supervises reinstatement of  impeached Speaker, House adjourns indefinitely

    There was free-for-all fight  on Tuesday at the Rivers State House of Assembly between pro and anti-Amaechi lawmakers.

    The five lawmakers loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, initially impeached the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan Amachree, with a new Speaker, Evans Bapakaye Bipi, who represents Ogu/Bolo constituency, elected to replace him.

    As Bipi mounted the speaker’s seat to give his acceptance/maiden speech, the Rivers Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, stormed the main chambers of the Assembly, with Amachree, other loyal lawmakers and security men, leading to a clash between the two groups.

    In the course of fighting with dangerous weapons, the Speaker and Leader of the House, Chidi Lloyd, a lawyer, who represents Emohua constituency and loyal to Amaechi were injured. Lloyd is still in the hospital.

    Two anti-Amaechi lawmakers: Martins Amewhule and Michael Okechukwu Chinda  were  also seriously and are also being hospitalised.

    When the clash subsided, the House later sat amid tight security, with 23 pro-Amaechi lawmakers in attendance and presided over by Amachree. Amaechi left immediately.

    Rivers Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru,  was later ushered into the Assembly chambers and he presented minor adjustments to the 2013 budget, on behalf of Amaechi.

    The Speaker said the amendment would not affect the earlier figure of N490 billion. Shortly after Ikuru left, the House was adjourned indefinitely, in view of the tension.

  • Drama as Amaechi, Jang sit together at NEC meeting

    Drama as Amaechi, Jang sit together at NEC meeting

    Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and his Plateau State counterpart, Jonah Jang, sat together during Thursday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, as governors were made to sit alphabetically according to their states.

    The sitting arrangement was changed as previous NEC meetings before the election always positioned Amaechi close to the Chairman of the NEC meeting, Vice- President Namadi Sambo, where the Rivers governor always highlight the Nigeria Governors’ Forum position on issues.

    Since Amaechi was re-elected as NGF chairman in May after beating Jang by 19  to 16 votes, the Plateau governor has led a faction of the forum.

    Apart from opening a parallel office of NGF in Abuja, Jang has declared himself chairman of the forum just as he maintained that he was the consensus candidate of 19 governors before the election.

    Since that controversial election, Thursday’s NEC meeting was the first time the feuding duo would sit on a round table.

    Amaechi arrived at the meeting before Jang and on getting to his seat said: “So we are sitting together, authentic and the fake chairman.”

    The two governors then greeted and shook hands with each other when Jang arrived few minutes later.

    When Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, arrived, he jokingly said in front of television cameras and pointed to Amaechi: “This is my chairman,” and said to Jang: “This is PDP faction chairman.”

    On his arrival and noticing the sitting arrangement for Rivers and Plateau governors, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu said: “This is nice o. Somebody is trying to be diplomatic here.”

    The meeting commenced as soon as the vice president arrived the meeting.