Jonathan want to kill me- Amaechi

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi on Monday in Port Harcourt said that he is on the hit list of President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2015 Presidential election.

Amaechi’s statement came on the heels of the raging controversy sparked by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to President  in which Obasanjo  accused Jonathan of training snipers and putting 1,000 Nigerians on a watch list ahead of the 2015 elections. 

Governor Amaechi alleged that those behind the recent explosions at the Government House and other parts of the state are being sponsored by the presidency, even as he accused President Goodluck Jonathan of denying Rivers people access to portable drinking water amongst others developmental projects.

Amaechi who spoke at a rally organised by the Save Rivers Movement – a political group backing Amaechi’s stand on the state’s political future remarked that  “I’m number one on the list. They want to kill me.” 

Amaechi, who is also the a factional chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), told the gathering that yesterday’s event was not for him to declare for APC, assuring that his declaration would be at the new stadium.

“The reason for gathering today is to remind Nigerians that the current Federal Government is carrying on with impunity. There is no rule of law in Nigeria. They are using police to molest us. Where police fail to molest us, they are using thugs to shoot dynamites and guns against innocent people.

“I read the President’s (Jonathan’s) letter and he said ex-President Obasanjo should prove the 1,000 names on the watch list. I am number one on the list. They want to kill me, but they have no God. The God we worship will protect me. Before the end of the year, I will address the state.

“They will shoot you. They have no fear for your blood. They want the position at all costs. Whether you all die, they do not mind governing just the land. You must know that if you read the story of revolution, you must sacrifice. Somebody said my son should come to the front. If you want my son tomorrow, I will produce him.

“If I have surrendered myself and I am ready to be in front, let them shoot. Anytime you start a street march and you do not see me in the front, you must know something must be wrong and you must know that they have arrested me. I am not a big man governor. I am a governor that is on the streets with his people.

“One other thing that is bothering me is that all those who are on the other side, saying they want South south President, I agree with them, they want South south President. In politics, you are not here today (yesterday) because you like Amaechi; you are here because of your own political interest. If a South south President refused to give you water, you will push him out.

“We gave the President (Jonathan in 2011) nearly two million votes, let him tell us one project he has done for us. I have challenged the President that I belong to the APC. If he wants Rivers people to vote for him, let him give Kalabari people back their oil wells and I will come back (to the PDP). He cannot. The President cannot. Instead, he will take more.”

The rally which took place at the Liberation Stadium had in attendance, APC leaders, including the interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande; former House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Bello Masari, who is the party’s interim Deputy National Chairman; interim National Vice Chairman (South-south) Tom Ikimi and Dr. Sam Sam-Jaja.

Edo State Governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was represented by his deputy, Dr. Pius Egberanmwen Odubu. Also in attendance were the interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed; two senators from Rivers State – Magnus Abe (Rivers Southeast) and Wilson Ake (Rivers West)- as well as a member of the House of Representatives from Rivers state, Dakuku Peterside (Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro constituency). There were many other eminent personalities.

Amaechi’s Commission of Inquiry on Rivers crisis unconstitutional – Court

A Port Harcourt High Court  on Friday declared Gov. Chibuike Amaechi’s eight-man Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the crisis in the  House of Assembly as unconstitutional.

The court presided over by Justice Lamenkara Iyaye, also restrained the commission from sitting to investigate the crisis.

Iyaye held that under the principle of natural justice, Amaechi lacked the capacity to constitute a panel to investigate a crisis involving him.

The court restrained the state government from receiving or acting on any recommendation made by the commission of inquiry.

He said that only a regular court was competent to inquire or try anyone on the allegation which led to the crisis in the assembly.

The state government had inaugurated an eight-man judicial commission of inquiry, headed by Justice Biobele Georgewill, to investigate the crisis in the assembly on July 9.

A member of the assembly, Mr Victor Ihunwo, representing Port Harcourt Constituency, however, filed the suit challenging the setting up of the commission and urged the court to declare it illegal.

Information from NAN was used in this report.

Amaechi is my son, I can't harm him - Patience Jonathan

 The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has described Rivers State Governor, RT. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi as her son and will not fight or harm him. She also enjoined him to work for the progress of the region rather than become an instrument for outsiders to destroy the state and the region.
She spoke in Abuja when 16 bishops from the South-South geo-political zone visited her.
Her words:
``Rivers state issue is one thing I’ve committed to prayer because I believe there is nothing God cannot do. God restored me and I’ll do His work without the fear of man.The truth will always remain the truth and what God ordains must come to pass and so Rivers issue is something we’ve handed over to God.This matter started as far back as four years ago at Anyugubiri in Okrika when I begged him not to demolish a part of Okrika but (that he should) dialogue first with the people.
After that incident, he called the chairman of Okrika (local government) and sacked him for holding a reception in our honour; that boy was the first victim.

He also put my people on curfew for nine months. I called him and pleaded with him but he refused. Then I began to hear all sort of propaganda in the media against me; this is not the way.

I’ve never spoken about this issue but as men of God, I believe you’ll say the truth always because there are a lot of conflicting interests; some will hear one thing and say the exact opposite.
I also want you to know the genesis of this problem and pray that God touches Amaechi’s heart as per his hot temper because when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
I appeal to Amaechi to sheathe his sword so that we can defend our state and this country with love, unity, patriotism and truth at all time. Hebrews 12:14 urges us to embrace peace with all men without which, we cannot see God.
Amaechi is my son, I cannot fight him and I cannot kill him. He shouldn’t be used by outsiders against his own blood because this seat is vanity.
One day, no matter how long it takes, we will leave this seat. Power is not forever. This seat is vanity, others sat here and left so one day I’ll also leave and we will meet at home; so why should I fight him? Let’s take it easy, face issues, leave non-existent matters, stop magnifying lies and respect our leaders and people in authority. Let’s give peace a chance’’.

Arewa group threatens to retaliate attack on Northern Governors

The Arewa Rapid Response Network (ARRN) has threatened to retaliate the attack on four northern state governors at the Port Harcourt International Airport on Tuesday.

In a statement signed by the national coordinator of the ARRN, Mallam Yakubu Ahmed, the group warned the perpetrators against allowing the chain of events in Rivers to snowball into a national crisis capable of truncating the nation's democracy.

Governors Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and their host, Governor Rotimi Amaechi,  were said to be attacked by  supporters  of Minister of State, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

The statement reads: "It is clear to all that the Presidency is the chief instigator of the violence in Port Harcourt, which has almost made the state ungovernable. As things stand now, the crisis in Rivers Stats is threatening to engulf the nation owing to the risky dimension the problem is taking.

"While the crisis may look entirely as the business of the PDP, we must be careful not to stir up other chain of events that would snowball into an uncontrollable national crisis capable of leading to other unsavoury events that may truncate our nascent and vulnerable democracy.

"We recall that the election of the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum in which the candidate of the President was squarely defeated, as well as other unpalatable consequences that have rattled the Presidency, were at the base of the Rivers crisis.

"We hasten to caution that the dimension the crisis is taking in relation to the events that led to the pelting of four governors from the north who paid a solidarity visit to the their Rivers State counterpart would, if not well handled, lead to other events which result could not be guessed".

Continuing, the group said: "It is as if history meant nothing to the agent provocateurs of Rivers State, particularly the pro-Jonathan drum beaters of war who appeared irredeemably bent on having their way, regardless of the dangers their actions pose to the nation.

"The act of pelting northern leaders has in the past, proved to be dangerous to national cohesion and we must stress here that the action of some misguided youths in Port Harcourt against the four visiting northern governors has the potentials to be interpreted as a calculated attempt by the Jonathan presidency to humiliate our leaders.

"It also appears to be an attempt to kick start the beginning of a larger anti-north movement aimed at facilitating the disintegration of the country in the event that Jonathan loses his bid for another term.

"The north has received enough humiliation in the course of the Jonathan presidency with criminal war lords calling our leaders unprintable names, calling for war against the North, making very inflammatory statements and challenging the basis of our nationhood without any effort by the presidency to call them to order.

"We would like to warn that the North will not tolerate a situation where our leaders are made to face a gangster-like humiliation in the way it was done in Rivers State.

"We equally have many options including the option of retaliating and if anybody is in doubt, then Jonathan and his cohorts should be held responsible if a repeat of the Rivers show of shame leads to other unpalatable events that may follow".

Tinubu is a dictator - Presidency

The presidency has described The National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a dictator and impostor without respect for the tenets of democracy. The presidency was reacting to an earlier statement by Tinubu which blamed the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly on President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ahmed Gulak enjoined Tinubu to first cast out the beam out of his own eye before attending to the crisis in the People’s Democratic Party.

He also accused Tinubu of imposing members of his immediate family on members of his political party (ACN) and Lagosians.

His words:

“We (The Presidency)have already said that Mr. President has no hand in what is happening in Rivers State. Tinubu should face the crises facing him, the issue of appointing his daughter as Iya Oloja of Lagos while she is not a trader or a market woman. These are issues that Nigerians should know. Tinubu should tell Nigerians why he has to replace Senator... with his wife as a senator.

These are people who are dictators; these are people who are breaching democracy and democratic principles. These are people who break the laws; these are people who are not transparent.

Tinubu is such a fraud. He should explain to Nigerians how his daughter was nominated or made Iya Oloja of Lagos while she is not a trader or a market woman

These are issues he should tell Nigerians and not to drag the name of Mr. President into the mud."  

VIDEO: 'Knack am' of Rivers State House of Assembly

Watch The Rivers State House of Assembly's Fracas and the Knack am edition by Dj Ziggy.
There was a free-for-all at the main chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly on Tuesday (9th July, 2013), when an attempt was made by the five pro-Wike legislators to impeach the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan Amachree.
A “new Speaker”, Evans Bipi, was quickly elected amid tight security and he announced the suspension of 15 unnamed lawmakers, in a 32-member Assembly.
As Bipi mounted the speaker’s seat to give his acceptance/maiden speech, Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), stormed the main chambers of the Assembly with Amachree, other lawmakers and security men. Blows were exchanged including the "knack am" by the House Leader, Hon.Chidi Lloyd on Hon. Michael Chinda.
Also seriously injured were two anti-Amaechi lawmakers.

Amaechi supervises reinstatement of 'his' impeached Speaker

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.