it seems difficult for a day to pass without hearing of a story or two with respect to the feud between the President and Govenor Amaechi, what is certain is that as we draw closer to 2015 and the Presidents “supposed” presidential ambition things would only get tougher .yesterday, Governor Amaechi seems to have grown tired of playing “Cold War” as prior till now, both parties when asked tried to play kind and dispel rumours of a drift between both camps, he yesterday effectively drew the battle line between himself and President Goodluck Jonathan, the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi declared that his administration aim of rebuilding the state’s infrastructure is to complement the development efforts of its founding fathers and not in line with any purported “transformation agenda” of the federal government.
The level of discord between the presidency and Amaechi also assumed a new dimension Tuesday when the leadership and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly pointedly accused the executive of the state chapter of the PDP, led by Chief Felix Obuah, of attempting to cause chaos in the state that could lead to the governor’s impeachment.
This allegation came as as result of the injunction granted by a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Monday restraining the PDP from suspending 27 members of the state House of Assembly.
In a statement issued by the speaker of the state assembly, Hon. Otelemaba Amachree, for and on behalf of its members, he said the state legislature wished to bring to the notice of the people of the state and Nigerians “some of the dangerous moves by the Felix Obuah-led PDP to cause general chaos and confusion in Rivers State.”
He said the leadership and members of the state assembly had been reliably informed that a fake mace had been smuggled into the state to enable “five members of the house hold an emergency session, even after the house adjourned sine die on Tuesday, April 23, 2013.
“The Abuja plan on the ground is to falsely impeach the Rt. Hon. Speaker and the executive governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and create confusion through varied responses, which they hope will make the state ungovernable and provide them with some kind of warped basis to introduce emergency rule in Rivers State.”
He alleged that there were strong indications that some persons have been detailed exclusively to create a systemic collapse of security in the state, putting lives and property in danger.
“This is undemocratic, unacceptable and a complete violation of the mandate that the good people of Rivers State have vested on us.
“We call on the good people of Rivers State to remain calm, watchful and law abiding as the scenario unfolds,” he said.
In a swift reaction, the court annulled the announcement of the suspension of the lawmakers from the PDP by the chairman of the state chapter of the party, Obuah, on Monday for failing to rescind their decision to suspend the chairman, vice-chairman and 17 councillors of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council of the state.
The lawmakers, in a suit filed at the High Court against the PDP, Obuah and Walter Ibibia, sought an injunction restraining the party from suspending them or declaring their seats vacant.
In his ruling on the injunction, Justice Sika Aprioku on Monday also restrained the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from declaring the seats of the lawmakers vacant.
“An order of interim injunction be and is hereby granted to restrain the defendants, either by themselves, servants, agents, privies or howsoever from declaring the claimants’ seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly vacant and applying to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections to replace the claimants as members of Rivers State House of Assembly, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” Aprioku ruled.
Amaechi, while speaking on Monday when participants of the Senior Executive Course 35 from the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Amaechi said the transformation agenda could be implemented by the next administration after his tenure, as he was focused on rebuilding.
According to Amaechi, “We are not doing transformation; we are only going back to where our parents left us first before we can commence transformation.
“There is nothing we are doing now that King Diette-Spiff did not do, but they have all deteriorated. So we are going back to where King Diette-Spiff left the state, and hope that, whoever takes over from us can then transform.
“So here, we are not transforming, we only get back to where Spiff left us.”
Earlier, the leader of the delegation and representative of the Director-General of NIPSS, Prof. Ibrahim Jumare, said the purpose of the visit was to undertake a study tour on strengthening institutional framework and the transformational agenda in the country.