PDP Kicks As Amaechi Marks 2007 Supreme Court Ruling

Former Head of State, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd); ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the Governor of Kano State, Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, all presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), today stormed Port Harcourt, Rivers State for Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s 7th anniversary of his Supreme Court victory.

Also to honour Amaechi, who is the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), are two other presidential aspirants of the APC, Rochas Okorocha, the Governor of Imo State and Sam Nda-Isaiah.

Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, will lead nine other APC governors to the mega rally, among other eminent personalities.

The elaborate event, scheduled to commence at 7 am and transmitted live on many television stations, will hold at the newly-built 65,000 capacity Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Igwuruta-Ali near the Port Harcourt International Airport, constructed by the Amaechi administration to boost sports in Nigeria.

The committee put in place to oversee the mega rally has the state’s Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, an engineer, as Chairman of the Central Planning Committee, with the state’s Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Chuma Chinye, as Secretary, while the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, is the Chairman of the Publicity Sub-Committee.

Genesis of anniversary

The Supreme Court, in its landmark judgment of October 25, 2007, had sacked Sir Celestine Omehia and pronounced Amaechi the duly elected governor of the state. He was inaugurated the following day at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

Amaechi and Omehia, both Ikwerre, hail from Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

Semenitari, while speaking on Rhythm FM Port Harcourt’s Funky Four Plus One, said the rally would also be used by the governor to render account of his stewardship to the people of the state who renewed his mandate during the 2011 elections.

She noted that the NGF chairman and the leaders of the APC did not believe in renting crowds like some unnamed chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, stressing that the massive supporters of Amaechi volunteered to be at the stadium, without being induced, to honour a performing governor.

Rivers information commissioner said: “Governor Amaechi’s problem is that he is very frank, straightforward, calls a spade a spade and does not speak from both sides of his mouth.

“Governor Amaechi’s critics know that if he says something, he will stand by it.

“Governor Amaechi has conscience. They promised him a lot of things to abandon the fight on the ceding of Rivers oil wells to neighbouring states, but he refused. Another governor would have sold out and abandoned his people, for his personal interest and benefits, not Governor Amaechi, who will always stand by his people and will never negotiate the future of Rivers State for his pocket.

“Governor Amaechi felt it was not proper to keep quiet, when Rivers State’s oil wells were being ceded by the Federal Government to Bayelsa and Abia states, with revenues accruing to Rivers State now dwindling, thereby making Rivers people to suffer untold hardship and delivering ongoing projects being affected.”

Further speaking on the mega rally, Semenitari stated that today is a landmark day because seven years ago, Amaechi was appropriately and duly acknowledged as the winner of the 2007 governorship election in the state.

She noted that the day is significant in the sense that it would be the last time the NGF chairman would be celebrating October 25 as governor of Rivers State, reiterating that next October 25, he would no longer be governor and that he would make a mega statement at the mega rally.

She said the new stadium has 40,000 sitting capacity but could take up to 80,000 people, with many people from the 23 LGAs of the state complaining that the number of persons officially told to come was small and many people volunteering to come by themselves.

She stressed that all the entrances to the stadium would be left open to prevent any incident, with a strong team of medical personnel to be led by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, while crowd and traffic control would be efficiently handled by the appropriate agencies, with a strong security team to be in place.

Semenitari added: “Rt. Hon. Amaechi has three graces. He became the governor of Rivers State by the grace of God, the grace and the will of Rivers people, and by the grace and permission of the Supreme Court.

“Governor Amaechi will address Rivers people at the stadium. For the first time, he will publicly speak to the crowd on why he took certain political decisions and he will take feedbacks from the people. Since democracy is about participation. It is time for true Rivers people to speak.

“Once has God spoken, twice we have heard that power belongs to God. We know that there is a God who rules the affairs of men. Governor Amaechi and the peace-loving people of Rivers State will continue to put their trust only in God.”

She assured that Amaechi would finish strong and complete almost all the ongoing capital-intensive and people-oriented projects, with the people to continue to be adequately empowered.

The Chief Press Secretary to Amaechi, David Iyofor, also yesterday, in an online statement, quoted the Rivers governor as stating that despite poor funding to states by the Federal Government, the NGF chairman was determined to complete most of the projects started by his administration.

Amaechi, according to Iyofor, expressed confidence that the reserve fund in the state coffers amounting to N19 billion, which was approved by the Rivers State House of Assembly, would be used judiciously, especially to complete ongoing projects before the end of his tenure.

Governor vows to complete ongoing projects

Speaking during an inspection tour of the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium ahead of the APC’s mega rally in Port Harcourt today, Amaechi said: “We will shame those people who think we cannot complete our projects. We promised to work on Oyigbo Road, complete Elioparanwo Road and also work on Rumuagholu Road and several others.

“We will also furnish our primary schools and carry out renovation of our secondary schools. But we are starved of funds by the Federal Government. So, how do we complete our projects? That is why I said we will work until May 29, 2015, before leaving office.

“While saving N1 billion monthly, I knew that there could be a time when the economy of the country or state will be challenging. So, I started saving the money in our reserve fund. But the problem of money is not only in Rivers State. The Lagos State Governor has complained bitterly, including other APC governors. The approval of the N19 billion by the Rivers State House of Assembly from the reserve fund will help us to complete our projects.”

Worried by alleged high level of stealing in Jonathan’s administration, the NGF chairman also stated that the Federal Government had derailed from its vision of creating wealth for the Nigerian people, to sabotage the economy of the nation and deliberately impose unnecessary suffering on innocent Nigerians.

Amaechi said: “Stealing is increasing by the day, but President Jonathan said there is no corruption in the country. Corruption in Nigeria is uncontrollable. People are stealing our money every day and the police are helpless because they are part of the system.

“The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said Nigeria is not broke. If she is saying that there is money in the country, let her pay us our debts and our money.

“She said the shortfall in revenue does not mean that Nigeria is broke. When Commissioners of Finance converged on Enugu, almost everybody left without money. How then can we define being broke?”

PDP kicks

Reacting to the planned mega rally in a statement yesterday, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State condemned alleged plan to shut down markets and shops in Port Harcourt for the sake of the rally.

 The statement signed by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser on Media to the State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, said it was insensitive and smacked of lack of concern for the welfare of the people “by coercing them to remain indoors simply because an uncaring governor wants to celebrate a controversial court victory that took place seven years ago, which has caused the people more pains and backwardness.”

The party said it was shocked that a governor who wants the people to continue to support him in his future political career could not be moved by the conditions of public servants in the state who were being owed months of salary arrears and allowances yet Gov Amaechi is excited to organize such a jamboree with the State resources.

“It’s also surprising to the PDP that Amaechi who had wasted huge resources of the state in legal battles in defence of his faulted participation in the April 26, 2011 governorship election, claiming that his first tenure actually terminated on May 28, 2011, is still laying claim to October 25, when the controversial Supreme Court ruling was given as the date he took over the reins of office and power in the state.

“This is nothing but self deceit, a feature of a warped mind,” the statement added.

  However, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, described as a blatant lie and a campaign of calumny, the Rivers PDP’s allegation that Governor Rotimi Amaechi ordered the closure of markets and shops in Port Harcourt today to celebrate the 7th anniversary of his Supreme Court victory.

Okocha, who is the Chairman of the Mobilisation Committee of the anniversary and doubles as Amaechi’s Political Adviser, also stated that the decision of many Rivers people to attend the event was voluntary, in view of the governor’s impressive performance, adding that nobody was hired.

Okocha said the celebration was neither a jamboree nor a waste of Rivers government’s funds, describing Rivers PDP leaders as confused and vision less and that Rivers remains an APC state.

 The Nation report