No conflict between Jonathan, Amaechi - Metuh

The Peoples Democratic Party has said it's unaware of any conflict between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

It stated that since it was not aware that both, who are members of the party, had a dispute, PDP had no plan to reconcile them.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, told  reporters on Friday, that there was no confrontation between the two men since they are members of the same party and had different responsibilities.

He said, 'There is no confrontation between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. There can't be any confrontation between father and son. One is the President of the country and the other is a state governor, with a completely constitutional responsibility. We are not aware of any conflict. Both of them are committed members of PDP.

'The fact is that in a large party like ours, which is the largest party in Africa, there is bound to be divergent views on issues. But one thing that is certain is that we are family.  There might be different approaches, but we are all working at the same goal to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians and maintain the ideals of the party's founding fathers.'

Metuh added that he was not aware of the 'war of words' between Amaechi and the President, insisting that both men were close friends.

'I'm aware that both of them are close. It is clear in the things that the President has done for Rivers State. And I'm not aware of any request by the Rivers State governor that was rejected by the President. Some of these reports were over blown. There is no conflict between them,' he said.

Amaechi had last week claimed that Jonathan was after him for opposing the fraud in the fuel subsidy regime, the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Excess Crude Account.

In his response, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, implied that Amaechi had an agenda.

He said although Amaechi had the right to contest the highest position in the country, he warned the governor to pursue his agenda without accusing Jonathan wrongly.