Amaechi: Why I fell apart with Jonathan
Apparently not done with explanations on why he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi yesterday threw more tantrums at the Presidency, reeling out the reasons why he is suffering persecution.
Amaechi linked his alleged persecutions in the hands of the Federal Government to his insistence that development in the state must not be halted by the President Jonathan's administration.
He said, it was disheartening that President Jonathan directed that the Bonny Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train Seven that would have provided jobs to over 10,000 Rivers people be stopped to enable the Brass NLNG in Bayelsa State be started and completed.
The governor who spoke during a media chat with journalists at Government House, Port Harcourt, also lamented that Jonathan is not bothered that the Ogoni people would soon go into extinction due to the President's refusal to implement the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, which he noted would cost only one billion dollars.
Amaechi said mis-governance and bad governance are some of the reasons he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that the PDP does not care.
According to him, 'I am not bothered about the touts that call themselves Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) or the members of the sinking PDP in the state. It is only they who will not bother that 41 oil wells in Etche have been ceded to Abia by the President we massively voted for. Despite my protest, Soku oil wells in core Kalabari land were ceded to Bayelsa.
'They are not bothered that President Jonathan told me face-to-face that he directed that Bonny NLNG Train Seven that would have provided jobs to over 10,000 Rivers people be stopped so that Brass NLNG in his state can be started and completed because that has been his dream, since he was Deputy Governor. I swore to protect Rivers people and their resources.
'The President is not bothered that the Ogoni will soon go into extinction because of his refusal to implement the UNEP report that will cost just one billion dollars. Yet the same Federal Government is yet to tell Nigerians how billions of dollars could be missing from NNPC's remittance, according to the Lamido Sanusi and Okonjo Iweala's argument.'
The governor also flayed the Federal Government for alleging that allocations to states are reducing due to oil thefts, arguing that two surveillance helicopters fitted with security cameras earlier approved by the same government and bought by the state to fight crime have been banned by the same Federal Government.
Amaechi also disclosed that he left PDP following attempts by the wife of the President to micromanage governance in Rivers State.
'The basic reason why we left PDP is because of the resources of Rivers State. I have told all of you on several occasions that the wife of the President was not elected the governor of Rivers State. I was elected and I am not in any way the wife of the President; I am the governor of Rivers State and husband to Judith Amaechi.
'Another reason I left was due to attempt by the wife of the President to micromanage governance in the state. And I said no; you can't, so that if I fail, they will not say the wife of the President failed (but) Governor Amaechi failed. So, I am accountable to God and to men and the women.'
Speaking on the PDP and All Progressive Congress (APC) saga, the governor said, the APC can no longer be tagged opposition because it is gradually forming the government. He noted that the party has taken over the House of Representatives, hoping that before March next year, APC would take over the Senate.
'Just watch out; the pressure will mount so much that you will see people move from the PDP to APC. For now, it is narrowing down closely on a daily basis. Watch out before March, if we don't have the numbers that we are looking for. So, you can't call us opposition anymore because there are three arms of government and only two are electable: the executive and legislature. Yes, the PDP has the national executive, but we are inching close to having the legislature. If we have it, who then would be called the opposition?' Amaechi queried.
The governor described the fight between the PDP and APC as a tussle about good governance and accountability but he blamed Nigerians for being part of the problems, saying they celebrate corruption.
According to Amaechi, 'the problem with politicians in Nigeria is that they don't know the meaning of truth. They can't even say what the truth is. They don't even care because they know that you (Nigerians) don't care. When a politician reels out numbers, you should hold him accountable to the numbers he reeled out. If you don't hold them accountable, they just say anything they like. When I said the Federal Government could not account for $49.8 billion, they said, 'Amaechi, how did you know', and I pulled out the letter and said 'the authority is the CBN governor'. So, let him deny it. When I said they could not account for N2.3 trillion for oil subsidy, they said, 'what is your source?' I was in the meeting with the President.
'Nigerians never knew that the governors went on strike for three months; we refused to collect our monthly allocation because we told the President that under General Obasanjo, the total oil money was N300bn. The first year of President Jonathan, 2011, oil subsidy became N2.3trn. Did we buy more machines; expand Nigeria? Do we have more people or have 24-hour power supply everyday or have things changed in Nigeria that we now consume N2.3trn from N300bn. Nobody has said, 'Amaechi, you are lying'. I am not just saying this thing today; I have been saying it for the past two years because I was the chairman of the Governors' Forum and I was meeting with the President. I am telling you why they want to crucify me.'
He lamented that instead of the Niger Delta people benefiting from a South-South President, they are losing, stressing that President Jonathan hates his own people.
' Some people accuse me of trying to subvert a South-South presidency and I ask: who is a South-South president? For me, a South-South President is a man who feeds me. You have seen the work they are doing on the East-West Road. For them to do that East-West Road, I had to fight with the Minister of Niger Delta. They said they were going to borrow money to do the road, but a South-South President should have borrowed that money to do the road since 2011 that he came in,' Amaechi argued.
He continued: 'Unfortunately, Former President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is not alive to speak for himself. I was part of the people who sat down with Yar'Adua to start the designing of the coastal rail from Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo to Lagos. Have you heard of it again? There is a coastal road under Yar'Adua; we all sat down to design it. Have you heard of it? Yar'Adua set up the Ministry of Niger Delta and had ideas of what it should be; is it functioning the way you think it should function? Instead of Niger Delta benefiting from a South-South President, we are losing. Tell me one thing Rivers State has gained from being part of the South-South under Jonathan's Presidency?
'I have spoken privately on several occasions with Mr. President and I asked him, what have you done for Rivers State that gave you nearly two million votes. No answer. And till tomorrow, they won't answer.
'Another problem is the Port Harcourt Airport. How many of you would feel proud to go through that kind of useless airport? Meanwhile, they started rehabilitating that airport the same time with the airports in Lagos, Cross River, Abuja, even Sokoto. They have completed Sokoto, Kano, Abuja, Enugu. Our sin is that we are just being vocal. They don't like Rivers State; they hate us.'
Efforts to get the reaction of the Presidency were unsuccessful.
The Guardian