Amaechi: Why I Fell out with Jonathan
Onyebuchi Ezigbo The out-going Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday traced his disagreement with President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government to the over-bearing influence of the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan on the security apparatus in the state.
He said his attempt to draw the president’s attention to the ugly incident resulted to smear campaign against him.
Amaechi bared his minds at the Silverbird Galleria in Abuja where a documentary piece on his achievements in office was aired.
He emphasised that at the time his disagreement with the federal government was at its peak, the police, military and other security agencies were reporting to the wife of the president, which made him fight such a system convinced it will not make Nigeria grow.
According to him, it got to a point where the heads of security apparatus in the state were taking orders from the president’s wife, adding that such should not be encouraged.
“Police Commissioner was reporting to the first lady and instead ofworking with the governor, they were being forced to fight him,” he said.
The governor who regretted the bad- blood the diagreement created, maintained that it was a period Nigeria should not go back to again.
He said public officers should learn to lead by the rules so as to avoid abuses as wives of incumbents were not elected and allowing them over step their bounds naturally leads to abuse of office.
Amaechi said his achievements speak volume, adding that all he did in the state were not for selfglorification but to bequeath a legacy for successive administrations in the state to sustain but added that 90 per cent of the people who worked with him betrayed him.
Speaking on how he survived the persecutions, Amaechi said he was not afraid to face the barage of forces but said because he kept his books well, he had the courage to sustain the struggle, expressing joy that history will vindicate him in the end.
The one-hour decumentary showcased a litany of achievements spanning all sectors in the state. He wondered why the federal government was desperate about painting his administration in bad light even when he spent N105 billion doing federal roads.
In the documentary which featured his giant strides in security, works, agriculture, works, education, transportation, health and social development, Amaechi’s administration was projected as not only having positively transformed the state, but provided opportunities for the indigent to climb to the apex of their potentialities.
Amaechi’s ally, , Senator Magnus Abe, explained how the governor pioneered the amnesty programmes through which unparallel insecurity in the state was drastically reduced.
The senator explained that the federal government borrowed the idea of amnesty from his administration and provided evidence to justify the claim.