Rivers: Abati Goofed in Reaction to Amaechi’s Statements

Governor Chibuike Amaechi

The Rivers State Government has said the reaction of the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Media, Dr. Reuben Abati, to statements credited to Governor Chibuike Amaechi, during the All Progressives Congress (APC) mega rally in Port Harcourt last Saturday were off the mark.

Abati had said Amaechi “took his obnoxious willingness to denigrate the highest office in the land in a reckless bid to advance his selfish political interests to a new level of irresponsible and rascally behaviour with his totally false and baseless vituperations against President Goodluck Jonathan; the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan; and the federal government.

“It appears from the governor’s completely unfounded and off-the-mark allegations that he had totally lost all sense of propriety, decorum and responsible political behaviour and therefore resorted to unacceptable demagoguery, libel, blackmail and incitement of public disorder.”

Reacting to Abati’s statement, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the presidential spokesman did not address the issues raised by the governor.

Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday, Semenitari said: “The first thing to say is that clearly, that statement must have been written before the rally. If it wasn’t written before the rally, then I am at a loss at where Dr. Abati saw the so-called statement against the president, his wife and the federal government.

“There was no point during the rally where the wife of the president was mentioned and that was because issues being discussed were not issues about persons but about governance. The issues were in no way related to her as she does not hold any official position in government. Therefore, there is no need referring to her when governance issues are being discussed.

“I think  Abati must have written his statement in anticipation of what he hopes might have been said, or he had written it, having at the back of his mind his own previous statements against the First Lady and therefore just coming from the background of what he himself had written about the First Lady. He hoped and assumed that Amaechi will toe his line. Unfortunately, Amaechi was not interested in discussing persons. I think  Abati should listen again to the tape and perhaps, if Nigerians look at it, they may throw a co-relation between his response to Amaechi and his previous statements about the first lady.”

She said Amaechi did not also refer to Jonathan in any personal capacity but inrespect of the neglect of the state by the federal government.

Her words: “As it regards to Mr. President, again, Amaechi did not refer to the president in any personal capacity. He did refer to the activities of the federal government; he did refer to the fact that the federal government’s Ministry of Aviation has not completed the remodelling of the Port Harcourt International Airport, which was started at the same time as Enugu, Lagos, Kano and as Calabar.

“He did refer to the fact that Rivers people were being treated like refugees and we have become internally-displaced persons in our own state and our only offence was that we gave the president two million votes in 2011. He did complain that Rivers people not only feel marginalised, but are also poor cousins to the federal government. He did complain as to why Rivers people continue not to have the funds that come from their oil wells and the fact that the oil wells that belong to Rivers State were given to Bayelsa and Abia States.

“He wondered if it was an offence to be cousins to rich brothers. He asked if the Ijaw people in Rivers State were any less Ijaw than their cousins across the river in Bayelsa, in Delta and and Ondo States. He thought that if it was a matter of Ijaw ethnicity, which he ascribed to because he felt that first and foremost, Nigeria is a federation comprising of every ethnic coloration and therefore, every ethnicity should feel entitled to the common wealth.

“However, he said that if it happens to be a matter of ethnicity, then, certainly, the Ijaws in Rivers State deserved to also benefit from their Ijaw brother. He said that brotherhood means that you will take care of my needs as your brother and therefore, the Bonny-Bodo Road would have been completed by now.

“He did ask if it was not true that the first Port Harcourt Refinery was built by Tafawa Balewa. Perhaps,  Abati is either not sure of his historical facts or may be able to disprove the fact of who built the first Port Harcourt Refinery. He also did say that the Eleme Petrochemical was built by Ibrahim Babangida. Again, may be,  Abati has a fact that is contrary to that. Perhaps  Abati is unaware because he has not been following the releases of the federal allocation that states are receiving 50 per cent of what they were all receiving before.”

She noted that the governors of Bayelsa and Benue States had made similar complaints about dwindling resources while governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had also complained about the meddlesomeness of the first lady.

“Perhaps,  Abati should go back a listen to the meeting of the PDP governors so that he properly direct his statement to the people to whom he should direct it,” she said.

She insisted: “However, we have read his statement and we do not think that that statement is informed but we believe that it did not come from someone who followed the facts. Fortunately, the television stations aired it and he may like to request for the video so that he can watch it properly and be better informed, and therefore respond professionally.”

The commissioner advised the presidential spokesman to address the issues raised by Amaechi about the state of federal projects in the state.
Her words: “I will therefore just refer him back to the table and ask him to address the facts that have been raised by the Governor of Rivers State. The facts are clear that as at today,  there iw no significant federal presence in Rivers State. That as today, the Port Harcourt International Airport remains abandoned. That as at today, the Ministry of Niger Delta, created by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and have had a whole cake as an assignment; yet, the only thing that reoccurs on the agenda of the Niger Delta Ministry is the East-West Road. Perhaps, Abati will want to controvert that by showing us other issues that are on the agenda of the Ministry of Niger Delta.

“Let me also remind  Abati that threats, undue references and attacks on persons who are chief executives of their states is an attack and affront on the collective psyche of Rivers people. Telling Rivers people that their governor is not safe is something I think Abati will not want to do in a democracy. He should remember that his principal, as at today, has said he wants to run for an election; I am not sure he can win that election without the people and therefore,  Abati should be careful on how he tramples on the psyche of the electorate.

“He should remember that democracy is about participation and peoples’ right to express their grievances where such grievances occur.

“He must acknowledge that Rivers people have a right to feel battered and bruised; that the Train 7 of the NLNG has been refused to come on board and therefore over 10,000 Rivers people have not been employed. He must understand that the 10,000 youths are upset that they have not been allowed to have jobs because the Brass NLNG has not come up. He must understand that we must therefore find ways to assuage the feelings of these 10,000 youths who have not been employed because the Train 7 of the NLNG has not come on stream.

“He must find ways to explain to the people of Bonny why they cannot have a road leading to Bonny and why when Rivers State government wanted to embark on that road project along with NLNG, they were stopped by the federal government for which Abati works.”