Patience Jonathan as one of the main reasons, he...
also included other
economic projects neglected to the detriment of the people.
"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."
Amaechi also cited neglect of the Bonny Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas
(NLNG) Train Seven which could have created jobs for about 10,000
indigenes of the State. He said President Jonathan did this in order
to favour the Brass LNG project in Bayelsa state, a project he accused
the President of favouring since he was Deputy Governor of Bayelsa.
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."
Amaechi said soon the APC would capture the majority in the
legislature and would cease to be the opposition party in Nigeria.
"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.
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."
" 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."
Speak on my governor. We are solidly behind u
ReplyDeleteI hate cry babies. When the good was going and he used to receive all sorts of "presidential" favours, no one heard his voice but now they had a fall out, he runs his mouth...he should tell his stories to those that actually care.
ReplyDelete