Five days after Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, publicly made up with President Goodluck Jonathan, the governor has become demonised in front of the President by elders and factional leaders of his party the PDP.

Amaechi and Jonathan had embraced on Sunday at the Port Harcourt International Airport when the Nigerian leader was returning from his home state Bayelsa where he commissioned a hospital facility.

But this afternoon in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in the Nigerian capital Abuja, elders and leaders of the Rivers State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) painted the governor black during their courtesy call on President Jonathan. The delegation was led by Bro. Felix Amechi Obuah, Chairman of the state PDP loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike. The visit appears to be President Jonathan’s way of compensating the Wike camp, which he humiliated on Sunday by shunning it at the airport to embrace Amaechi and then zoom off after greeting members of the Rivers State EXCO introduced to him by the governor.

In an address read by Oduah, the delegation lambasted Governor Amaechi for his alleged disrespect and hostility towards Jonathan and his office, as well as for his public spat with the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu. The visitors also pledged their continued loyalty to President Jonathan and Hon. Wike. Below is an excerpt of Oduah’s speech:

“Your Excellency, we are pained and our heart bleeds today that the main champion of opposition in the country against Mr. President and indeed the Federal Government of Nigeria is our own son, Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. This is indeed shameful. We do not know what has come over the young man. Is it that he wants to destabilize the PDP before his eventual movement to his new party, having been handed over the ACN/APC structure in Rivers State? Unfortunately, he has repeatedly rebuffed every effort by us and well-meaning Nigerians to make him show remorse and respect for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Mr. President Sir, we sincerely apologize to you and the First Lady on this sad situation. We appeal that as the saying goes, “you do not visit the sin of the father on the son” and implore your Excellency, to remember us in prayers.

“To demonstrate that Rivers people are not with Governor Amaechi in this hostile attitude against Mr. President and our great party, we shall continue to support his suspension from the PDP by the National Working Committee until he retraces his steps from engaging in anti-party activities.

“Your Excellency, Governor Amaechi is not only showing disrespect to your office, he is also attacking the Nigeria Police, his grouse that the new Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Joseph Mbu is not doing his bidding as perhaps, some before him did by being used to terrorize innocent Rivers men and women including his perceived political opponents. Your Excellency, Mr. Mbu is a God-sent Commissioner of Police who has refused to be used to arrest and harass political opponents of Governor Amaechi and charging them to court on trumped-up charges. We are very proud of his impartiality and we join well-meaning Nigerians in Rivers State to celebrate him as a core professional.

“It is for this reason that our Governor has been doing everything including instigating commission of crimes to ridicule and blackmail the Commissioner of Police. Governor Amaechi desperately wants Mr. Mbu out of Rivers State and has publicly threatened to lead a street protest in Port Harcourt with hired persons and non-Nigerians. The idea of the protest we understand, is to further press for the removal of the patriotic and selfless Commissioner of Police in Rivers State.

“Your Excellency, we also want to use this opportunity to thank the Hon. Minister of State for Education, and our Leader Hon. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, who has been a source of inspiration as well as many others in our struggle to restore our dignity and forge ahead as a winning party.

Finally, as a party, Mr. President, we in Rivers State assure you that we will continue to support you, the Transformation Agenda and all your policies. As our son-in-law, we guarantee that you can go home and sleep with your two eyes closed, believing that AT ALL TIMES, WE WILL MASSIVELY SUPPORT AND STAND WITH YOU, COME RAIN COME SHINE.”

The delegation had earlier congratulated President Jonathan on his stewardship and for being a good in-law by taking good care of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, who hails from Rivers State.

•Photo shows Gov. Amaechi.

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