The Rivers State Chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted yesterday’s solidarity visit to Governor Rotimi Amaechi by four northern governors.

The party in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the State Chairman on Media, Jerry Needam, also defended the action of anti-Amaechi elements who protested against the visit at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

The party wondered when it became conventional for governors and politicians to pay solidarity visits to their colleagues in other states, “abandoning their own responsibilities at home if they are not taking advantage of a teleguided fellow who has turned the state to a goldmine to all manner of diggers at the expense of the deprived starved Rivers people.”
“On the visit by the Governors of Jigawa, Kano, Niger and Adamawa States as well as Prof. Wole Soyinka, we see it as unnecessary, and is only meant to aggravate the political crisis in the state. It’s the like of these visitors from across the country that are encouraging Amaechi not to have regard for the Rivers people, elders and constituted authorities in the state which is unfortunate,” the statement said.
It claimed that the visit “is certainly political and aimed at aggravating the crisis in the state and is therefore not welcomed by the people of the state.”

Tension had risen sharply across the country following reports that Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) had been held hostage and pelted by protesters. The visit, however, eventually went well and the visitors safely returned to their various states later in the day.

Amaechi has been having running battles with the federal authorities over his alleged opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan, who appears likely to run for re-election in 2015.

•Photo shows the northern governors alighting from the aircraft . . . yesterday in Port Harcourt.