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FROM CHRIS ANUCHA & TONY JOHN, PORT HARCOURT
Recently some reports had made the rounds that he impregnated the daughter of a prominent professor, and that the girl had already moved into his house. Another version of the story had it that the governor had problems with his wife, over her advice that he should soft-pedal on his approach to the rift between him and the presidency, for his own safety.
But the governor, during a chat with newsmen at the Government House, said his marriage was intact, contrary to what his opponents alleged that his wife ran away from Nigeria because he impregnated another girl.
He said: “That story is bad, but at least, it brought back my wife. I don’t think she was planning to celebrate Christmas in Nigeria. But with that story, I said, listen, you need to come back, so that they would know that you have not divorced me. So, she is back to see the husband, spend time with the husband, do some of her functions as wife of the governor; so that my opponents will know I’m still married. I am not just married, I am a Catholic. How many of you know what we say about Catholic marriage? As solid as a Catholic marriage, you have no room for divorce, you have absolutely no room for divorce. What you have is room for annulment, and only one ground can a marriage be annulled in the Catholic Church. That means, the marriage never took place; that means, the woman either deceived you into marrying her or the man deceived you into marrying him. If there was no deceit, any other thing is, for better, for worse.
“So, for those of you who publish such information…if you know me, you would know that it didn’t bother me.
My wife has also become like me; it didn’t bother her. But when our parents began to say, ‘No, we want to confirm, come home for some weeks’…”
The governor also used the forum to give more reasons for the misunderstanding between him and President Goodlkuck Jonathan, and why he decided to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “Like most of you may have known, I have since left PDP to a better party, All Progressives Congress, because PDP is a drowning party.”
According to the governor, between now and March 2014, more members of the National Assembly, including the Senate, would decamp to APC, thereby, turning PDP into opposition, instead of the ruling party it is at present.
“I can assure you that more governors will leave. They are quite uncomfortable,” Amaechi said, stressing that it would be difficult for PDP to win the presidential election in 2015.
According to the governor, his problem with the president started when the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan attempted to interfere in the governance of Rivers State and he resisted the move.
“I left PDP because, there was an attempt by the wife of the President to micro-manage governance in Rivers State and I said, no, you can’t, I’m elected, if I fail, the people won’t say the wife of the president failed, they would say, Governor Amaechi failed. So I’m accountable to God, to men and women of Rivers State,” Amaechi said.
Another reason he gave for his grouse with President Goodluck Jonathan was the injustice he meted out to Rivers State. Among them, he further explained, was the ceding of oil wells belonging to the state to Bayelsa and Abia States. He also adduced his rift with the president to his challenge to the Federal Government to account for N49 billion.
He said many Nigerians did not know that the governors were on strike for three months, as they refused to collect their monthly allocations. He disclosed that under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and late Umaru Yar’Adua, the total money made from oil subsidy was N300 billion, adding that in the first year of Jonathan’s administration (2011), it moved up to N2.3 trillion. He said as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, he was privileged to know the financial stand of the country during meetings with the president.
“I have been saying it for the past two years, since 2011, because I was Chairman of Governors’ Forum, I was sitting in the meetings with the president. I’m telling you why they want to crucify me. This fight is about change, it is about good governance and accountability,” Amaechi further said.
But the governor, during a chat with newsmen at the Government House, said his marriage was intact, contrary to what his opponents alleged that his wife ran away from Nigeria because he impregnated another girl.
He said: “That story is bad, but at least, it brought back my wife. I don’t think she was planning to celebrate Christmas in Nigeria. But with that story, I said, listen, you need to come back, so that they would know that you have not divorced me. So, she is back to see the husband, spend time with the husband, do some of her functions as wife of the governor; so that my opponents will know I’m still married. I am not just married, I am a Catholic. How many of you know what we say about Catholic marriage? As solid as a Catholic marriage, you have no room for divorce, you have absolutely no room for divorce. What you have is room for annulment, and only one ground can a marriage be annulled in the Catholic Church. That means, the marriage never took place; that means, the woman either deceived you into marrying her or the man deceived you into marrying him. If there was no deceit, any other thing is, for better, for worse.
“So, for those of you who publish such information…if you know me, you would know that it didn’t bother me.
My wife has also become like me; it didn’t bother her. But when our parents began to say, ‘No, we want to confirm, come home for some weeks’…”
The governor also used the forum to give more reasons for the misunderstanding between him and President Goodlkuck Jonathan, and why he decided to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “Like most of you may have known, I have since left PDP to a better party, All Progressives Congress, because PDP is a drowning party.”
According to the governor, between now and March 2014, more members of the National Assembly, including the Senate, would decamp to APC, thereby, turning PDP into opposition, instead of the ruling party it is at present.
“I can assure you that more governors will leave. They are quite uncomfortable,” Amaechi said, stressing that it would be difficult for PDP to win the presidential election in 2015.
According to the governor, his problem with the president started when the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan attempted to interfere in the governance of Rivers State and he resisted the move.
“I left PDP because, there was an attempt by the wife of the President to micro-manage governance in Rivers State and I said, no, you can’t, I’m elected, if I fail, the people won’t say the wife of the president failed, they would say, Governor Amaechi failed. So I’m accountable to God, to men and women of Rivers State,” Amaechi said.
Another reason he gave for his grouse with President Goodluck Jonathan was the injustice he meted out to Rivers State. Among them, he further explained, was the ceding of oil wells belonging to the state to Bayelsa and Abia States. He also adduced his rift with the president to his challenge to the Federal Government to account for N49 billion.
He said many Nigerians did not know that the governors were on strike for three months, as they refused to collect their monthly allocations. He disclosed that under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and late Umaru Yar’Adua, the total money made from oil subsidy was N300 billion, adding that in the first year of Jonathan’s administration (2011), it moved up to N2.3 trillion. He said as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, he was privileged to know the financial stand of the country during meetings with the president.
“I have been saying it for the past two years, since 2011, because I was Chairman of Governors’ Forum, I was sitting in the meetings with the president. I’m telling you why they want to crucify me. This fight is about change, it is about good governance and accountability,” Amaechi further said.
He insisted that people from the Niger Delta region, especially, Rivers people, were not benefitting from President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, citing the East-West road as an example. He disclosed that it was after he challenged the Minister for the Niger Delta that money was borrowed to commence work on the road.
He also condemned the Federal Government’s failure to expedite action on the construction work going on at the Port Harcourt International Airport, as was the case in Abuja, Lagos, Cross Rivers, Sokoto airports, among others.
He said: “They don’t like Rivers State. They hate us. I repeat, let Mr. President tell me what he has done for Rivers State. Should I remain in that kind of party that denies Rivers State its resources? Should I?”
He also condemned the Federal Government’s failure to expedite action on the construction work going on at the Port Harcourt International Airport, as was the case in Abuja, Lagos, Cross Rivers, Sokoto airports, among others.
He said: “They don’t like Rivers State. They hate us. I repeat, let Mr. President tell me what he has done for Rivers State. Should I remain in that kind of party that denies Rivers State its resources? Should I?”
- Amaechi accused President Jonathan of diverting projects meant for Rivers to Bayelsa State. He mentioned the Zonal Air Force Base, which late President Umaru Yar’Adua recommended to be sited in Rivers State and work on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Bonny, Rivers State, which has been suspended in favour of Brass LNG.
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