Jonathan/Amaechi Feud: How Wike Arm-Twisted Jonathan – Rivers PDP Chieftain

Jonathan and AmaechiA Rivers State chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Chief Security Adviser to ex-Governor Peter Odili, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, has fingered Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike as the source of the sour relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

According to Sara-Igbe, Wike pitted the President Jonathan the Rivers governor for his own selfish political ambition.

He said, “The issue of the crisis between Amaechi and the President is a self-made scheme of a particular aspirant who feels that such is the best way to achieve his ambition. And that aspirant has been able to bring fire at the backyard of the President to say ‘well, if you don’t support me, this fire will burn you. But if you bring me, I have the capacity to off this fire.’ And so, Mr President is being arm-twisted”.

The PDP chieftain, therefore, appealed to them to them to bury the hatchet in the interest of PDP and the state.

He warned that any attempt by the PDP to fall for the minister’s antics by fielding him as its governorship candidate in the forthcoming election, would lead to the party’s downfall.

The former security adviser also disclosed that elders of the region were ready to broker peace between Amaechi and Jonathan for the interest of not just Rivers and Bayelsa States but the South-South region as a whole.

Warning that Wike’s candidature would generate what he called “bad blood” in the state because he is an Ikwere man, Sara-Igbe said: “If the PDP brings a candidate other than Wike, we can achieve that peace but if Wike is the candidate for 2015 governorship in the state, we cannot achieve that peace. Wike’s candidature will also generate bad blood for the party.

“As a person, I will not say Wike is a bad man or he is a good man but what I am saying is that Wike, as an Ikwere man, has spoilt the whole thing because an Ikwere man has ruled. Celestine Omehia ruled for six months and handed over to Amaechi and Amaechi has ruled for over seven years now.

“Ikwere has taken it, Rivers State is made of more than 20 ethnic groups. So why must one ethnic group dominate it over the entire state? It is not fair. His (Wike’s) candidature will cause tension in the state and there will be resistance from the people of Rivers State and don’t forget that Amaechi is a sworn enemy of Wike, it will also generate bad blood and tension”.