Expel Amaechi If He Refuses To Resign Honourably, S’South Elders Tell PDP

Frontline Ijaw leader and Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, some South-South elders and stakeholders have called on the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to expel Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State if he refuses to resign honourably from the party.

Calling on the governor to resign from the PDP, they said this would enable him focus on his confrontation with the leadership of his party, adding that if he failed to resign his membership of the party, the national leadership should expel him from the party to restore sanity to the PDP as well as serve as deterrent to what they called “renegade members.”

The former Federal Commissioner for Information and the South-South elders made the call after assessing the state of the nation with particular reference to the lingering crisis in Rivers States.

The elders also took some of the northern governors, who visited Governor Ameachi as well as Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka to the cleaners saying: “We find it difficult to understand why Nigerians, including those acclaimed to be academics of international repute and serving governors have decided to fan the embers of disrespect, arrogance, and absolute insolence of Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

“We cannot comprehend the basis of the meddlesomeness of particularly some Northern Governors and busy body professors who have decided to carry the banner of the Rivers State internal crisis on their heads. When Gov. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, uncouth, ill-mannered, reminiscent of chequered upbringing, derogatorily undermines President Goodluck Jonathan, and unruly labels him as an ‘authoritarian dictator’ it is seen by these disgruntled apologists to be within the frame of normal political discourse.

“But when the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan makes an innocuous comment on the Rivers State crisis, these professors use the most virulent despicable grammar in the lexicon of Nobel laureates to qualify her. It is fictile, untraditional and unethical for a man to publicly insult another man’s wife as Africans. It is therefore confounding to see a supposed role model and responsible ‘husband’ in the mould of our obtrusive professor to throw decency in the winds to publicly denigrate and disparage the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. We doubt if there is a woman of honour in his house”, they said.

While acknowledging, as democrats that power belonged to the people, who are custodians of sovereignty, they said that “The emergence or otherwise of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 should he decide to contest, shall be the determinate responsibility of Nigerians.

“We, therefore, wish to caution that Nigerians, particularly those in authority should guard their utterances and actions to avoid over-heating the polity. The South South will hold any such persons wholly responsible should their overheating vituperations serve as a conductor to derail our hard won democracy particularly at this time when a son of the South South is privileged by the blessings of God and Nigerians to provide leadership.”

On moves by the group to reconcile both Amaechi and Jonathan, Clark said that he had personally made spirited efforts to seek audience with Amaechi but failed as the governor always absent himself from such meetings.

According to him, “When the trouble started, we know it will escalate, I had discussion with elders of Rivers State and we agreed to have a meeting with Amaechi but he did not show up.

“We have called several meeting which he did not attend, he is not picking my calls again, we have done everything to settle this matter, Amaechi is being used by people who want to destabilize this nation.”