Ahead of the March 28 General elections, Rivers State Governor and<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Nigeria Governor\u2019s Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi
\nhas accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party,
\nPDP of breaching the Abuja Peace accord. He accused Mr. President and the
\nPDP of inciting violence in the country.<\/p>\n
Amaechi stated this Wednesday when the Special Representative of the
\nUnited Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and High level
\nRepresentative of the Secretary-General to Nigeria, Dr. Mohamed Ibu
\nChambas led other top UN Diplomats and delegation on a courtesy visit to
\nthe Governor in Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n
Amaechi also accused the President wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan of taking
\nover control of the Police in Rivers State.<\/p>\n
According to him, “Members of APC have been crying out loud to the country
\nand the world. In Rivers State, the wife of the President, who is from
\nRivers State has taken over the control of the Police Force. On Tuesday
\nnight, the Commissioner of Police attempted to arrest a member of the
\nRivers State House of Assembly and the reason for doing that is to ensure
\nthat APC members don\u2019t come out on election day. And as I speak to you
\nnow, the lawmaker has moved into Government House for protection. More so,
\nwe have over 400 APC members in Police detention. The other day, I asked
\nthe Police Commissioner and he
\ntold me that those arrested were criminals and why should I ask him to
\nrelease them. Do we only have criminals in APC?”, Amaechi queried.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about the period when the APC gubernatorial candidate Dr. Dakuku
\nPeterside led members of the Party to a rally in Okrika. The APC campaign
\ntrain was shot at, by hoodlums and PDP members. Now, ask the Commissioner
\nof Police if he carried out any arrest? In that attack it was observed
\nthat the PDP killed a Policeman and injured several APC members. The
\nCommissioner of Police is totally helpless\u201d, Amaechi explained.<\/p>\n
Continuing Amaechi said, \u201cIn the same vein, on Tuesday, PDP hoodlums went
\nto the House of the Commissioner of Power, Hon. Augustine Nwokocha with
\nMilitary Uniforms and killed his relations, injured others and further
\nburnt down the house of his Personal Assistant. All these attacks and
\nimpunity can measure that the elections can be free, but, may not be
\nfair\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe APC is not running election against PDP all over the states across
\nthe country. The APC is running election against the institutions of
\ngovernment. And they include; the Police and the Military. The Chief of
\nArmy Staff, Lt. General Kenneth Minimah is from Rivers State. As I talk to
\nyou now, he has deployed Special Military to Opobo\/Nkoro local government
\narea where he comes from, and incidentally, the APC guber candidate, Dr.
\nDakuku Adol Peterside comes from Opobo. So, you virtually expect
\nresistance and nobody is concerned about the plight of APC. The APC is
\nthreatening to go back to the International Criminal Court (ICC) where the
\nUnited Nations will witness how President Jonathan and the PDP are using
\nthe Police and the Military to trigger violence\u201d, Amaechi said.<\/p>\n
Governor Amaechi also condemned and described as totally unacceptable and
\nunconstitutional the conspiracy between President Jonathan and the PDP
\nagainst the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal Judgments restricting
\nPresident Jonathan from deploying the Military in the March 28th and April
\n11, 2015 general elections.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cImagine, there are three Judgments passed so far by the
\nFederal High Court in Sokoto, the Federal High Court in Lagos and the
\nCourt of Appeal in Lagos restricting the President from deploying soldiers
\nfor the general elections. The constitution of Nigeria says, the President
\ncan\u2019t deploy soldiers for elections.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important that you put this incidents on record. I don\u2019t know why
\nthe battle is here, and may be the battle is here in Rivers State because
\nin the past PDP used to score two million votes. And now it appears it
\nwill no longer be the same as usual. But that does not mean that lives of
\ninnocent people should be lost. I was there when President Jonathan and
\nGeneral Muhammadu Buhari signed the Abuja Peace accord. Unfortunately,
\nPresident Jonathan and the PDP are yet to keep any accord or any alphabet
\nof that accord. In the case of APC, the Party is keeping to the accord and
\nalso restricting our members and supporters from violating the accord.”<\/p>\n
I have a friend who tells me that everybody has a fundamental right to air
\nhis or her grievances, and that right ends at my nose where my right
\nbegins. The PDP has being swinging their rights and it has touched our
\nnose continuously with impunity. We are believing God-Almighty that APC
\nwill win well and go to sleep\u201d, Amaechi noted.<\/p>\n
Amaechi equally observed with concern a statement credited to his Deputy
\nGovernor, Engineer Tele Ikuru at a PDP function in Port Harcourt saying,
\n\u201ceven if it means for the Presidency and PDP to spill blood to win the
\nelections, they should go ahead\u201d, describing the statement as malicious
\nand capable of inciting violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Nigeria, Politicians use money to buy guns. It is possible that the
\nPDP can even provide military uniforms to hoodlums to carry arms against
\nthe APC. But, the National Executive Council of APC is far from that crude
\nattitude and has resolved that the party must seek ways of minimizing the
\nrising spate of crisis in the country and ensure the PDP do not tamper
\nwith the elections but to ensure free and fair elections. The Propensity
\nfor violence is more on the side of the PDP. In APC, we have elites,
\neducated and decent minded followers, and if you ask me, I will urge the
\nUnited Nations to call President Jonathan to order. I think it is
\nimportant that you take this report to the United Nations
\nSecretary-General to ask President Jonathan to work within the ambit of
\nthe nation\u2019s constitution and ensure peace in the country\u201d, Amaechi said.<\/p>\n
Governor Amaechi who also doubles as the Director General of the
\nBuhari\/Osinbajo Campaign organisation also described as unacceptable the
\ninvolvement of Head of Service of the Federation in Partisan Politics when
\nhe said, \u201cDirectors of Ministries and the Federal Civil Service should go
\nhome and make sure they deliver President Jonathan in the general
\nelections\u201d.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Special Representative of the United Nations
\nSecretary-General for West Africa and High level Representative of the
\nSecretary-General to Nigeria, Dr. Mohamed Ibu Chambas said the delegation
\nwas in Nigeria to sensitize and advise Political Parties and candidates
\nfor the election to ensure a level playing ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are focusing on the elections because of the concern of the
\ninternational community. The focus globally is on Nigeria, especially on
\nthe elections. The Presidential Candidates, President Jonathan and General
\nMuhammadu Buhari have signed a peace accord ahead of the elections. They
\nhave advised their followers to do the same process and INEC should also
\nbe allowed to conduct a free and fair elections. The UN has organized a
\nworkforce to assist INEC conduct credible elections in the country\u201d, Dr.
\nChambas said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahead of the March 28 General elections, Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governor\u2019s Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n