A plot by top government agents to
portray Governor Rotimi Amaechi of
Rivers State as working with the
North to stall the re-election of
President Good-luck Jonathan was
uncovered in Kaduna yesterday.
Under the scheme, which is being
financed by a serving minister in the
present administration, N11 million
has reportedly been paid to two
Kaduna-based printers to produce
different sizes of posters bearing the
images of former Head of State,
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.),
and that of Amaechi as presidential
candidate and running mate in the
2015 poll, respectively.
The contract, allegedly awarded to
two printing firms (names withheld)
is for the production of no fewer than
10,000 copies of the posters with the
logo of the All Progressives Congress,
APC, and display them at strategic
points in the northern part of the
country.
The copies, according to sources
close to the printing companies, are
to be delivered and displayed in
selected Northern states before the
end of the week.
“The posters will hit the streets of
some states in the North at the
weekend,” a source close to the
printing firms confirmed yesterday.
The plot, however, hit the rocks when
one of the staff of the printing
company called the governor and
asked if he was the one that
authorised the printing job.
Amaechi, according to a source,
reported the plot to the security
agencies and gave the names of the
printers to them for verification.
However, Amaechi also raised the
alarm that he was being set up for
blackmail by a minister from the
South-South and appealed to
Nigerians to be wary of the antics of
the said man, who claims to be
working for the re-election of
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Amaechi’s reaction
Speaking through his Chief of Staff,
Mr. Tony Okorocha, Amaechi
described the antics of the minister
and his cohorts as criminal and an
attempt by him to gain undeserved
attention from the Presidency and the
people of Nigeria.
Okorocha said that Amaechi had not
made public his next political
ambition and warned those plotting
to drag his name in the mud to desist
from such devilish act or face the
wrath of Rivers people, whose
mandate he is holding in trust till
2015.
He said: “We want to call on
Nigerians to plead with the minister
to leave Amaechi alone and face the
arduous task of his ministry.
“What the minister is trying to do is to
deceive the undiscerning minds in
Rivers State and Nigeria so as to gain
undue attention and continue to stay
on in his post when he is nothing
more than a mischief-maker and an
expert in frivolity.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/2015-minister-fingered-plot-blackmail-buhari-amaechi/

Breath of 'Fresh Air'