The gulf between President Goodluck Jonathan and
Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State widened
further over the weekend as the Presidency and the
Rivers State Government locked horns yet again.
This time, the Presidency was reacting to a recent
claim by Amaechi that Jonathan was after him.
The Special Adviser to the President on Political
Matters, Ahmed Gulak, who spoke to one of our
correspondents during a telephone interview implied
that Amaechi had an agenda.
The relationship between the President and the
governor has deteriorated in recent times with
several reports saying the feud is all about 2015
politics.
There are speculations that a bloc within the Peoples
Democratic Party, which is opposed to Jonathan,
wants Amaechi to be the vice-presidential aspirant of
a duo that will challenge Jonathan in the party's
future presidential primaries.
Amaechi had also said Jonathan was after him
because he had opposed the fraud in the fuel subsidy
regime, the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Excess
Crude Account.
But Gulak, who said Amaechi had the right to contest
the highest position in the country, warned the
governor to pursue his agenda without accusing
Jonathan wrongly.
He said, "If he has an agenda, he is entitled to pursue
his agenda. He is a Nigerian. He is qualified to hold
the highest office in the land.
"He is a politician and he is entitled to pursue his
agenda but he should stop making frivolous
allegations about the President."
The presidential adviser added that the President
had no reason to move against the governor, or any
PDP governor, as they all belonged to the same party.
He said, "The President is a man who follows the
provisions of the constitution. The President is a man
who consults robustly before taking decisions.
"The governors are members of the National
Economic Council and that council, though advisory
to the President, takes a lot of decisions about the
Sovereign Wealth Fund, Excess Crude Account and
everything. If they don't agree, such decisions are
not implemented.
"It is wrong for Amaechi to say the President is after
him because of that. People should not play to the
gallery. If people have agenda, let them pursue their
agenda but let them not point fingers at Mr.
President.
"Mr. President is not pursuing anybody. Mr. President
is not pursuing Amaechi or any other governor; after
all, they are all members of the same Peoples
Democratic Party family.
"But that does not mean that things should not be
properly done and agencies must be allowed to do
their work."
Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the
President had more important issues to attend to
rather than going after governors.
He said, "I will be surprised if the governor of Rivers
State made such a statement. That statement does
not apply to President Jonathan, he does not pursue
anybody. He is not a vindictive person.
"President Jonathan does not abuse his office. I
totally disagree with such a statement, it cannot be
true. I know for a fact that it is not true.
"It cannot be correct. The President has nothing to
gain or lose whether Amaechi remains the Chairman
of the Nigerian Governors' Forum or he is removed.
"The President is the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, he is not a governor and the
activities of governors are not his business directly or
indirectly.
"He has more serious issues to contend with,
delivering on the promises of his transformation
agenda which is what he is doing currently."
Reacting to Gulak's statement on Friday, the
governor, who spoke through his Chief Press
Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor, said Gulak had turned
himself to the "Wada Nas of President Jonathan's
administration."
The CPS said rather than build bridges for his boss,
the special adviser to the President was burning
bridges and picking up fights where none existed.
He said, "With each passing day, it is becoming too
clear that Gulak is certainly an adviser that Mr.
President does not need. Instead of building bridges
for his principal, Mr. President, Gulak has embarked
on a self-imposed, suicide-like mission of burning
bridges for his principal and picking fights where
none exists.
"Adviser Gulak has turned himself into the Wada Nas
of this administration with his unguarded and
uncouth statements.
"We will not condescend to his (Gulak) level or join
issues with him. We are too busy delivering
democracy dividends to Rivers people. We have no
time for clowns and Wada Nas-like characters like
Gulak."
Also, a close associate of Amaechi, who preferred
anonymity, said some of President Jonathan's aides
had failed to add value to the Office of the
Presidency.
"How can he (Gulak) say Amaechi has a hidden
agenda or a presidential ambition? For somebody in
the Presidency to say that Amaechi has a hidden
agenda shows that they are the people carving out
such an agenda.
"The truth is that the President's aides are not
adding value to the Office of Mr. President. All they
(President's aides) are doing is just to advance their
interest.
"We contributed an aircraft to the Goodluck/Sambo
presidency. His aides, who are now peddling
falsehood, never contributed anything to President
Jonathan's success at the last election," he added.
Amaechi, had said last week, at a seminar organised
in Ikogosi Ekiti, Ekiti State, by the Future Project, that
the Presidency was not happy with him for insisting
that transparency and accountability were needed in
the payment of petrol subsidy.
The governor said it was because of this that the
governors forum went to court to challenge the
legality of the Federal Government's action of using
money meant for the three tiers of government to
pay for petrol subsidy.
"It is one reason they don't want me as the
governors' (forum) chairman," Amaechi said at the
seminar.
Similarly on Thursday, Amaechi had accused the
Federal Government of not allowing a helicopter
Rivers State bought into the country because the FG
feared that the helicopter would be used for the 2015
elections.

Source: http://odili.net/news/source/2013/apr/14/828.html