Barely 72 hours after President Goodluck
Jonathan's security aides blocked the Rivers
State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, from
exchanging pleasantries with the President
during a dinner at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja, the duo met at the Port Harcourt
International Airport on Saturday and
embraced.
Shortly before departing Port Harcourt for
Abuja after inaugurating a hospital in his
hometown in Otuoke, Ogbia Local
Government Area of Bayelsa State, the
embattled Chairman of the Nigerian
Governor's Forum walked up to the
president who shook his hands before
both men embraced.
Although none of them made any public
comments, they exchanged pleasantries
briefly before the President eventually
boarded his flight and departed for Abuja.
The Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, told THE
PUNCH that Amaechi was at the airport to see the President off in line with
established protocol, pointing out that
there was nothing unusual about it despite
their seeming political differences.
According to Mr. Abati, protocol required
that when the President is in any state, the
governor or his deputy should be on
standby to receive him on arrival and see
him off when he is departing, adding that
since the President was passing through
Port Harcourt to Bayelsa State or back, it
was expected that Amaechi or his deputy
should receive or see him off.
On whether the development was an
indication that the face-off between the
President and the governor was over, the
presidential spokesman denied the
existence of any rift between them.
"Governor Amaechi was at the airport to
see the President off. There is nothing
unusual about that. It is the duty of a state
governor to receive and see the President
off when he visits a state. In the event that
the governor is not available, the deputy
governor carries out the task. This is part of
protocol. "In this case, anytime the President is
visiting Bayelsa State, he passes through
Port Harcourt and the governor receives or
sees him off. There is no rift between the
President and the governor in the first
place," Mr. Abati said.
Despite Abati's denial, it remains an open
secret that the duo have not had a smooth
relationship in what observers see as part
of the political scheming in the build up to
the 2015 elections.
Although Mr. Amaechi has denied nursing
any presidential or vice-presidential
ambition come 2015, speculations are
widespread that he is planning to team up
with a northern candidate to contest
against President Jonathan, whose body
language suggests he plans to run for a
second term of office.
The frosty relationship between Mr.
Amaechi and President Jonathan came to a
head when the governor contested and
won the Nigeria Governors' Forum election
against his Plateau State counterpart, Jonah
Jang, said to have been put forward as the
choice of the president and the Peoples
Democratic Party.
The PDP National Working Committee has
since suspended the Rivers governor from
the party, citing a petition written by the
Rivers State chapter of the party against the
governor for violating some sections of the
party's constitution.
While attending the presidential dinner in
Abuja last Wednesday, Mr. Amaechi denied
any wrongdoing, saying those supporting
Mr. Jang, who lost the NGF election, to
destabilize the NGF were undemocratic.
http://m.allafrica.com/stories/201307011693.html/?secid=10063

Hmmm.... act 2 scene 1, waiting for scene 2