Reprieve seems to be on the way for the embattled Rivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who was recently suspended by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC), as there are indications that he would soon be recalled. Giving this indication yesterday, in Abuja, Akwa Ibom State governor and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Obong Godswill Akpabio, at the end of the Professor Jerry Gana Special National Convention Committee meeting, said there are moves to recall Amaechi. The PDP NWC, led by national Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur had, on May 27, 2013 suspended Amaechi, while constituting an 11-member disciplinary committee headed by Chief Joe Gadzama (SAN]), with Anicho Okoro as secretary, to look into the petition against the Rivers governor.
Former national publicity secretary of the party, Barrister Olisa Metuh, in a statement disclosed that Governor Amaechi was suspended “following his refusal to obey the lawful directive of the Rivers State executive committee to rescind his decision on the dissolution of the elected executive council of Obiokpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.” Speaking yesterday, Governor Akpabio revealed that PDP governors were making efforts to ensure that the Rivers State governor was recalled. The Party had on Monday rescinded its decision to suspend the Sokoto State governor, Dr. Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, from the party. Akpabio, who earlier stated that no decision was taken on Amaechi’s case because of the subsisting court action, revealed PDP governors were working on an out-of-court settlement to facilitate soft-landing for the beleaguered Amaechi.
He said; “The reconciliation among the governors is already ongoing. If you noticed yesterday, (Thursday) we have almost all the governors of the PDP there. You saw almost every governor was there, even the recently recalled governor of Sokoto State attended the meeting. So, almost all the PDP governors were there. If there was any PDP governor that wasn’t there yesterday, he was probably on official duty for the Federal Government, and for the nation, because I know that the governor of Benue State, Mr. Suswam is a member of the NIPP Committee, running around, looking for investors in the power sector and I think they travelled to Hong Kong. So, he wasn’t there and I think his deputy was there too.
“So, you can see that peace is gradually returning to the fold of the entire PDP and I assure you that all issues will be resolved and because a journalist asked me the other day that, yes, you have recalled the governor of Sokoto State through the National Working Committee, what about the governor of Rivers State and I pointed out that the governor of Sokoto State didn’t go to court and that the other matters concerning my brother, the governor of Rivers State is in court and was therefore subjudice. “But we are exploring all means to ensure out-of-court settlement and to bring back everybody to the fold. It is important to note that we are very determined in the PDPGF to bring back our brothers together.” Governor Akpabio further told newsmen that as chairman of the PDPGF, he was determined to ensure genuine reconciliation, as division within its ranks was inimical to the party success at the coming general elections.
“The intention of our Forum isn’t to lose a single governor; instead, we want to increase in the number, because when I came in as a governor in 2007, we had almost 29 governors in the PDP, but through various court judgments and internal wrangling, the number depleted until we are now about 23. So, under this new Forum, we are very determined to increase the number and I can tell you we are lucky that we have elections coming up in November in Anambra State. We have two elections coming up in Osun and Ekiti states next year and the PDP is ready to work together, put its house in order and go out there and face the electorate and you know very well that outside internal wranglings, Nigerians believe in the PDP.”
Delta State governor, Dr. Emanuel Uduaghan also corroborated the stance of Governor Akpabio that certain governors worked round the clock to ensure reprieve for the Sokoto State governor. “As PDPGF, between us, we are doing a lot of reconciliation; you would have noticed that even the coming back of Wamakko had a lot of input from us. We had to appeal to the leadership of the party that the suspension should be reversed and the party graciously agreed to that. So, whatever is left we are handling it at that level,” he stated.
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