My Problem With Dame Jonathan - Amaechi

Rivers State governor and chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has said his perceived misunderstanding with the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, arose out of his desire to provide a conducive learning environment for the children of Okrika, hometown of Mrs. Jonathan

Amaechi, who spoke when clergymen of the Niger Delta Bishops Forum visited him in Government House, Port Harcourt on Friday, said he has enormous respect for both President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience.

 The religious leaders were in Port Harcourt as part of their efforts to mediate in the political crisis in the state, having visited Mrs Jonathan and the minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike, on a similar mission some weeks ago.

 The governor said: “My lords, I don’t know what to say. Believe me, the only thing I want to say to you is that I want it to be on record that the first lady said when my wife came to beg me, I pushed her away. I have never quarrelled with my wife publicly, and I will never quarrel with my wife publicly. So there was no time I ever pushed my wife away, and there is no time I will push my wife away.”

“I hope this mediation will work. Niger Delta monarchs came and it yielded no result. Since you are men of God, I hope that God will bless this one. I hope so because that is the same way I spoke to them (the monarchs) and they said, ‘watch out, it will work’, and they never returned because it never worked. There are so many persons who had come to mediate but it yielded no result.”

 Amaechi added: “If it is peace that everybody wants, I am ready for peace. When you say you are seeking for permission, I am wondering why, because if you did not have the permission you would not have gone to see the wife of the president. The mere fact that you have seen the wife of the president means that you have initiated the peace move. So you don’t require any further approval than the approval of God that you have started with.

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Rt. Rev. James Aye Oruwori, said they came because they needed the governor’s permission to intervene in the prolonged crisis in the state and the dispute between him and the first lady.

Oruwori said they took the challenge to intervene in the crisis without external influence, having also visited Dame Jonathan to restore peace to the state.