Inching Towards Rapprochement

Last Saturday, encounter between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, could be a sign of thaw in the frosty relationship between the duo, writes Shola Oyeyipo

Although a brief chance-meeting, it was momentous. Last Saturday, providence brought President Goodluck Jonathan and the Rivers State Governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, together at the Port Harcourt Airport, Rivers State at about 4:30pm. The two hugged each other, exchanged banter and had a very brief chat before the president who was in Port Harcourt enroute Bayelsa State, departed for his final destination.

That meeting, incredible though, made it the sixth month that the duo last had any such encounter. Amaechi’s intention to acknowledge the president at the mid-term report dinner in Abuja last week, would have written off that record but for the overzealous bodyguard who prevented him at the prodding of the Aide-de-camp and Chief Security Officer.

With respect to the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who witnessed the scene and protested to the president because she knew it was not only rude but also improper for a staff of the president to have prevented a sitting governor from seeing him. At this point, however, Amaechi was done. He first returned to his seat where he absorbed the shock for a few minutes and then, left.

However, the Port Harcourt spectacle was very significant, coming from the Villa experience. It was as a result of this that the peace initiative gained somewhat, instant media attention and a reflection of the anxiety already generated by the perceived hostility between the warring parties.

Whilst many had thought that the two leaders should have cashed-in on the opportunity to partly discuss their differences, it was apparent that the venue and timing was not the president’s call and so, not much was done at the Port Harcourt international airport even though it gave the inkling that a lasting peace was not impossible.

The underbelly of the crisis between the President and Amaechi was at the initial stage kept away from the public either by the concerned or those close to them.
In fact, very recently, the Bayelsa State governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, a diehard supporter of the president, feigned ignorance of any quarrel between the two. He said in an interview with THISDAY that "I'm not aware of any misunderstanding between the president and governor Amaechi. How can the President have a misunderstanding with a provincial player like me?"
But events of recent past have contradicted both divides as actions taken, especially by the presidency, have not shown a cordial relationship amongst the PDP, the presidency and the Rivers Governor.
Obviously, the frosty relationship culminated in the eventual suspension of Amaechi from the ruling party. A move the governor has also challenged in court.
Of the stories flying around, there is no authoritative version of what may have really triggered the cold war between Jonathan and Amaechi, but one of the earliest indications of no love lost emerged in 2010, when the first Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and Amaechi had a public argument over a demolition exercise in Okrika, the hometown of the first lady.

There was also the aspect of the Soku oil wells. The controversy over who owns the Soku oil wells between Rivers State and Bayelsa State has raged even before the emergence of the president and Amaechi. The two states are in court over this.

And due to the fact that the controversy has not been resolved, the proceeds from the said wells were transferred to an escrow account pending when a resolution will be reached on the matter. But early in the year, the Rivers State Government alleged that the money in the escrow account was released to the Bayelsa State Government. This has incited Amaechi to fight on. The feeling that the president authorised the release of the proceeds to Bayelsa State, his home state permeated Rivers State and increased the bad blood between them.

Worst still is the rumoured plan to field Amaechi as a vice-presidential candidate of the PDP in 2015. It was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who allegedly touted the idea of having the governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido as the presidential aspirant and Amaechi as his running mate.

Though Amaechi and Lamido had stridently denied any such thing, the subsequent exposing of some campaign paraphernalia of the said campaign has lent credence to the belief that the proponents of the idea were not joking after all and has also compounded Amaechi’s sins against the institution of the presidency.

The fight has had negative impacts and affected the state significantly. Even President Jonathan cannot say for certain that he has remained totally unperturbed too.

The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) in which Amaechi is chairman has not been left out of the battle of the titans. The implication is the sharp division which has produced a parallel faction led by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State.

While the forum had gained more political relevance, the president, has not been comfortable, especially considering that the Amaechi-led NGF has always been at loggerheads with him over issues such as the Sovereign Wealth Fund, Excess Crude Account, and the cost of the Petroleum subsidy. Amaechi soon got a stereotyping of an arrogant governor by standing up to the president on these issues even though he was advancing the group’s interest.

Today, the NGF crisis is believed to have been orchestrated by the presidency in order to distabilise the group or seize its control as a potent political tool in 2015.
Yet another resultant effect of the strained relationship is the alleged attempt to reduce Amaechi in every way possible. Thus, the grounding of his plane, and an earlier refusal by the National Security Adviser to clear the two new helicopters procured by the Rivers State Government for security surveillance in the state cannot be isolated.
That an Abuja court ordered the sacking of the Godspower Ake-led PDP executive in Rivers State is also perceived as part of the continued attack on Amaechi's government in the state. In manners that suggested that the Felix-Obuah-led executive is taking orders from 'above', it suspended 32 members of the State House of Assembly, believed to be loyal to Amaechi, although a court has since reversed that.
In the same breath, Obi-Akpor Local Government has been crisis-ridden in the aftermath of these undercurrents. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Joseph Mbu, even went as far as calling Amaechi a "dictator" at a public function. He only attempted to retract his unethical statement recently when he said "Governor Amaechi is my brother."

The totality of these has made peace elusive in the state. It has bred distrust and suspicion among brothers and as such, the calls for genuine reconciliation had increased among the people who are the greatest victims of the bitter rivalry. There are already

permutations of the likely consequences of a sustained, unresolved hostility between the two Niger Delta power brokers.
For some observers, if unchecked, the growing sympathy for Amaechi among Nigerians from different parts of the country may have costly impact on President Jonathan's re-election, if he decides to seek another term.

Aside the sympathy votes that may affect the president, there is also the calculation that if Amaechi is fielded, it would have a negative political effect on the Niger Delta region. The zone which is a minority in the power equation might be divided and that would not be in the larger interest of the people in the long run.

Unfortunately, the president and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party has received more negative reactions on the dispute. The president especially is being castigated as intolerant, undemocratic and dictatorial in his disposition. For those who are able to vent their anger against Amaechi, through the media, his case was captured as that of insubordination.

The totality of the squabble has continued to deteriorate and no matter how hard the duo attempt to abnegate the negative consequences of the situation, the fact remains that the crisis is a needless distraction.

Jonathan and Amaechi, observers reason must put an end to this unsavoury development especially that fifth columnists and members of the opposition party are already feasting on the crisis with a view to leveraging it in 2015.

But coming from the Port Harcourt airport meet, it was believed that the hope for a peaceful resolution of their differences was rekindled. And as such, time is now for sincere friends of the region and other peace loving Nigerians to move in and resolve the issues by re-uniting the president and the governor before it is too late.