RIVERS PDP CONDEMNS SOLIDARITY VISIT TO AMAECHI

The Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned the Tuesday
visit of the governors of four northern states to the embattled governor of Rivers State, Chibuike
Amaechi.
The party also warned the Commissioner of Information and Communication, Ibim
Semenitari to be carefull of her comments as they are inciting and potraying the
indigenious Rivers State citizens in bad light.
The party in a signed statement said the visit by the four governors and nobel laurete, Wole
Soyinka were unnecessary and these sort of actions are threatning to aggravate the already
dense political crisis in the state.
"On the visit by the Governors of Jigawa, Kano, Niger and Adamawa States as well as Prof. Wole
Soyinka, we see it as unnecessary, and it is only meant to aggravate the political crisis in the
state. "It's the like of these visitors from across the country that is encouraging Amaechi not to
have regard for the Rivers people, elders and constituted authorities in the state which is
unfortunate. "This visit to Amaechi is certainly political and aimed at aggravating the crisis in
the state and is therefore not welcomed by the people of the state.
"We also condemn in very strong terms Mrs. Ibim Semenitari's attempt to link the Minister of
State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike to the protest against the visit of the four Northern
governors to Government House, Port Harcourt. "This is another strategy to divert the attention
of the public from the numerous evil plots by Gov. Amaechi to ensure there is no peace in the
state, so that he will continue to rip off the state with his few acolytes", the PDP Media Adviser
declared.
Yesterday the convoy of the visiting governors was attacked by the anti-Amaechi protesters in
Port Harcourt on Tuesday, with the PDP saying the youth were just protesting the governors'
visit. The party said Mrs. Semenitari was not informing people rightly in her desperate bid to
save Mr. Amaechi, who it alleged was busy creating more crises in the state. Mr. Needam alleged
that the peaceful protest by a group of Rivers youth who gathered at the Port Harcourt
International Airport, Omagwa on Tuesday morning was apparently to disapprove of the solidarity
visit to Gov. Amaechi by four Northern Governors.
It claimed that while Mr. Amaechi remained recalcitrant and was bent on creating more confusion
in the state, the information commissioner "continued to leave her mouth wide open to lie to the
unsuspecting Rivers and the Nigerian people." The Rivers PDP said it wondered when it became
conventional for governors and politicians to pay solidarity visits to their colleagues in other
states, abandoning their own responsibilities at home, if they were not taking advantage of a
tele-guided fellow who had turned the state to a goldmine to all manner of diggers at the
expense of the deprived starved Rivers people.
Mr. Needam added that while the party would not support any group of persons in whatever
guise to indulge in any act that could breach the peace or brew crisis in the state, it demanded
to know why Mrs. Semenitari would always describe those opposed to her principal's excesses
as thugs whether they were expressing their views in newspapers, on radio or physically. It
claimed that when such protestations were in favour of Mr. Amaechi, such persons were hailed
as solidarity visitors.