‘ Plot to force Amaechi to resign , act of desperation ’

Progressives Congress ( APC) has
condemned a reported plot to abduct ,
blackmail and force Governor Chibuike
Amaechi of Rivers State to resign from
office, saying “ it is the last desperate act
of those who are bent on getting rid of
the Governor at all cost . ”
In a statement in Lagos on Sunday by
its Interim National Publicity Secretary,
Lai Mohammed , the party said the plot ,
exposed by Rivers Peoples Forum,
“ Should be taken very seriously, against
the background of a similar occurrence
in the past and the outcry by Governor
Amaechi that his life was in danger. ”
‘’ Anyone who thinks this alarm by the
Rivers Peoples Forum is outlandish
should remember what happened to
then Anambra State Governor Chris
Ngige , who was abducted and rough
handled in 2003 in what is undoubtedly
the most egregious violation of
democratic institutions in our country ’ s
history .
‘’ The instigators and perpetrators of the
crisis in Rivers are keenly aware that
they are running out of options .
“ Their impeachment plan has been foiled
by the takeover of the legislative
functions of the Rivers State House of
Assembly by the National Assembly ,
while their plan to declare a state of
emergency in the state has also failed,
against the lack
of support for such act by the National
Assembly .
‘’ This is the reason for this last
desperate act by an increasingly -
desperate Presidency , which may not
exclude a final solution .
“ We are therefore , for the umpteenth
time , calling on civil society and human
rights organisations , opinion leaders and
indeed all lovers of democracy and
believers in constitutional rule to
intervene to stop the culture of impunity
in Rivers State , ’’ APC said .
The party added that it was instructive
that a day after the Rivers Peoples
Forum exposed the plot against
Amaechi , “The so - called chairman of the
PDP in Rivers , Felix Obuah , set out to
prepare the grounds for the devilish plot
when he called a press conference to
deliver a harangue against Gov.
Amaechi whom he accused of insulting
and dragging the names of President
Goodluck and the First Lady , Dame ( Dr )
Patience Jonathan to the mud. ”
‘’ There can be no better confirmation of
the evil plot than this , ’’ the party said.
It also warned that the madness in
Rivers State , which is being carried out
under the watch of the Presidency ,
“ which has made the state ’ s Police
Commissioner the de facto Governor
with a clear instruction to neutralise the
elected Governor, should not be seen as
an isolated incident , but as a part of a
grand plot and a test run for 2015 .
Meanwhile, a group , Rivers ’ People
Forum ( RPF ) , has condemned factional
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party ( PDP ) in Rivers State , Felix Obuah ,
for denigrating and disparaging the
person and office of the Governor of
Rivers State and Chairman of the
Nigerian Governors Forum ( NGF ) ,
Amaechi .
The group noted that Obuah was a
lackey of Minister of State for Education,
Nyesom Wike , who himself is “an
erstwhile protégé and boy of Governor
Amaechi who was nominated to the
ministerial position by the Governor . ”
The RPF , an umbrella body of all Rivers
people both at home and in the
Diaspora, said over the months it had
watched with disgust “the scurrilous
comments and statements of Wike ,
Obuah and Wike ’s other lackeys who
persistently assail the person and office
of the Governor of Rivers State under the
pretensions of defending and fighting for
President Goodluck Jonathan and his
dear wife , our lovely , beautiful sister
Patience . ”
President of the RPF , Charles Bekwele, in
a statement warned Wike and Obuah
“ and their co - travellers ” that their
actions and statements are destroying
the office of the President , by dragging
the name of its present occupant and
his wife in the mud .
“ Their penchant for always dragging the
name of President Jonathan and his
wife into their petty war of attrition
against Governor Amaechi is
tantamount to rubbishing President
Jonathan in a most brutal and crude
manner and a vicious humiliation,
disrespect and bastardisation of the
office of the President , ” the group added.