Politics
Amaechi Speaks On PDP Reconciliation
Last week the Government House was full of activities. Sunday set the tone of a busy week with Governor Chibuike Amaechi receiving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee on a reconciliatory town hall meeting in Port Harcourt.
Amaechi, while playing host to the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, said the state will still be largely PDP, while lauding the reconciliation meeting as welcome, since it will reconstruct and rebuild the party.
“We are in PDP, I have told my cabinet members that if we want to win election, we must work in such a way that the people are happy with us. Currently, we are popular in Rivers State, we have to maintain our popularity while in office and thereafter, and the only way to maintain that popularity is to continue to do what we are doing now, putting the people first”, Amaechi said.
Both Tukur and Amaechi later proceeded to the Civic Centre where the party had a town hall meeting with party faithful. Governor Uduaghan of Delta State and Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom were present at the forum, while Governor Liyel Imoke and Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson sent their representatives.
Proceeding to Abuja on Monday for National Council of State meeting, Governor Amaechi delegated State Commissioner for Agriculture, Emma Chindah to represent him at the 38th Annual Conference and 40th Anniversary of the Nigerian Society for Animal Production (NSAP) held in the State University of Science and Technology (RSUST).
Amaechi who spoke through Chindah tasked NSAP on evolving practical ways of achieving sustainable development in animal production.
He said, “we are happy to share with you some of our strides in the area of economic development which agriculture cannot be removed from. We believe that we can develop infrastructure to the best extent that we can do to stimulate our economy”.
Governor Amaechi presided over the State Executive Council meeting on Tuesday on returning from Abuja. The meeting which sat for about six hours decided and announced the appointment of Prof. Otonti Nduka as the first Chairman of the State Education Quality Assurance Agency Board.
Also discussed and approved by the Exco is the Education Summit to be held on 25th and 26th of March and the body also announced the plan to set up the Garden City Private Equity Investment Corporation Law of 2013.
With the announcement of the Garden City Private Equity Investment Corporation, the State Executive Council directed the Secretary to the State Government and Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General to work on the law to be forwarded to the House of Assembly for approval.
The Governor on rising from the Exco meeting proceeded immediately to receive three Scandinavian envoys from Norway, Finland and Austria.
The Ambassadors expressed their desire to enter into multilateral agreements with Rivers State in the areas of education, commerce and energy, Mrs Riita Korpivaara of Finland said, “we plan to visit the University of Port Harcourt to discuss education development in Rivers State and how our countries could partner with Rivers State in the field of education which is an area that is especially dear to me and my country, Finland”.
On Wednesday, Governor Amaechi played host to Committee on Finance, led by its Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
The State Governor used the visit to demand for a new revenue sharing formula in the country, arguing that the current revenue sharing formula does not give states fair share of the country’s revenue and urged the National Assembly to amend the constitution.
Aside asking for a better revenue formula, Amaechi decried the poor use and tariff in the Port Harcourt and Onne Ports. “Ordinarily you should expect people from Anambra, Imo, Abia State to import through Port Harcourt, than import through Lagos. So, we will be glad if you can either investigate or find a way to appeal to those who collect those monies to please try and pity the Rivers people”.
On hearing the death of Nigeria’s literary icon, Prof Achebe on Thursday, Governor Amaechi through his Chief Press Secretary, David Iyofor sent condolence messages to the family.
The Chairman of Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) who presided over a meeting of the body (NGF) on Thursday made public results of study of Polio eradication in the various states.
Amaechi also on Thursday received the state share of certificate in the disbanded Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) alongside other states.
Lamenting the demise of Prof. Achebe in a statement on Friday, the governors said, “As the nation mourns this irreparable loss, I pray that God grants his family the strength to bear this great loss and to all of us”.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.