BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State, says his fell out with former President Goodluck Jonathan over his opposition to upward review of subsidy payments
TOWARDS the latter part of the last administration, it was common knowledge that former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, had a frosty relationship. On Monday, August 3, Amaechi revealed that one of the reasons he fell out with Jonathan was because he refused to support the former president’s bid to secure the support of governors for an upward review of subsidy payments. He also alleged that Jonathan asked him not to seek re-election as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, because of his principled stand against the unjustified depletion of a common patrimony.
Amaechi, who spoke in Abuja at a dinner organised in his honour by his friends, also accused the former president of taking away oil wells belonging to the people of Rivers State, a situation which he said, adversely affected the state revenue. He said: “When the trouble between me and the former President started, as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the oil subsidy was N300bn under President (Olusegun) Obasanjo. It remained the same under Yar’Adua. Six months of President Goodluck Jonathan, the oil subsidy rose to N1.9trn. Is it that the country now doubled its population or bought more machines or started manufacturing?
“As the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, I was in a position to get my own share of the N1.9trn, but I chose the part of honesty and truth; you cannot catch me being dishonest. There was a time I walked into a meeting with the former president (Goodluck Jonathan) and in the meeting, the argument was that they wanted more money for oil subsidy. As the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, I stood my ground and told the then president I was not going to support that.
“He asked me why and I explained that we are already in court with you on the issue of fuel subsidy. The ex-President abused the hell out of my life. I have huge respect for the President, but the only thing that made me disagree with him was on the issue of the management of the country’s treasury,” Amaechi said.
Amaechi challenged those who claimed that he betrayed the South-South with his support for the All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari to tell the world how former President Jonathan’s presidency benefited the region in particular and Nigeria in general. He pointed out that by his own admission, the former president, while seeking re-election, appealed to the people of the zone to give him a second chance because he did nothing for them in his first term.
The Committee of Friends was chaired by Timipre Sylva, former Bayelsa State governor. Others in the group included Senator Magnus Abe, Dakuku Peterside, governorship candidate of the APC in Rivers State and the governors of Plateau and Bauchi states, among others.
— Aug 4, 2015 @ 13:50 GMT
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