Thursday 12 September 2013
It was a scene yesterday at the government house in Rivers state when the police refused Gov. Amaechi and his fellow members of the new PDP entry into the building.
Governor Amaechi is one of the G-7 governors who broke away from the PDP to form a factional body, the new PDP.
The police action came on the heels of the sealing off of the new PDP office on the route that leads to the Government House, along the Forces Avenue in Old GRA of the city.
Governor Amaechi, who is also the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), has been having a running battle with the presidency and the leadership of the PDP since he defied the party’s directive not to run for the chairmanship of the NGF. He has since been under suspension from the party.
The action of the police came barely 48 hours to the resumption of truce talks in Abuja on Sunday.
It was gathered that the governor, who had been at the Port Harcourt International Airport to receive President Goodluck Jonathan to Rivers State, was on his way to Government House when policemen, acting on the orders of the commissioner of police, Rivers State command, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, stopped his convoy.
The governor’s convoy made a U-turn and passed through the main gate of the Government House, making it possible for the governor to have free access to his official residence.
A mild drama occurred at the scene as Governor Amaechi was said to have alighted from his vehicle to find out what was wrong, but he was told by the policemen that they had instructions to block the road, which is the major route to the Government House.
The development was said to have elicited altercations between the policemen and the governor’s security team but had to be brought under control as the governor made a U-turn and made his way to the Government House through another route.
For more than four months now, the Rivers CP, Mbu, and Governor Amaechi have been at each other’s throat with accusations and counter-accusations renting the air as the political crisis continues unabated.
