Jonathan, wife are bent on removing me as Governor – Amaechi

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of turning the Peoples Democratic Party into what he termed “one-man show”.

He said Jonathan is engaging in “impunity and authoritarianism” in a bid to be re-elected in 2015.

In an interview with the Financial Times of London in Port Harcourt and published on Sunday, the Governor expressed concern over his future, alleging that the President and his wife, Patience, wanted him out of office at all cost.

According to him, “There is this fear in the Presidential Villa that whoever chairs the governors’ forum will influence the presidential election.

“What has happened has been engineered to the point where the President and his wife are now trying to remove me from office.

Continuing, “We are seeing an absence of law and order that can breed anarchy. It seems those at the Federal Government level are not interested in democracy, but impunity and authoritarianism. The President needs to check this.

He further lamented the refusal of the PDP leadership to recognise him as head of governors’ forum, despite obtaining 19 votes to 16 polled by his rival Jonah Jang of Plateau State.

“If they can accept 16 over 19, people should be worried,” he said.

Reacting, Presidential spokesman denied Amaechi’s claim, saying that his boss and his wife should not be dragged into Rivers politics.

“This is all local Rivers politics,” Abati said. “It’s convenient to drag the President into this, but it is not true. All these allegations are baseless.”