Rivers State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria
Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi
has described as betrayal of his people the position
taken by an Abonnema traditional ruler, King Disrael
Gbobo Bob-Manuel on the disputed Soku oil wells in
Rivers State.
Bobmanuel, the Amayanabo of Abonnema had
reportedly expressed satisfaction with the way
President Goodluck Jonathan was handling the
Soku oil wells’ dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa
States.
He expressed this position when Bayelsa State
Governor, Seriake Dickson visited him in
Abonnema.
Governor Amaechi speaking on TODAY 95.1FM, the
premium talk/news radio station in Port Harcourt
on Wednesday, said he was disappointed with King
Gbobo Bob-Manuel’s comments.
He said the response by the Abonnema monarch
conflicted with his government’s efforts and
Kalabari people desire to ensure that resources of
the state were not whisked away to other states.
“There is an attempt by the Federal Government to
undermine the development of Rivers State. I did
enumerate the fact that, everybody is talking about
Soku oil wells but, there’s also Etche where they
took 41 oil wells from Rivers State and passed onto
Abia. They want to impoverish Rivers State and I
can’t be governor and you expect me to keep quiet.
So not just Soku alone, it is also the fact that they
have taken the oil wells in Etche.
“I hear my colleague, the Governor of Bayelsa State
came to Abonnema the other day and the
Amanyanabo of Abonnema received him and said
he was satisfied with the way the president is
handling the oil wells (dispute). For me, that is a
betrayal of his people and he is suppose to be a
king in Kalabari Kingdom and he said he is satisfied
that the federal government has taken the oil wells
and that Bayelsa is receiving the money. And a king
in Abonnema is saying he is satisfied. It is not
about me, it is about the Kalabari people. It is about
the Rivers people.”
“Instead of the king to tell him(Bayelsa Governor)
‘look, our people are not happy that the oil wells
have been taken, return it’…..and I have told the
president if you return the oil wells, I will support
you, but he can’t. I even told them that if you think it
would empower me as a governor, keep the money
in an escrow account because the money was first
and foremost in an escrow account, because they
became president they went to the escrow account
and took the money. Keep the money in escrow
account, after my tenure let them give the money to
the next government but what I want to see done is
the fact that our resources are returned to us.”
He recalled that he held several meetings with the
President on resolving the Soku oil wells’ dispute,
but that the president’s unwillingness to act on the
issue without bias collapsed the negotiations.
He avowed to protect and defend the interests of
the people in Soku as well as those in other parts of
the state.
“The question you should ask is that, is it correct
that the oil coming from Soku have been
appropriated by the Federal Government and given
to Bayelsa? I have been saying this for the past two
years, why haven’t they denied that? There is
nothing that I have said that they have responded to.
Instead of responding to it, they will be abusing me.
Is it a lie that they took Soku oil wells to Bayelsa? Is
it a lie that they also took the 41 oil wells from
Rivers to Abia?”, he queried.
“There is nothing I am telling you in public I have
not told the President in private. The only reason
why I am in public now is because he has refused
to do anything. I would like to quote the response he
(President Jonathan) gave to the Kalabari people
when he met with them and I was there. The
President said ‘oh, you people call it Soku, we call it
Oluasiri’. When he said ‘we call it..’, what does he
mean? It means that he has taken sides. You know,
the President is not supposed to take sides. He
didn’t say ‘Rivers people call it Soku, Bayelsa
people call it Oluasiri’. If he said that, then we would
say okay, he is at the centre too, we can discuss
this. He said ‘you people call it Soku, ‘we’ call it
Oluasiri’. Already, that shows the judgement has
already been given.
“Now, in their submission in court and the letter
they wrote Rivers State Government, they did
acknowledge that it was a mistake that in the
course of the drawing of that map, they drew Soku
into Bayelsa and then we complained against it
because it was sent to us to review and make our
submissions. Our response was ‘no, no, you have
made a mistake.”
“You have just taken our community into Bayelsa.
They replied that they have already released this
map and that it is unfortunate that they have and it
was a mistake that they would correct in the
subsequent edition. And they have not been able to
make that correction and when they say they want
to invite us to a meeting, I say ‘what are you inviting
us to a meeting for? You have already
acknowledged that there was a mistake, go and
correct the mistake. If Bayelsa has any complaints,
then put the complaints on the table after you have
corrected it”.
Governor Amaechi disproved claims that he had
personal misunderstanding with the President,
explaining that any misunderstanding he had with
the president was over the interests of Rivers State.
Press Unit
Government House, PH.
January 1, 2014.
Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi
has described as betrayal of his people the position
taken by an Abonnema traditional ruler, King Disrael
Gbobo Bob-Manuel on the disputed Soku oil wells in
Rivers State.
Bobmanuel, the Amayanabo of Abonnema had
reportedly expressed satisfaction with the way
President Goodluck Jonathan was handling the
Soku oil wells’ dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa
States.
He expressed this position when Bayelsa State
Governor, Seriake Dickson visited him in
Abonnema.
Governor Amaechi speaking on TODAY 95.1FM, the
premium talk/news radio station in Port Harcourt
on Wednesday, said he was disappointed with King
Gbobo Bob-Manuel’s comments.
He said the response by the Abonnema monarch
conflicted with his government’s efforts and
Kalabari people desire to ensure that resources of
the state were not whisked away to other states.
“There is an attempt by the Federal Government to
undermine the development of Rivers State. I did
enumerate the fact that, everybody is talking about
Soku oil wells but, there’s also Etche where they
took 41 oil wells from Rivers State and passed onto
Abia. They want to impoverish Rivers State and I
can’t be governor and you expect me to keep quiet.
So not just Soku alone, it is also the fact that they
have taken the oil wells in Etche.
“I hear my colleague, the Governor of Bayelsa State
came to Abonnema the other day and the
Amanyanabo of Abonnema received him and said
he was satisfied with the way the president is
handling the oil wells (dispute). For me, that is a
betrayal of his people and he is suppose to be a
king in Kalabari Kingdom and he said he is satisfied
that the federal government has taken the oil wells
and that Bayelsa is receiving the money. And a king
in Abonnema is saying he is satisfied. It is not
about me, it is about the Kalabari people. It is about
the Rivers people.”
“Instead of the king to tell him(Bayelsa Governor)
‘look, our people are not happy that the oil wells
have been taken, return it’…..and I have told the
president if you return the oil wells, I will support
you, but he can’t. I even told them that if you think it
would empower me as a governor, keep the money
in an escrow account because the money was first
and foremost in an escrow account, because they
became president they went to the escrow account
and took the money. Keep the money in escrow
account, after my tenure let them give the money to
the next government but what I want to see done is
the fact that our resources are returned to us.”
He recalled that he held several meetings with the
President on resolving the Soku oil wells’ dispute,
but that the president’s unwillingness to act on the
issue without bias collapsed the negotiations.
He avowed to protect and defend the interests of
the people in Soku as well as those in other parts of
the state.
“The question you should ask is that, is it correct
that the oil coming from Soku have been
appropriated by the Federal Government and given
to Bayelsa? I have been saying this for the past two
years, why haven’t they denied that? There is
nothing that I have said that they have responded to.
Instead of responding to it, they will be abusing me.
Is it a lie that they took Soku oil wells to Bayelsa? Is
it a lie that they also took the 41 oil wells from
Rivers to Abia?”, he queried.
“There is nothing I am telling you in public I have
not told the President in private. The only reason
why I am in public now is because he has refused
to do anything. I would like to quote the response he
(President Jonathan) gave to the Kalabari people
when he met with them and I was there. The
President said ‘oh, you people call it Soku, we call it
Oluasiri’. When he said ‘we call it..’, what does he
mean? It means that he has taken sides. You know,
the President is not supposed to take sides. He
didn’t say ‘Rivers people call it Soku, Bayelsa
people call it Oluasiri’. If he said that, then we would
say okay, he is at the centre too, we can discuss
this. He said ‘you people call it Soku, ‘we’ call it
Oluasiri’. Already, that shows the judgement has
already been given.
“Now, in their submission in court and the letter
they wrote Rivers State Government, they did
acknowledge that it was a mistake that in the
course of the drawing of that map, they drew Soku
into Bayelsa and then we complained against it
because it was sent to us to review and make our
submissions. Our response was ‘no, no, you have
made a mistake.”
“You have just taken our community into Bayelsa.
They replied that they have already released this
map and that it is unfortunate that they have and it
was a mistake that they would correct in the
subsequent edition. And they have not been able to
make that correction and when they say they want
to invite us to a meeting, I say ‘what are you inviting
us to a meeting for? You have already
acknowledged that there was a mistake, go and
correct the mistake. If Bayelsa has any complaints,
then put the complaints on the table after you have
corrected it”.
Governor Amaechi disproved claims that he had
personal misunderstanding with the President,
explaining that any misunderstanding he had with
the president was over the interests of Rivers State.
Press Unit
Government House, PH.
January 1, 2014.
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