Rivers
State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and his wife, Judith, on Wednesday
shunned the inauguration of the South-South Zonal Secretariat of the
Women for Change and Development Initiative by the wife of President
Goodluck Jonathan, Patience.
Apart from the governor and his wife,
other top officials of the Rivers State government also boycotted the
occasion which was held in Port Harcourt, the capital city.
A source close to the President’s wife, who spoke with The PUNCH
at the event, said that the governor and his wife were invited for the
opening of the zonal secretariat of the W4CDI and the empowerment of
over 1,000 women in the state.
The source said a letter of invitation
for the occasion was specifically sent to the governor’s wife about
seven days to the event, regretting that the state government
deliberately shunned the event.
“We sent a letter of invitation for the
governor and his wife across to the Government House in Port Harcourt
one week to the event, but as you can see, no single government official
was present at the occasion.
“The truth is that (the state)
government deliberately refused to attend the event. Enough publicity
was done for the occasion and besides, invitation was extended to the
state government,” the source said.
But Amaechi’s wife said she was never invited.
The governor’s wife, who spoke through her Press Secretary, Dike Bekwele, denied knowledge of the event.
She argued that the governor would have
sent a representative if he was not in the state during the occasion,
recalling that she attended the launching of the scheme in Rivers.
[/media-credit]
•L-R: Wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan; wife of Akwa Ibom
State Governor, Mrs. Unoma Akpabio; and Zonal Coordinator, Women for
Change and Development Initiative, Mrs. Toru Ofili, at the opening of
South-South zonal office of WCDI in Port Harcourt…on Wednesday.
Bekwele said, “It is not correct for
anybody to say that the governor’s wife was invited. The truth is that
the organisers of the event did not invite the state government.
“In the past, the governor’s wife used
to attend the occasion in Abuja or any part of the country. I think
there is more to why they refused to invite the state government to the
occasion.”
The scenario playing out in Port
Harcourt, analysts would argue, was a mere extension to the well-known
cold relationship between the President and the governor.
The Presidency was believed to be angry
with Amaechi for his handling of the affairs of the Nigeria Governors’
Forum which both the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party
considered inimical to the 2015 ambition of Jonathan.
Presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak, had sometime ago accused the Rivers State governor of running the NGF as a “trade union.”
Also, the PDP had reportedly barred
Amaechi from contesting second term as the chair of the NGF but the
governor apparently ignored the directive and contested against Plateau
State Governor Jonah Jang, seen as the Presidency’s candidate.
The NGF has since been factionalised with both Amaechi and Jang heading different camps.
But while the Presidency has recognised
the Jang faction of the NGF, the PDP has since slammed a suspension on
Amaechi for alleged anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Jonathan, at the WCDI
programme, charged Nigerian women to train their children and make them
useful to the society.
Mrs Jonathan explained that it would be
difficult for any society to enjoy any form of development without
well-trained children, stressing that no nation could achieve its
potential without peace.
The WCDI is one of the pet projects of Mrs Jonathan targeted at empowering women, widows and the less-privileged in the society.
She said the scheme was aimed at
teaching women on how to be productive in order to assist their families
and urged the women to make good use of the equipment given to them.
“I thank the women of Rivers State
because since my stay here in the state, I have noticed that there is
peace. It shows that Rivers women are doing a lot to train their
children well.
“We need to train our children so that
they will be useful to our communities, our local government areas, our
states and Nigeria in general,” she said.
She said the administration of her
husband had surpassed its predecessors in appointment of women, citing
the headship of sectors like aviation, education and water resources by
women as a testimony to her submission.
“This is the first time in the history
of Nigeria that a President is carrying the women along. In
appointments, 13 women have so far been appointed in the Federal
Executive Council,” she said.
The President’s wife, however, enjoined
Nigerian women to be united so that they could bring the 35 per cent
affirmative action into reality.
She distributed sewing machines;
cassava, pepper and tomato grinding machines to women across the 23
local government areas of the state.
Sources:punch
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