Jonathan, Amaechi Fly In The Same Helicopter, Hold Secret Talks

In what signals as the beginning of the end the lingering crisis in the PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan flew in the same chopper with Rivers State governor Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and his Bayelsa State counterpart, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, from the Port Harcourt International Airport to Okrika also in Rivers State. Jonathan was in the state to receive an honorary chieftaincy title from the Okrika Divisional Council of Chiefs as well as attend the burial of the late Madam Charity Fyneface Oba, mother of his wife, today. It was gathered that Amaechi and Dickson, accompanied by their aides, were at the airport to receive the president who, immediately after exchanging pleasantries with them and other dignitaries, beckoned on the two governors to join him in the chopper ride. Amaechi is one of the seven governors backing the Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led new PDP and is chairman of a faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), while Dickson is the chairman of the ruling party’s reconciliation committee. The trio were said to have held a closed door meeting whose venue and agenda were not clear as at the time of sending this report. However, sources said the ongoing feud between the Peoples Democratic Party and the seven rebel governors loyal to the New PDP could be part of the discussion. A political observer who pleaded anonymity said the chopper flight and the closed door meeting could create an opportunity for Jonathan and Amaechi to talk over their differences and find a possible solution to the crisis that has divided the political class in Rivers State and Nigeria in general. But the Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, Mr. David Iyofor, said he can only confirm that Amaechi and Dickson, who were at the airport to receive the President, flew with him (Jonathan) in the chopper to Okrika, but cannot say if there was a closed door meeting. “Governor Amaechi and the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, received the President at the Port Harcourt International Airport and the two governors joined the President in a chopper to Okrika. “I am aware that they (Jonathan, Amaechi and Dickson) flew to Okrika in a chopper, but what I cannot say for now is whether they went into a closed-door meeting,” Iyofor said. The Rivers State government has no role to play in the burial of the mother-in-law of the president as the Amaechi-led administration is not involved in the burial programmes. Both politicians had met on Monday, October 7, at the presidential villa, Abuja, a meeting which was summoned by the president to listen to the grouse of the seven aggrieved governors, otherwise referred to as the G-7. The president flew in about two hours after the service of songs held in honour of the mother of the first lady, Madam Charity Fyneface Oba, who died on July 22, near Isiokpo Brigde along the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road. The first lady was accompanied to the Port Harcourt Polo Club, venue of the service of songs, by the wife of the vice president, Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo. Football and Nollywood stars were also at the service of songs to show solidarity with the first lady. Most of the women clad in specially designed apparels for the occasion went into a frenzy when Patience Ozokwu made her appearance on the ground of the Port Harcourt Polo Club.