SpicyTricks

...as SGF, Defence, Niger Delta Affairs or Works Minister

The long drawn rivalry between the former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, under the leadership of Governor Nyesom Wike has taken a new turn as the purported appointment of the former governor has caused some disquiet amongst members of the PDP in the state.

The Beam checks gathered that while President Muhammadu Buhari has concluded plans to ensure that the man who played a crucial role in his emergence as President, Chibuike Amaechi is part of his inner caucus in government, the PDP has been making frantic efforts to cause disaffection between Amaechi and his Party leaders with a view at stopping him from occupying a strategic position in Buhari's cabinet.

Informed sources say that in a meeting of PDP leaders held at the Abuja residence of Wike recently, one of the issues raised was on how to stop the APC from recovering Rivers and Akwa Ibom states from the PDP at the election petition tribunals.

They had identified as a major factor in the issue, the appointment of Amaechi as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, or as the Minister of Defence or more still, as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs which will oversee the Niger Delta Development Corporation, NDDC, and the Amnesty Program.

Meanwhile, Presidency sources are of the opinion that Amaechi should man the Works Ministry due to his achievements in providing laudable infrastructure in River state as governor. It is believed that he can replicate the same as Minister for Works under President Buhari considering his courage to embark on enduring projects like in the area of Roads, Schools, Hospitals etc. Many believe that his giant strides in Rivers state elicited the jealousy in some family members of the former president who saw him as performing more than Jonathan. In a bid to stop his developmental goals, they used the security agencies under the control of the presidency to derail his agenda of truly transforming the state. His detractors considered him as strong competitor to Jonathan, as such,they moved to stop his projects from being completed with the ceding of the Soku oil wells to Bayelsa and Etche oil wells to Abia state.

According to a source at the meeting who pleaded anonymity, the PDP is worried that if Amaechi is appointed into any of the  positions, he will use it to the advantage of the APC to ensure that in the event of a rerun of the April 11 Governorship polls, the two states will slip off the hands of the PDP.

In what they considered as the best way to avert the impending crisis in the party in Rivers and Akwa Ibom, there is need for some of their leaders to penetrate the rank and file of the APC in order to blackmail Amaechi.

Further information has it that apart from the planned inducement of the Tribunal Panel sitting in Abuja with the sum of N2billion, the likes of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, leader and founder of the APC, and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar should be approached by the likes of Wike and former governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state.

According to our source, the Rivers State Government under Chief Wike will award the contract of Tax Collection to Tinubu's company while Atiku will be assured that his business, INTELS, will be protected and not attacked by ex-militants from the region.

They were also said to have concluded that the current governor, Wike and his media team will mount smear campaigns against Amaechi in a bid to further poison the heart of President Buhari against him. They fear that as SGF or Defence Minister, Amaechi will call the shots amongst the security agencies who will be made to go after the PDP chieftains in the state who were accused of being responsible for the violence that led to the killing of APC members before and during the elections.

Meanwhile, a close aide to the President who spoke to The Beam recently, confirmed that several PDP members have been making concerted efforts to reach out to the President in a bid to forestall the planned appointment of Amaechi. He told our correspondent in Abuja that it would be a wasted effort by those anti-Amaechi forces as Buhari is not considering the option of making a mockery of Amaechi whom he had publicly presented to the North as his 'son'.

According to our source,"President Buhari will never let anyone come in between Amaechi and himself because he sincerely appreciates the role the young man played in his emergence as the candidate of the APC".

Continuing further, he said, "those who are bent on stopping Amaechi's appointment do not know that Amaechi has been asked to choose whatever he wants. Any position the former Rivers governor wants, is what he will get".

Though he has been largely speculated as the next SGF, a powerful political and administrative position, Amaechi is also tipped to become the next Defence Minister since he possesses the courage and integrity required to sanitize the sector. Our findings further reveal that he may yet head a new Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs where he is expected to transform the NDDC and the heavily 'corrupt' Amnesty Program in order to ensure real development of the region which was poorly developed by former President Jonathan. Amaechi had fallen out with Jonathan over his confessed inability to develop the Niger Delta area, in spite of the enormous support given to the former President during the 2011 elections.

While the President hopes to ensure that those who have his kind of courage are brought on board his government, the opposition PDP is plotting the failure of his administration, as such, they are using every means available to ensure that those with the wealth of experience in governance and politics are excluded.

One of the smear campaigns of the PDP against Amaechi is that he is a strong character who is not easily flexible, and will not be willing to bend the rules. They also accuse him of being outspoken, a character trait that is indeed needed under a Buhari government in order to truly sanitize the failing economy.

Informed sources allege that some leaders from the zone within the APC have been recruited in the dirty mission as some have secretly met with the PDP leaders after they were promised some patronage by way of contract awards and some other forms of financial inducement. The plan is to ensure that they convince the APC that Amaechi cannot be trusted to do their bidding while others say that if he is allowed into any of these positions, he may become too powerful towards the build up to 2019.

The internal power play within the APC jas further provided a platform for the anti- Amaechi forces within the PDP to fight against his appointment.

But an APC source in Abuja dismissed such insinuations, confirming that the President has the final say on the issue of who is appointed into his government. He further revealed that on the issue of SGF, though there are those feel that due to the way and manner the former SGF, Pius Anyim handled the office, it would be better to appoint a bureaucrat rather than a core politician. As a result of this argument, a former Secretary to Borno State Government is being tipped for the position. But majority of the APC members are said to prefer the former Rivers Governor as the office is highly political and would require someone who is passionate about Buhari and the success of his government to occupy the office. They argue that apart from being the Director General of the Buhari Campaign and that of the APC presidential campaign organization, Amaechi is the only former governor and leader of the APC who was highly sacrificed and hounded by the PDP because of his role in the emergence of Buhari as candidate and his victory over Jonathan, a kins man of Amaechi.

The PDP in Rivers state which has become the headquarters of the PDP is not leaving anything to chance to forestall the appointment of Amaechi as he is certain to use the 'federal might' to dislodge them from power especially in the Niger Delta region.