Jonathan,Amaechi not at war-Presidency

Jonathan, Amaechi not at war —
Presidency
In a dramatic twist, the Presidency
declared, yesterday, that there was no rift between
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Rivers State
Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Special Adviser on Political Matters to the
President, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, told Vanguard in
an interview that the seeming face-off between
Jonathan and Amaechi was a media creation.
Gulak’s reaction came barely 24 hours after
Jonathan and Amaechi met at the Port Harcourt
International Airport, embraced and exchanged
pleasantries, the first of such encounter in a
couple of months.
The frosty relationship of the duo reached a
crescendo, last Wednesday night, when a willing
Amaechi, who had called off a meeting of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum, to honour a dinner
date at the Presidential Villa, was prevented by
security men from shaking hands with Jonathan.
But all that changed when the two men met at the
Port Harcourt Airport on Saturday, when they
appeared to have made up at least, as their non-
verbal gestures suggested.
Gulak said: “Jonathan and Amaechi are brothers
and they are not fighting as some people are
saying. I have never believed there was a crisis
between the two brothers.
“Let me tell you, the President that I know and
has been working with is a man of peace who
takes all the governors, including Amaechi as his
friends and there is no need for anyone to say
that there is a feud between the President and
Amaechi. The seeming friction between the duo is
nothing but a media creation,” the Presidential
aide said.
The political adviser dismissed as untenable the
claim that the President was opposed to
Amaechi’s leadership of the NGF, pointing out
that Jonathan had no interest in the forum, which
he described as a mere association that does not
have a place in the Nigerian Constitution.