I Won't Leave PDP..Rotimi Amaechi

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday declared that he would not dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He spoke while speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa.

The governor was in the State House for a presidential committee meeting to be chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo in the feud between Rivers and Bayelsa states over the Soku oil fields. The meeting was called off.

Stressing that there was no reason for him to leave a national party, Amaechi denied the allegation that he procured two aircraft for his 2015 election campaign.

He said: “I am still in the PDP. I am a member of the PDP.

“PDP is the only national party in the country for now. Why will one want to leave a national party and go to another party?”.

On the aircraft allegation, he said the Federal Government gave Rivers State approval to buy a helicopter for security purposes.

Amaechi continued: “Till now, they have not allowed the helicopter to come in. Maybe they are afraid that it is for 2015. Please help us beg them on behalf of Rivers State that we need the aircraft to be able to secure the people of the state.

“Again, it is not within our control, it is in the control of the Air Force.

“Although we will hire a civilian pilot but Nigerian security forces will manage it, not us.

“How will you use what is in the hands of Nigerian security to campaign? You see the mischief?

“The helicopter is to ensure that Rivers State is under watch for 24 hours. It has cameras, so if somebody is committing a crime, we are seeing it.

“The monitors are in the office of the Brigade Commander, office of the State Director of State Security Service (SSS), office of the Governor, office of the commissioner of police. So for Christ sake, tell me how you will use it for campaign.

“You can see a lot of mischief. As usual, people will try to dent your image to show that this man is not as transparent as he claims after all.

“We have argued about the first aircraft we bought, that is no longer a story. We did not buy two jets”, he stated