Amaechi didn’t shun PDP Govs Forum – Rivers govt

By JIMITOTA ONOYUME

PORT HARCOURT— RIVERS State Government has dismissed speculations in some quarters that Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum and governor of the state, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, shunned the first meeting of the newly formed Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors Forum, in Abuja.

State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, in a statement, said the governor was absent because of a prior engagement in London, where he was billed to address the Commonwealth Observance Day.

She said the governor was among three high profile personalities slated to address the gathering.

She said: “Governor Amaechi was one of the three high profile speakers at the event, which had as its theme: Opportunity through Enterprise. Governor Amaechi was in the United Kingdom to make Nigeria proud at the historic event.”

She said that the Commonwealth Observance Day had always held  on the second Monday in March  since 1973, adding that there was no way the governor could have been absent from the PDP Governors Forum, if he hadn’t the engagement outside the country.

“This year, Governor Amaechi was invited several months ago to speak alongside Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson and Rickel Patel, Executive Director of Avaaz, the largest online activist community.

“Governor Amaechi remains committed to the building of our nation and the democratic ideals of the PDP and no amount of blackmail can change this incontrovertible fact,” she added.