There are pressures on Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to visit Hon. Micheal Chinda, the injured lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor Constituency II in the State House of Assembly.
Some influential persons close to the Governor, according to a source, have been calling on him to visit the lawmaker to assuage frayed nerves, especially the leadership of the state People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which have accused him of backing and shielding Lloyd from being arrested.
“Some persons that want peace to reign in the state are doing everything possible to resolve the crisis; and they have called on the Governor to visit Hon. Chinda in the hospital,” said the source.
The source added that these persons have also been meeting with different stakeholders within and outside the state to find a solution to the crisis.
On whether the Governor will heed the call, the source, said that nobody can predict the Governor, who according to him, “listens to himself alone”
It would be recalled that the leadership of the PDP had described the Governor as “unremorseful and unforgiving” for not visiting the lawmaker since he was injured by the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, who the police have declared wanted.
The state chairman of the party, Hon. Felix Obuah, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike; former Deputy Sspeaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Austin Opara; former minister of Transport, Dr Abiye Sekibo, Hon. Kenneth Kobani and Boma Iyaye had visited the lawmaker in London.
There was anxiety in Port Harcourt on Monday as news of the death of Mrs. Iwari-Oba, the mother of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, spread in the Rivers State capital.
The mother of Mrs. Jonathan was said to have been involved in a ghastly motor accident along Elele Road in Rivers State.
It was gathered that the woman, who is from Okrika Local Government Area, was on her way to Bayelsa State when the accident happened.
Unconfirmed report indicated that her corpse was taken to Kpaiyama Mortuary by a team of policemen and a member representing Ogu Bolo State Constituency, Mr. Evans Bipi, who is a relative to the deceased.
Though, the police and the Federal Road Safety Commission in the state could not confirm the incident, an aide to Bipi said the First Lady’s mother died in a road accident, which occurred at about 4pm.
Bipi’s aide, Mr. Fred Itobo, said that the President’s wife’s mother was involved in the accident while she was on her way to Bayelsa State.
“Yes! She was involved in an accident and she died. Her body has been taken to a mortuary. Bipi was among those who took her body to the mortuary,” Itobo said.
When contacted, the State Director of FRSC, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, declined comment on the matter, saying, “I cannot say anything on this matter now until I get full details.”
Though effort to get reactions from the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, proved futile, she had already told a journalist on the telephone that she had not been briefed on such crash.
Another source from Okrika who spoke to the Vanguard said the deceased might not be the biological mother of Mrs Jonathan, adding that the first lady probably took her as a mother
“I am not sure she was the mother. But she probably chose to call her mother”, the source said.
Effort to get the state government comment on the sad incident was not fruitful as text messages sent to the mobile line of the Chief Press secretary to the governor, Mr Dave Iyofor and the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari were yet to be responded to.