by ‘Jola Sotubo

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers has said that he will return to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) if President Goodluck Jonathan satisfies just one condition.

Governor Amaechi was one of the aggrieved governors who walked out of the PDP convention in August and formed a new faction under the leadership of Abubakar Kawu Baraje, the members of which have since joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Amaechi is said to have stated that he would return to the PDP if only President Jonathan would return the oil wells formerly belonging to Rivers which had been transferred to neighbouring Bayelsa.

Nigerian Eye reports:

The governor, who spoke on Monday during a rally organised by the All Progressives Congress at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt, said despite the 2.1 million votes Jonathan received in the state in 2011, the Federal Government had not executed any project in Rivers.

He dismissed claims that the ceding of Rivers oil wells in Soku to Bayelsa State was done during the tenure of former Governor Rufus Ada George.

Amaechi said, “We gave the President nearly 2.1 million votes. Let him tell us one project he has done for us. I have challenged the President that I belong to APC. If he wants me back in PDP, let him return the oil wells to the Kalabari people and I will come back.

“But the President cannot. Instead, he will take more. One of our sons, a Kalabari son, said the oil wells were taken under Rufus Ada-George. Tell him I say he is lying. He never served in any government. I served under Ada-George government and there was no oil well taken from Rivers State then.

“I served under Dr. Peter Odili. The oil well was taken in 2006. They put the money in an escrow account and by 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, they took all the money and gave to our brothers and they converted Soku to Bayelsa.”