EXTRA: Maduekwe ‘reunites’ Patience Jonathan with her ‘son’ Amaechi
The burial of Ojo Maduekwe, a former minister of foreign affairs, at his hometown in Asaga, Ohafia local government area of Abia, on Saturday, was dominated by eulogies from those who knew him.
Those who extolled his virtues include Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of Abia state; Ita Enang, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on national assembly matters; Godswill Akpabio, minority leader of the senate and former governor of Akwa Ibom state; and Mba Uka, prelate of Presbyterian Church.
But it has now emerged that the burial provided the platform for two sworn enemies to meet again; and even if the extent of conciliation that went down is yet to be established, they at least exchanged pleasantries.
For much of Goodluck Jonathan’s full-fledged presidential tenure, he was at loggerheads with Rotimi Amaechi, then governor of Rivers state. However, theirs was a secondary battle. It was clear the real quarrel was between Jonathan’s wife, Patience, and Amaechi, beginning from how the first lady tongue-lashed the governor for conceiving the demolition of houses in her native Okrika to make way for educational structures.
Patience’s grouse is that Amaechi looked certain to demolish and compensate the people without first seeking their consent; Amaechi’s is about the manner in which the first lady addressed the matter in public without according him due respect as man constitutionally saddled with the task of running the state.
The crisis led to bad blood between Amaechi and President Jonathan. The former would later lead six other governors to break away from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and form the nucleus of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which eventually toppled Jonathan at the presidential election.
Although there’s only an eight-year gap between the two of them, Patience once referred to Amaechi — at the heat of their disagreement — as “my son”.
“Hebrews 12:14 urges us to embrace peace with all men without which we cannot see God. Amaechi is my son, I cannot fight him and I cannot kill him,” she said at the villa in 2013 while hosting 16 bishops from the south-south.
“He shouldn’t be used by outsiders against his own blood because this seat is vanity. One day, no matter how long it takes, we will leave this seat.
“Power is not forever; this seat is vanity. Others sat here and left, so one day I will also leave and we will meet at home, so why should I fight him?”
It is a pity that Mr Rotimi Amaechi unwittingly and immaturely lost his enviable position as PDP leader to a hitherto, unknown Mr Nyesom Wike and is now begging for a hiding spot in a strange APC. He would have not been the refugee that he is now, albeit, politically struggling to maintain a balance that is rapidly becoming elusive. All the admonitions Mrs Patience Jonathan gave to Amaechi have all come to pass and he is now the worst loser in the political game of Rivers state, nay Niger Delta. A bull in China shop will always lose any battle of wit. How I wish His Excellence has learnt a lesson of his life through that avoidable debacle.
@Andy u are entitle to your opinion. In politics no permanent friends and enemy.
Nigeria politics is likethe game of thrones.
What did not kill you may end up sustaining your life!
You don’t obliterate the memories of the goodness you have enjoyed simply because of one sadness you experience.
Amaechi, though not 100% wrong, should have taken time to keep his home and the public. But he was more of the public than his home.
Patience kept her home but not the public .
You now know the reason why these bedfellows will always have divergent views.
One wanted a house, the other needed a home!