I did nt ask Amaechi for Rivers money

TWife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, on
Sunday denied a statement credited to Governor
Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State that she asked him
to share the state’s funds with her.
Amaechi had while speaking in Port Harcourt at
the joint graduation of the students of the
University of Ibadan and pioneer graduates of
Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, on
Saturday was quoted as saying that his problem
with Mrs. Jonathan started after he rejected her
demand.<br>

“I refused to give them money in Abuja because if
I do that, I won’t be able to carry out any
development project or finish the road from
Rumuolumeni to Rumuepirikom.
“The quarrel between me and the wife of the
President is because she said I should bring your
money, Rivers people, money and share with her,”
the governor reportedly said.
But Mrs. Jonathan, in a statement by her media
assistant, Mr. Ayo Adewuyi, said Amaechi’s
statement was a deliberate attempt to malign her
and score cheap political point.
She further described the governor’s statement as
a lie designed to denigrate her person and
rubbish the Presidency.
She said she could not have made such a request
from the governor either directly or indirectly.
The statement read, “Having waited patiently for
Governor Amaechi to refute the statement credited
to him about the First Lady, (with the assumption
that he was misquoted), it has become clear that
it was a deliberate attempt to malign Dame
Patience Jonathan and score cheap political point.
“The governor may have been beclouded by the
political uncertainty surrounding him to make
such a jaundiced and unsubstantiated allegation
that the First Lady asked him to bring Rivers
State’s money to share.
“This is a blatant lie designed to denigrate the
person of Dame Patience Jonathan and rubbish
the Presidency. This is to say the least, most
unfortunate.
“It is crystal clear that Governor Amaechi is
looking for a cheap excuse for his failure in the
governance of the state. We say without any iota
of equivocation that the First Lady never made
such a request and could not have done so in any
way either directly and indirectly.
“The First Lady as an indigene of Rivers State is
more concerned with the socio-economic
development of the state and in a peaceful
atmosphere. This guerrilla political warfare must
stop.”