Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Dame Patience Jonathan: slammed in Rivers

The crisis in the Rivers state Peoples Democratic Party, PDP deepened today as 16 governorship aspirants boycotted today’s ward congress, accusing Mrs Patience Jonathan,the Wife the President of unwarranted meddlesomeness in the affairs of the party.

The fuming aspirants said Patience Jonathan has openly endorsed, Nyesom Wike,the former minister of state for Education.

A communiqué issued by the aspirants demanded that the ward and local government congresses in the state be postponed until the crisis in the party was resolved to allow fair and equitable participation by all aspirants.

“We want to put it on record that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has publicly, not in her house, but in the house of one of the aspirants, endorsed the aspirant.

They also alleged that “The First Lady has also approached some of our aspirants to step down and even invited them to a dinner/meeting in the Presidential Villa. We have constrained ourselves from addressing the unacceptable and unfortunate interference of the first Lady in the affairs of the Rivers state PDP because of the enormous respect we have for our son, President Jonathan, but we want to say enough is enough”.

The Aspirants who were drawn mainly from the Riverine Ijaw part of the state and Ogoni on Thursday warned that for the state to live together in harmony, power must rotate between the upland and the Riverine.