Bakassi: Biya sends emissaries to Jonathan •Offers olive branch

by Leon Usigbe and Bolaji Ogundele 

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has summoned Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, to explain his role in what the presidency is interpreting as an incitement of Kalabari elders against the president over the boundary dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa states.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that a letter of summon had been dispatched to the governor, directing him to come with Kalabari elders for a meeting scheduled for tomorrow at the Presidential Villa.
The president was said to be upset that he had apparently been targeted by the protesters over a dispute which predated his administration and was convinced Governor Ameachi was the one orchestrating the scheme.
The bone of contention is the possible transfer of 300,000bpd producing oil wells from Kalabari in Rivers State to Nembe in Bayelsa State, over which the Kalabari elders openly accused President Jona-than of masterminding the plot to cede parts of their kingdom to his state.
Kalabari kingdom stakeholders, including traditional rulers, political leaders, youths, academia and elders, had initially addressed a press conference in Port Harcourt, to protest what they said was injustice, oppression and marginalisation of their area.
The elders, through the Kalabari National Forum, later took their protest to Abuja, drawing the ire of President Jonathan, who reacted angrily in a statement issued by Dr Reuben Abati, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the president rejected the accusation that he was interfering in the boundary dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa States.
Meanwhile, Kalabari people have expressed reservations against comments by Dr Abati, demanding an unreserved apology.
A Kalabari High Chief from Kula kingdom, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, speaking on the ongoing face-off from his Abuja base, demanded that Abati retracted his statement and tender an unreserved apology to Kalabari people or face the consequences.
According to him, “it was insulting for Abati to use a gutter language on the Kalabari people, including a respected personality like Alabo Graham-Douglas.”
He noted that alternative moves were being made to sort the dispute out quickly, as renowned Ijaw figures, including the Bayelsa State governor, Mr Seriake Dickson and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, had approached Kalabari elders on the matter.
He warned concerned federal agencies not to distort historical facts about communities in the region, adding that the affected communities belong to Kalabariland.
NigerianTribune