Nigeria's First Lady has, via the statement delivered by her special assistant on media, Mr. Ayo Osinlu, responded to the accusations of the Nobel prize laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka.
"Unfortunately, Soyinka betrayed moral duty in his recent diatribe against Mrs. Patience Jonathan. Of course, this would not be the first time he would reach out against the First Lady, usually from self-righteously indignant lecterns," the statement read.
It would be recalled that Soyinka, at a press conference on Thursday, asked President Goodluck Jonathan to call his wife to order, as, according to him, the First Lady's influence is overbearing and heating the Rivers' polity.
The retaliatory statement by Mrs Jonathan contained accusations of Soyinka for taking sides with Amaechi because "they are friends": "Prof Soyinka's friendship with Amaechi is no secret. There is no attempt by the two to hide it, anyway. On the premise of that, the cerebral prodigy should encourage his younger friend to retrace his steps, make peace with his party and the people of his state, as well as smoothen the feathers he has ruffled.
"In this particular instance, his verdict was that Mrs. Jonathan was 'stoking the crisis currently rocking her home state of Rivers…', and thereupon asked Mr. President to caution his wife.
"The good, old Prof. reminds one of the truth that indeed, most of the giants on the street are men of like passions like everyone else. Worse still, most of them are actually standing on clay feet and would fail the test of a gentle push.
"Otherwise, who would have believed that the social, civil, constitutional and sundry rights crusader Prof. would maintain a safe distance from the heart of an activity that is a potential threat to the peace, security and safety of the people of a state, then collect exaggerated stories and jaundiced perspectives from familiar propagandists and character assassins, and promptly summon the media to a 'state of the nation' address.
"It's an embarrassment to his throng of admirers and followers, that a sage of Prof. Soyinka's status, who used to be a gauge of public morality in this nation, would lend himself to a propaganda of high drive, to save a governor who elected to launch into a river without applicable survival skills."
Pointing out that Mr. Soyinka's strategy to attract public sympathy to the "clear underdog" was to attack President Jonathan, and by so doing drag down anyone associated with him, saying the writer was only fuelling the crisis with his claim that she was Governor Amaechi’s problem in Rivers State.
The Presidency, which also reacted to Mr Soyinka's allegation that the Presdent was stoking the fire in the festering crisis by refusing to publicly condemn what is happenning in the state, said Governor Amaechi should be held responsible for the fracas that broke out in the state House of Assembly last Tuesday.
The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said it was erroneous of Mr. Soyinka, and the opposition political parties to blame the President and his wife for the crisis when the governor was the real mastermind.
Describing President Jonathan as the victim of Amaechi's mischief, the presidential aide said the disagreement between the state lawmakers would not have degenerated if the governor did not ignore the state Commissioner of Police’s advice for him not to go there.
Mr. Gulak alleged that it was the presence of the governor at the Assembly that emboldened the Majority Leader and other lawmakers loyal to him to beat up the anti-Amaechi lawmakers as shown in the widely-circulated video of the mayhem.
"It is mischief to say that the President is behind the crisis in Rivers State," Mr Gulak said. "The President cannot be part of the crisis in that state. He is a man of peace."
He said the problem in Rivers State was an internal wrangling within the administration and instigated by the governor, adding that it was sad that the governor would physically drive to the House of Assembly to partake in the crises.
"The fact is that in this crisis in Rivers State, the governor should be held responsible because if he did not go to the House of Assembly, those guys wouldn't have been emboldened to beat people up," Mr. Gulak said, adding that the Rivers situation was not the first time a state Assembly would be having crisis.
Citing the example of Adamawa State, where the Assembly was shut down for about three months following a crisis, the presidential aide said the governor of the state did not appear physically at the scene of the crisis before it was resolved.
Urging all parties to abide by the constitution, which provides for separation of power, as a way of resolving the crisis, Mr. Gulak described Mr. Soyinka’s public comment on the crisis as a statement made "out of ignorance."
"Soyinka, without knowing the fact, just went public to blame the President and his wife for what is happening in the state. He is an elder statesman, I don’t want to take issues with him, but I will say that he should be responsible.
"I am not aware of any plan to impeach the governor, and the President is not aware either, even if there are such plans. But what I know is that the House of Assembly intended to change their leadership. Rightly or wrongly, they have a constitutional right to do it if they have the majority."
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