The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has denied asking the Rivers State Governor, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to share the state’s funds with her.
Rather, Jonathan said her concern has been the development of the state from where she hails.
Reacting to a statement credited to Amaechi on Saturday that the crux of their face-off was her request for the state’s funds to be shared with her, Jonathan said the allegation was the height of politicking by the governor.
In a statement by her spokesperson, Ayo Adewuyi, Jonathan said the governor was only out to score cheap political points.
She described it as a “blatant lie” to denigrate her person.
The statement by Adewuyi reads: “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 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 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 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 socio-economic development of the state and in a peaceful atmosphere.
“This guerilla political warfare must stop.”
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