Contrary to widespread belief that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is in Port Harcourt on a mission to fight Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, she said he is her brother and would join hands with him to develop the state.
She made this known yesterday in Port Harcourt when 135 chiefs from Kalabari Kingdom paid her a solidarity visit.
She said: “I am not here to fight the Governor of Rivers State because he is my brother. We should come together to develop the state.
“We shouldn’t play politics with our home. Our home remains our home. We shouldn’t play politics with our elders.”
In a call on people of the South-South geo-political zone to close ranks and support her husband, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the First Lady said: “The presidency is an opportunity that fell unto us on a platter of gold. We shouldn’t throw it away. We have had people that contested from this region but didn’t win.
“We didn’t fight, we didn’t pay. God willed it to us so we shouldn’t use politics to fight one another or destroy our kingdom. Kalabari has been peaceful and its people are peace-loving.”
Earlier, the chiefs who said they were on a visit to state in no uncertain terms that Mr. Jonathan must re-contest the Presidential elections in 2015 noted that their mission was “not a phantom solidarity visit.”
Spokesman of the group, Chief Dumo Oruobu, Anyawo XI of Bakana, said, “We can no longer remain silent under the present political atmosphere as our silence can be interpreted to mean consent or sitting on the fence.
“We, hereby, state that the question of choice does not arise. Our son should run for office in 2015.
“We assure him that we will do everything within our collective abilities to help him achieve that objective. The Kalabari and Ijaw clans are one people and no revenue allocation or problem can tear us apart.”
The Anyawo XI, who said the chiefs were familiar with the recourse to pre-meditated attacks on the president in the past, noted: “Our people refused to take sides against our son.”