Elders from the Kalabari Kingdom in Rivers State yesterday rose from a closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, debunking speculations that Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi orchestrated their protest over the boundary dispute between Bayelsa and Rivers states.
LEADERSHIP had reported on Friday that President Jonathan had summoned the meeting also attended by Governor Amaechi at the Presidential Villa to address what the Presidency considered as an incitement of Kalabari elders against Jonathan over the dispute.
Jonathan was reportedly saddened that he had been made a scape goat by the protesters over a dispute which predates his administration.
The crisis borders on the likely transfer of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) oil wells from Kalabari in Rivers State to Nembe in Bayelsa State, with the Kalabari elders openly accusing President Jonathan of masterminding the plot.
At the commencement of the meeting at the Briefing Room of the Presidential Villa, Jonathan asked the media to leave the venue because it was a meeting meant to resolve the matter once and for all.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the parley, the? Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, His Majesty, Disraeli Gbogbo Bob Manuel II, explained that they were at the Presidential Villa on the invitation of the president. He said Jonathan promised to address the matter without bias.
On reports that Governor Amaechi was behind their protest, the monarch said: “I do not think so.”