News: Amaechi Invites Obasanjo to Visit Rivers Next Week

The ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, is expected in Rivers State on February 17, 2014, on the invitation of the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

The main purpose of Obasanjo's visit is to commission some of 300 schools built by Amaechi's administration.

The expected visit of former President Obasanjo to Rivers State would be his first after the "K-Leg"saga,(a sarcastic coinage by Obasanjo explaining why his administration denied Amaechi Governorship ticket in 2007). Amaechi reclaimed his mandate from his cousin, Celestine Omehia, usurped through a landmark Supreme Court on October 2007 after nine months legal battle.

In his reaction to the proposed visit of former President to Rivers State, Bright Ameahule, the President General of Grassroot Development Initiative (GDI), a group loyal to Nyesom Wike, the Supervising Minister for Education, described the visit as a mere reconciliatory union between the Governor and Obasanjo because of the soured relation between the two since 2007 over the "K-Leg saga."

However, political observers point to the fact the visit of the former President will be a litmus test for the new Commissioner of Police newly posted to the state, Johnson Tunde Ogunshakin, who is expected to provide adequate security during the visit.