The conflict between former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi which contributed significantly to the removal of the PDP from power, didn’t erupt as a full-blown national crisis overnight. It simmered from a political disagreement that gradually hardened into open institutional confrontations, revealing deep-seated frustrations over governance, equity, and power in Nigeria’s oil heartland.
The first visible crack appeared on August 6, 2010, during a town hall meeting in Okrika, the hometown of First Lady, Patience Jonathan. Amaechi was explaining his plan to clear waterfront settlements and replace them with modern schools. Midway through his speech, the First Lady took the microphone and publicly challenged him, urging him not to demolish the communities.
The incident ended abruptly, with both parties leaving separately. The PDP issued a sharp statement days later, on August 27, 2010, labeling Amaechi’s approach “inconsiderate and inhuman.” This early clash exposed underlying frictions over neglect of the Niger Delta region, state autonomy, resource control, and federal influence in oil-rich Rivers State, yet it remained largely contained for the next two-and-a-half years.
By early 2013, it had moved to the centre of national politics. The approaching 2015 presidential election raised questions about the north-south power rotation within the PDP. Jonathan, a southerner, was widely reported to have agreed to a single term in office before his election in 2011 and was not expected to seek re-election in 2015. Several governors, including Amaechi, began expressing reservations.
Additionally, frustrations had been growing across the Niger Delta over stalled federal infrastructure projects. A key point of contention that Amaechi repeatedly highlighted was the perceived neglect of infrastructure in the region, particularly the East–West Road, the major federal highway linking Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta states. In February 2013, stakeholders decried the pothole-riddled state and accident-prone sections. Amaechi didn’t mince words, criticizing the Niger Delta Ministry’s slow pace during a January 2013 site visit, sparking a public spat with Minister Godsday Orubebe. He later reflected: “We had to fight them before they could do the East-West Road.” He saw it as emblematic of federal neglect despite the region’s oil wealth contributing significantly to national revenue.
Power supply was another flashpoint. With national generation unstable and the federal grid unreliable, the Rivers State government secured federal approval to build 26 power injection substations to stabilise electricity distribution within the state. By March 29, 2013, Amaechi announced their completion. The understanding was that the substations would be integrated into the national grid so the state could recover its investment.
But after the projects were completed, the federal government reversed the arrangement and declined to implement it. The federal government argued that allowing Rivers to operate outside the central grid structure could encourage other states to demand similar concessions. The decision meant the substations could not be fully utilised, turning what was intended to be a technical solution into yet another political conflict between the presidency and the state government.
Nonetheless, Rivers State pushed ahead with a 180MW Afam gas turbine plant (Phase I), eyeing a second 180MW for its planned 750MW total, highlighting state ingenuity amid federal shortfalls.
Against this background, political tensions escalated rapidly in 2013 - turning a political disagreement into a national spectacle:
April 26, 2013: Federal authorities grounded Rivers' Bombardier jet at Akure Airport mid-flight with Amaechi and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal aboard, citing paperwork lapses. Amaechi called it blatant harassment. The aircraft remained grounded for more than a year.
May 24, 2013: At the Nigeria Governors' Forum election, Amaechi clinched re-election with 19 votes to Jonah Jang’s 16 among 35 governors. The presidency endorsed Jang anyway, fracturing the forum which had been responsible for holding peers accountable in development efforts.
July 9, 2013: Chaos hit the Rivers Assembly as five pro-Jonathan lawmakers tried impeaching Speaker Otelemaba Dan Amachree. Violence ensued, the mace swung as a weapon, blood spilled, injuries mounted. Amaechi intervened personally; the footage went viral nationwide.
August 31, 2013: former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Amaechi and six other governors formed the New PDP (nPDP) or G7 after walking out of the convention to protest the perceived intention of President Goodluck Jonathan to run for re-election in 2015, which they argued violated the party’s internal power-rotation agreement.
September 12, 2013: While returning from an inspection tour with the Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, Amaechi’s convoy was blocked by a police detachment led by CP Joseph Mbu, preventing access to the Rivers State Government House.
November 27, 2013: Amaechi and four governors, namely, Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), defected to the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC). Two members of the G7, Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa) remained in PDP.
The defection triggered a chain reaction and by December 2013, 37 PDP members of the House of Representatives had crossed over to the APC. More than two million PDP members were reported to have followed the governors into the opposition..
What started as a 2010 mic grab had, by late 2013, shattered PDP’s dominance since 1999, with over 10 major defections by mid-2014. Amaechi’s defiance, rooted in valid regional woes, exposed systemic cracks, setting the stage for Nigeria’s seismic 2015 shift.
But nuances abound: Jonathan’s team saw it as insubordination; Amaechi’s, as a fight for fairness. In hindsight, it was both, and a lesson in how personal rifts can redefine a nation’s politics.
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Read part two → When the National Mood Turned
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