By Jimitota Onoyume
PORT HARCOURT—THE two-day state visit of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, to Rivers State nearly ended on a sour note, yesterday, when she publicly scolded the state Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi for wanting to acquire more land in Okrika, her home town, for the expansion of a school project.

The First Lady was visibly angry when the Governor told the visiting guests, while conducting them around the school project at Anyugibiri, Okrika, that he was trying to acquire some of the properties around the school and pay the owners compensation.

Vanguard gathered that the governor complained that the model school around Anyugibiri had not been completed because some structures around it were causing obstruction, adding that they had to be acquired and demolished before the project could be completed.

The governor said that during his last visit to the local government, he told the Chairman of the Council to negotiate with owners of the structures so that they could be pulled down. The first lady who interrupted and reprimanded the governor that land was a precious property in Okrika, said the governor must not think of acquiring any more land.

She, however, toned down her comments later when Okrika indigenes hosted her to an impromptu banquet. She instead advised Governor Amaechi to reach a common ground with the people of the community on how best to go about some issues the governor said were slowing work at the Model school project

The first lady advised the governor to go beyond the Council chairman on such matters because land was very dear to the people of Okrika since it is a riverine area with limited land space.

She said the governor should dialogue with the people with a view to reaching a common ground, adding: “Land is a serious issue. It is something you have to dialogue on. You should not say “we must” because we need peace in this country and there must be peace. It is only through peace that we must have progress.”

Later at the venue of the reception for the first lady in Okrika, she lauded Governor Amaechi for the health centre and model school projects in Okrika.

She recounted her interactions with the governor at one of the project sites earlier in the day, stressing that she had urged the governor to dialogue with the people and reach a consensus with them on how best to tackle challenges hindering completion of the model school project.

Dame Jonathan said: “He (Governor Amaechi) has good intentions, but we need dialogue.