A FORMER Governor of Rivers State and two-time Minister of Transport, Rotimi Ameachi, has revealed that he refused to vote or work for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he was convinced that he could not lead Nigeria.
Amaechi, during a public lecture to celebrate his 60th birthday, said, “I met President Tinubu in Yola and I told him I will not work for you and I will not vote for you.
“I told him like that. People have been saying I do not work for All People’s Congress (APC) or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that is because I was convinced that there was an issue of capacity.”
The public lecture held in Abuja with the theme “Weaponization of Poverty” had in attendance Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, Prof Wole Soyinka, Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Bayelsa State, Sierake Dickson, Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, several traditional rulers, and several others.
Amaechi, in his remarks, noted that Nigeria is where it is today because many Nigerians have been voting on a religious and ethnic basis.
“Let me tell you, no Nigerian leader cares for the poor, because they know that Nigerians can do nothing to them once they are in power. When Nigerians protested, the President announced an increase in the price of fuel because they know you cannot do anything,” Amaechi said.
Amaechi further mentioned that he is more concerned about moving the country forward and respecting people with requisite knowledge.
“Nigerian leaders and elites are not the problem of Nigeria; the problem of Nigeria is the followers. We say Nigeria is a capitalist country, but capitalists are those who invest in production, however, Nigeria does not produce anything, we just want to feast on the revenue gotten from crude oil.
“I was ashamed of one of my appointees when I was the Minister of Transport. I appointed her to improve and turnaround things around, unfortunately, she was more interested in speaking Hausa/Fulani to the President.”
He added that an ordinary northerner who is a Muslim has no problem with the ordinary southerner who is a Christian.
“It is when they come to elections, they will tell you. Now you have a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Let the Muslim-Muslim market come out now. It’s time. We are all hungry. All of us are. If you are not hungry, I am,” Amaechi said.
