Former Governor of Rivers State and ex-Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that opposition parties in Nigeria have the potential to unite and remove President Bola Tinubu from power in the 2027 elections.
Amaechi made this statement during an event to mark his 60th birthday. He revealed that before the 2023 presidential election, he met with Tinubu and told him directly that he would neither support nor vote for him, citing concerns about Tinubu’s capacity to lead.
“I met President Tinubu in Yola and I told him I would not work for you and I would not vote for you. Why I’m saying this is because some people in Rivers state have been saying, ‘he didn’t work for APC, he didn’t support Tinubu’. I told him in advance before the election…because I was convinced that there was an issue of capacity,” Amaechi explained.
He urged opposition members to put the nation’s interests above personal ambitions if they intend to successfully challenge the current administration. “If you want us to remove the man in power, we can remove him from this power. We want to submit to the opposition if the opposition can lead us out of this problem. And for the opposition to lead us out of this problem, we must agree to submit ourselves to the interests of the nation first before the interests of ourselves,” he said.
Amaechi also criticized Nigerian leaders for neglecting the poor, accusing them of focusing on personal wealth instead of the welfare of the people. He argued that poverty is being used as a tool to keep citizens powerless and that insecurity in the country is largely a result of widespread poverty.
“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 stated.
He further explained that insecurity rises when poverty increases and recounted how, during his time as governor, he tackled insecurity by ensuring prompt payment of salaries.
Amaechi concluded by highlighting the need for real change, stressing that the current government and its agencies are not afraid of the people and continue to enrich themselves while ordinary Nigerians struggle with hunger and hardship.
