Amaechi’s presidential dream goes awry

Former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, recently stirred controversy by declaring himself a hungry man. His claim did not sit well with many Nigerians who are conscious of his antecedents as an eight-year Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, eight-year governor of Rivers State and eight-year super minister in charge of transportation during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

If a man who has held very prominent positions in government for 24 years is starving just because he is out of office for two years, then something is fundamentally wrong, they argued.

But fresh information about the former Minister of Transportation is that he is not only hungry, he is also angry. His present rage stems from goings on in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the party of former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai, former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola and other disgruntled politicians whose sole mission is to stop the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.

Amaechi, who had lost the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Tinubu in the build-up to the 2023 elections and had been unable to hide his anger over the latter’s victory as the party’s candidate and eventually as the President, had pitched his tent with the sworn enemies of the President in ADC in the hope of securing the party’s ticket to contest the presidential election against Tinubu in 2027.

Excited at his membership of the party, he had boasted about the pivotal role he played in the formation of the party together with former Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi. His excitement has, however, turned into frustration as reality finally hit him that the party touted as a coalition and its main actors are nothing more than pawns on Atiku’s string.

Amaechi was said to have become dispirited lately after realising that the party’s presidential ticket is designed for Atiku, wondering what use it would be to chase out Tinubu only to replace him with the former VP whose status in the party is not even clear. The ex-minister was also said to have been exasperated that only him and Aregbesola heeded the party’s instruction that members should go to their respective states to hold rallies aimed at wooing people into the party, while Atiku the man they are working for has done nothing more than push out occasional press releases through his media aides.

Amaechi is also frustrated that the hope of the party to attract political heavyweights remains unfulfilled; a situation compounded by APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda’s,  recent declaration that some ADC members were on the verge of defecting to APC.