“I Have More Capacity To Govern Nigeria Than Tinubu” – Rotimi Amaechi

By Charles Igbo

“If given the ADC Presidential ticket, and if he wins at the polls,  Amaechi, like Peter Obi, says he would be in office for only one term

A former two-term Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has declared that he is better qualified, and has more capacity than President Bola Tinubu to preside over the affairs of Nigeria.

Amaechi, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who resigned from the Party on Tuesday and joined the African Democratic Congress, ADC, said the country would not have been in the state it is now if he was the President.

The Transportation Minister under the eight years administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, also, said he would be President for only one term if he is presented with the opportunity.

Amaechi spoke on Thursday on  Channel Television’s Politics Today anchored by Seun Okinbaloye

Asked about President Tinubu’s performance in office, Amaechi dismissed it as abysmal. In the past couple of days, Amaechi has insisted that he never, from day one, believed that Tinubu has the capacity  to govern Nigeria.

He pointed at the hunger in the land and the unprecedented insecurity and  poor performance of the Naira against the Dollar. He said there was no way those could have happened under him.

On insecurity, he reminded Nigerians that when he was sworn-in as the Governor of Rivers State, he met a terrible security situation but he noted that he took care of it within six months.

Amaechi also flaunted his credentials and experiences – from political offices held, (two- term Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. He was a damn good Speaker he said), a two-term Governor of Rivers State, a two-term Chairman of the Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum,  eight years as Transportation Minister, to his educational qualifications (first and Masters degrees in Political Science and Law), to his robust health.

He said, jogs kilometers everyday, and, as President, he would make his health status public so Nigerians would know he would not be on medical tourism.

Like the Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 General Elections, Amaechi said he would be a one-term President in keeping with the unwritten zoning arrangement in the country. He disclosed it was one of the reasons he fought the President Goodluck Jonathan Government in 2015.

His words: “For now, the way Nigeria is, you must keep to that unwritten agreement that says South, eight years, North eight years. I led a fight against the PDP Government because there was an agreement that the Government at that time would spend four years, but after four years, the Government reneged, and I said ‘no, that will be unfair. That will lead to instability at its peak as the North will react’. So, the best thing to do is to support a Northern candidate to continue the balance of power.”

Amaechi contest in the Presidential Primary of the APC alongside others against President Bola Tinubu. He came a distant second. An assurance, according to Senator Ali Ndume, by Tinubu did not work out as the President reneged.