Economic Hardship: APC attacks Amaechi, says ex-minister’s comment unpatriotic

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi of inciting the public against the current administration.

During an interview, Mr Amaechi criticised Nigerian youth for not protesting the country’s “high cost of living.”

The APC spokesperson, Festus Morka, released a statement on Friday describing Mr Amaechi’s comments as insensitive, appalling, and unpatriotic.

In what appeared to be a diatribe against the former governor, Mr Morka stated that if all political leaders are considered thieves, then Mr Amaechi, who held various positions between 1999 and 2022, should be included.

“Coming from one of Nigeria’s longest-serving and highest-ranking political freeloaders—a two-term speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, a two-term governor, and a two-term minister of transport.

“For almost all his adult life, Amaechi has been a parasitic dependent on state resources, a voracious beneficiary of official patronage, and a leading participant in the generational devastation of our country’s economy. Attempting to deceive Nigerians with his false empathy and incitement to violence is hypocritical, provocative, and dangerous.

“If those in power ‘steal money,’ as Amaechi mischievously alleged, how come he can’t afford ‘to buy diesel’ barely two years after ‘stealing’ for over 24 years in power as Speaker, Governor, and Minister?” he said.

President Tinubu is facing heavy criticism over economic hardship caused by the duo subsidy removal policies and the Naira devaluation.

Relationship between Amaechi and Tinubu

Mr Amaechi served as minister for seven years under former President Muhammadu Buhari. He resigned to contest in the APC presidential primaries, where he was defeated by Bola Tinubu, who went on to win the presidential election.

The relationship between the minister and the ruling party has been strained since the primaries. After the primaries, President Tinubu worked with Nyesom Wike, then governor of Rivers State.

Subsequently, Mr Tinubu won the presidential election in Rivers State. However, PREMIUM TIMES reviewed the announced result and the data on IREV, showing that the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, actually won the election.

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Messrs Amaechi and Wike are political rivals, but with the latter now serving as a minister in the federal cabinet, he appears to enjoy federal support.

The political landscape in Rivers State has become increasingly complicated. Mr Wike is believed to control the PDP. At the same time, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, a member of the PDP, and his loyalists are affiliated with the Action Peoples Party (APP), in which they contested the last local government election.

Meanwhile, some of Mr Wike’s loyalists have also been appointed to the APC Caretaker Committee.

Shots fired at Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso

The APC also attacked other presidential candidates in the last election, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, suggesting that Mr Amaechi should join his “fellow tribesmen of naysayers.”

They noted that many criticising the current administration have also held elective positions without improving the country.

“The only real frustration that Amaechi and his fellow tribesmen of naysayers like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso must feel is that they are not in government today. But that was a decision made by Nigeria’s ultimate political authority—the electorate.

“Nigerians are highly perceptive, discerning, and mindful that the economic discomforts associated with the administration’s inevitable reforms are temporary and will pale into insignificance compared to the enduring transformative dividends that are already beginning to manifest. Nigerians will not be swayed into reclaiming through street violence what they handed to the administration through the ballot, as Amaechi and his partisan tribesmen would wish.

“It is nauseating to think that these naysayer tribesmen, who did absolutely nothing to improve the economy or living conditions for Nigerians while they were in office, now pontificate endlessly about what should be done but didn’t and couldn’t do while in power,” Mr Morka said.