‘Tinubu Obtained A Dose Of His Own Medicine From Amaechi’ – Soyinka

Nigerian literary icon, Wole Soyinka, has praised former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, for his steadfastness during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries in 2022, when he refused to step down in support of Bola Tinubu.

Amaechi was among over 20 aspirants vying for the APC presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 elections. While several of his fellow aspirants stepped down to back Tinubu, Amaechi, alongside other notable figures like former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Pastor Tunde Bakare, and ex-Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, remained in the race until the end.

He ultimately came second to Tinubu in the primaries and has since aligned himself with the opposition, playing a significant role in the coalition aiming to challenge the current administration in the 2027 elections.

The two men, Tinubu and Amaechi, previously worked together in 2014-2015 to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government led by then-President Goodluck Jonathan. Both leaders played pivotal roles in ensuring Muhammadu Buhari secured the presidency and remained in power for eight years.

Despite this history, Amaechi’s current political stance opposes Tinubu’s government, a shift that has made him a key player in the movement to unseat the current administration.

Soyinka, who was invited to serve as Chairman of Amaechi’s 60th birthday celebration in Abuja over the weekend, lauded the former governor’s resilience and tenacity.

He said, “The main reason why I had to be here is, first of all is that I admire Rotimi’s fighting spirit, and it’s a very consistent one.

“The most memorable for me, because I watched this event live on TV all the way from Abu Dhabi. I wanted to see the drama of all the primaries going on during the election. I wasn’t really here, but I said, I want to watch this, this contest, and I’m glad I did because it gave me a great, most malicious pleasure, rascally, if you like, pleasure to see the incumbent president[Tinubu] being given a dose of his own medicine.

“Let me explain this, as we knew as he [Tinubu] was the last man standing when he fought to a standstill a former president[Obasanjo] who was maneuvering himself into a position of changing the constitution and becoming obtaining a third term.

“He keeps denying it but he and I know for a fact, and so do others, and towards that goal, he was sort of escalating the powers of the constituent elements of the Federation.

“And by the end, [Tinubu] resisted that effort. All the others had sort of cowed down because their statutory allocation had been stopped contrary to the Constitution.

“One man, he[ Tinubu] was the last man standing. Well, he obtained a dose of his own medicine from Amaechi during the primaries.

“I enjoyed that very much. While everybody was, you know, falling over one another, conceding, conceding, as one individual who got on the podium and he said, ‘No, I’m not conceding. I didn’t come all the way here to [concede].’ That one person is Amaechi. And I said this is what democracy is all about.”