BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
A former governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has been rumoured in some quarters as President Buhari’s preferred candidate, in fact, the anointed candidate to take over from him in 2023.
Although there has not been any display from the President to that effect, sources within the Presidency claim that the odds appear to favour him.
Already, Amaechi’s posters litter several streets in the nation’s capital, while adverts sponsored by his supporters can be seen on the cover pages of major newspapers in Nigeria.
However, political observers are worried that the political troubles Amaechi is facing in Rivers State are enough to kill his presidential ambition.
Only recently, Amaechi was conferred with a chieftaincy title, Dan Amanar Daura, (meaning Trusted Son of Daura) by the 60th Emir of Daura, Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk.
The title has been interpreted in different quarters to mean, ‘The Preferred’, ‘The Trustworthy’ and ‘The Face of Nigeria’s Future’.
This has increased the speculation that Amaechi is the All Progressives Congress anointed candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
Amaechi, who was Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum when he was governor, was hosted by the First Lady, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, after the conferment of the Daura chieftaincy title on him.
“The turbaning event in Daura may have inadvertently revealed what Buhari was trying to conceal when he said: “I don’t have any favourite for 2023 and if I do, I won’t reveal his identity because if I do, he may be eliminated before the election. I better keep it a secret”
The Minister was accompanied by his wife, Judith, during the visit to the First Lady.
The turbaning was witnessed by governors, former governors, traditional rulers and top politicians among others.
Host of groups thronged the venue to mobilise support for Amaechi for President in 2023.
The groups are Frontier for Peace and Unity, Amaechi Vanguard, Amaechi 2023 Agenda and Northern Grassroots Mobilization.
The ceremony also attracted Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State; the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Alhaji Muhammadu Nuhu Sanusi (Emir of Dutse); Erin Edet Ekong (Chairman of Cross River State Traditional Rulers Council); Abdullahi Lamido Sunusi (Magajin Garin Kano); Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba (Minister of State for Education); Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of State for Health; Okechukwu Enelamah (former Minister of Trade and Investment); Alhaji Yusuf Tukur Buratai, Mallam Isa Yuguda (former Bauchi State Governor); Alhaji Musa Haro (District Head Dumurkol); Alhaji Yusuf Buhari (District Head of Kwasarawa); Bashir Jamo (Director General of NIMASA); and Alhaji Muhammadu Koko among others.
The turbaning, according to observers of political events, remains significant in many respects especially for Amaechi’s contributions to the socio-economic development of Nigeria and, in particular, the emirate of Daura in his capacity as Minister of Transportation.
Pundits hold the view that the conferment of the title on Amaechi, a Nigerian of South-South origin, at a time like this, goes beyond a mere gesture of a returned gratitude.
They opine that the conferment borders on the knotty issue of President Buhari’s successor in 2023.
Besides, they insist that the Dan Amanar Daura title remains an Emirate’s audacious political statement as it has raised a critical issue of trust in leadership.
Earlier, President Buhari had sent congratulatory messages to Amaechi, who was the Director-General of his election campaigns, on the conferment of chieftaincy titles on him by the Daura Emirate Council.
It was gathered that the President, who ought to be at the event, had designated a delegation of three, made up of the Ministers of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu; Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) Garba Shehu, to represent him.
Buhari described the conferment of the title of Dan Amanar Daura on Amaechi as a clear commitment to the harmonious relationship among the nation’s diverse cultures.
Describing Amaechi as a goal-getter, the Emir of Daura prayed for the Minister to attain a higher office.
The Emir’s prayer has sent a strong signal that Amaechi is a trusted son of Buhari, who can take over the reins of power after the president.
The Emir said, “We are gathered here to reciprocate the kind gesture done to us by the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, for his wholehearted love and support for us. Therefore, it is binding on the Daura traditional emirate to acknowledge the kind gesture. My prayer is for God to give you a higher office.”
Faruk also commended Amaechi for ensuring that the Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Railway line passes through Daura.
The traditional ruler said, “We don’t give titles because you have money. We give you considering your sacrifices and impact on people’s lives, and impact on the community and the nation at large.”
Indeed, many hold the view that Amaechi’s turbaning remains an audacious statement on where the sons and daughters of Daura, including President Buhari, stand in the 2023 presidential election.
The turbaning event in Daura may have inadvertently revealed what Buhari was trying to conceal when he said: “I don’t have any favourite for 2023 and if I do, I won’t reveal his identity because if I do, he may be eliminated before the election. I better keep it a secret.”
With the coronation of Amaechi, only a few would now be left in doubt as to where the President stands on the matter of his successor.
Tongues are, however, wagging as the APC and Nigerians wait to see where the pendulum swings to.
A social commentator, Chijioke Nwachukwu, who described the event as an unambiguous statement, said, “The turbaning is an endorsement – a loud and eloquent statement on where the current ruling northern establishment stands as far as the 2023 presidential election is concerned. Like in all democracies, it is logical to assume that there are dissenting voices based on individual, group or class interests.
“The North, with its huge and diverse population, has divergent positions which are expected in a multi-party democracy, but, as often demonstrated, the interest of the ruling northern elites always finds convergence on how and who could protect the interest of the North based on trust.”
Nwachukwu also noted that, “Recent developments in the APC vis-a-vis the revised amendment on the Electoral Act, among other political moves, suggest that Buhari holds the yam and the knife on matters relating to the party’s presidential candidate for 2023. His choice is likely to weigh heavily on the side of trust.”
A frontline politician and a chieftain of the APC in Rivers State, Tonye Princewill, said that stakeholders across the country have started consultation on behalf of Amaechi to contest for the 2023 presidential election.
Princewill, a former governorship candidate of Action Congress in the state, told journalists in Port Harcourt that the Minister of Transportation is yet to initiate his consultation for the job but he and other stakeholders who believe in Amaechi’s worth have started making consultation to draw support for the former governor of Rivers State as to enable him to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Princewill said that Amaechi had enough energy to work hard for the development of the country, stressing that the Minister has what it takes to move the country to greater heights.
Princewill noted that if performance and the knowledge of Nigeria’s politics were the needed yardsticks to decide who should be the country’s President in 2023, “then the cap fits Rotimi Amaechi.”
He said that the wealth of experience Amaechi had garnered over the years as a two-term speaker, chairman of speakers, a two-term governor, chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, a two-time Director-General, who sacked a sitting President and the best performing minister, placed him as the best man for the job.
“Ameachi is very stubborn about results. He does not take ‘no’ for an answer. He goes for results and he has always gotten results in anything he sets his eyes for.
“Amaechi took over the moribund railway industry and transformed it into something that we all can be proud of as a people.
“He may not remember friendship when he becomes President because he needs results that would make Nigerians happy.
“I am not saying this because Amaechi is from my state or region. I know for a fact that Nigeria needs Amaechi who has enough energy to work for the good of this country.
“He understands the politics of this country and knows how to tackle our multifaceted problems”, he said.
He pointed out that Amaechi’s performance index as the best minister gives the needed boost to his capacity to become Nigeria’s best president.
How far can Amaechi go?
The title from the Emir of Daura may give Amaechi a stamp of approval. Nevertheless, the road ahead may not be smooth for the minister.
Amaechi has held many positions since joining partisan politics. He was Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly for two terms, governor for two terms and is now serving his second term as minister. Having held key offices in government for the last 23 years, his supporters now believe it is time for him to run for the presidency, the highest office in Nigeria.
Amaechi’s strained relationship with his people in Rivers State could be traced back to 2013 when he dumped the People’s Democratic Party, which he had been a member of for 14 years.
As governor of Rivers State in 2007, he had appointed his bosom friend, Nyesom Wike, as his chief of staff and even nominated Wike’s wife, Suzette, as a judge.
In 2011, he lobbied President Goodluck Jonathan to appoint Wike as a minister, of which Jonathan obliged. However, Amaechi was involved in a feud with President Jonathan’s wife, Patience, who happened to be from Rivers State as well. Amid this feud, Wike took sides with the then first lady, thereby deepening the crisis.
President Jonathan looked the other way as Wike and Patience battled with Amaechi over the control of the political structure in the state. In the end, Amaechi defected to the APC, automatically making Wike the leader of the PDP in the state.
As an APC governor, Amaechi was given the task of ensuring that Jonathan did not win re-election in 2015, but this was in conflict with the wishes of the people of Rivers State, who saw Jonathan as their son even though he is from neighbouring Bayelsa State.
The South-South zone, where Rivers and Bayelsa States are located, had been marginalized politically for decades, and somehow, Jonathan had risen to become vice-president and then president after the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Amaechi was then tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that Jonathan did not return and that power was returned to the north, a region which had produced most of Nigeria’s leaders.
Amaechi began lobbying intensely to become the vice-presidential candidate of the APC and schemed to ensure that APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu, didn’t emerge as Buhari’s running mate.
However, after Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC, a little known Yemi Osinbajo was eventually picked.
Amaechi was not daunted by this as he was appointed the campaign director-general, mobilising funds and support for Buhari, especially in the South-South region, which is a PDP stronghold.
He put his heart into it, knowing that failure could be costly. At the launch of his book in 2015, Amaechi revealed that Jonathan’s administration had placed him on a watch list and asked the Nigerian Immigration Service not to allow him to leave the country once Jonathan won.
“I knew I was going to be in trouble, [I was ready to do] anything that would cause that change not to take place, I was ready to make that sacrifice. The Federal Government had sent out a signal that if they won, nobody would let me leave Nigeria from any airport,” he said.
However, Amaechi’s assignment was seen as treacherous. Even his deputy, at the time, Tele Ikuru, defected to the PDP on the week of the elections, saying he could not betray the people of the South-South and support Buhari’s campaign.
In a press statement, Ikuru said, “My dear people of Rivers State, we of this generation will not in good conscience expect forgiveness and compassion from our forebears, posterity, and the spirit of our unborn generations if it is recorded in the annals of history that after 48 years of Rivers people supporting leaders from all other parts of this country with our votes and resources, we were the same that witch-hunted (sic) and hounded the very first ever president from this region, granted us by providence. I wash my hands off this treachery.”
Amaechi stayed loyal to Buhari, campaigning in Rivers and other parts of the country for him.
Jonathan went on to garner 1.48 million votes in Rivers State, while Buhari polled 69, 238 votes in Rivers State. Wike also went on to win the governorship election in Rivers State, thereby denting Amaechi’s ‘home credibility’.
However, Buhari eventually won the presidential election and the people of Rivers State would never forgive Amaechi for this.
Such actions could be suicidal in a country where tribe, ethnicity and religion play a major role, but Buhari rewarded Amaechi with a juicy appointment – Minister of Transportation.
As minister, Amaechi implemented the president’s policy of reviving the rail sector. He did this by encouraging the president to obtain controversial but low-interest loans from China worth about $3bn.
Several rail projects were launched in different parts of the country, while those started by Jonathan’s administration were completed.
He also ensured that a transport university was built in Buhari’s hometown; a move critics say was done by Amaechi to ingratiate himself to the president.
Currently, he is also supervising the construction of a railway from Nigeria into Niger Republic, a move which the president has commended on several occasions. However, his failure to inaugurate any major project in Rivers State has only worsened his relationship with his people.
“When Buhari was to run a second-term campaign, he called on Amaechi to help him out one more time. However, while the minister’s reputation continued to grow nationally, it got worse in Rivers State where Wike has been able to consolidate his hold, effectively becoming the most powerful PDP governor in the country”
As a minister, Amaechi took firm control of the Nigerian Ports Authority by orchestrating the indefinite suspension of the managing director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman, an ally of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.
He subsequently appointed his former account officer as the acting and substantive Managing Director of the NPA, which is one of Nigeria’s highest revenue generating agencies. His ability to kick out Bala-Usman was evidence that he had the president’s support.
Amaechi is also among the few ministers who have direct access to the president. He showed these on many occasions when he got the president to sign off on contracts that had been flagged for being in breach of the country’s procurement law.
The Wike element
Wike has remained Amaechi’s archenemy and has done everything to rubbish Amaechi’s name in the state, including leveling allegations of corruption against him at every slight opportunity.
Even so, attempts by Wike to prosecute Amaechi for alleged corruption proved abortive as federal authorities continued to shield the minister, describing Wike’s probes as a witch-hunt.
When Buhari was to run a second-term campaign, he called on Amaechi to help him out one more time. However, while the minister’s reputation continued to grow nationally, it got worse in Rivers State where Wike has been able to consolidate his hold, effectively becoming the most powerful PDP governor in the country.
While Amaechi has not been able to attract projects to Rivers State, Wike has inaugurated many, earning the local title ‘Mr. Project’.
In the 2019 elections, Amaechi’s proclivity for imposing his preferred candidates on the APC in the state backfired, as a faction led by his former protégé, Magus Abe, challenged his authority.
The crisis degenerated to the extent that the Supreme Court ruled that the APC could not participate in the 2019 general elections, effectively handing over every elective position in the state to the PDP.
Currently, there are two factions of the APC in Rivers State engaged in a supremacy battle, a development Wike has continued to exploit.
Amaechi’s challenge is further compounded by the fact that the South-South region where he comes from is not a strong APC base and this has given the South West which boasts of popular politicians like Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo – the impetus to demand that the next president should be from their zone.
A socio-political group, Media Vanguard for Change, which has the sole aim of ensuring that Amaechi succeeds Buhari next year, believes the minister has what it takes to lead Nigeria, having held key positions in government for the last 22 years
The director general of the group, Ordinance Emeji, pleaded with the APC to zone its presidential ticket to the South South so that Amaechi would easily emerge as the party’s candidate.
“Amaechi was chairman of the governors’ forum, chairman of the conference of speakers and is currently the best performing minister in President Buhari’s cabinet, so we are mobilising and asking him to contest. We want the APC to zone its ticket to the south-south,” Emeji said.
Political observers are watching to see how Amaechi can overcome these obstacles and win a presidential election if he decides to declare soon.
