Former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi stated on Tuesday that he and former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido would not have accepted the current state of affairs in Nigeria if they were still in office.
Amaechi, who previously chaired the Nigeria Governors Forum during Lamido’s second term, asserted that their time in office was characterized by strong opposition and a dedication to holding the federal government accountable.
Amaechi, also a former Minister of Transportation, made these remarks in Abuja at the public presentation of Lamido’s autobiography, “Being True to Myself.”
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He said, “I asked you (Lamido) this morning, what is going on currently in the country, in Nigerian politics — would it have happened when we were governors? You said no. And the answer is no.”
Amaechi added, “We would have confronted the government, confronted the president. That’s how radical you were. That’s how our Governors Forum operated. That’s how determined we were to change things.”
He reflected on his political relationship with Lamido, noting that while they were allies in government, their paths diverged concerning the strategy to oppose then-President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We were quite good friends in government. We had our bad times when we disagreed. I made the mistake of assuming he was as radical as I was. So, he was one of the governors I clung to when it came to radical decisions.”
“The last one before we broke ranks was when we all agreed to go against President Jonathan. We formed a committee of governors and others. At the end of the day, he went to find a new party, the SDP. We said, ‘If we go to the SDP, we will lose the election. Let’s hang on to this one called the APC.’ He disagreed and left us. That’s where we parted ways,” Amaechi explained.
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