Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka lauded former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, for his courage in refusing to withdraw from the 2022 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary contest in favor of President Bola Tinubu.
Soyinka, who observed the primary election live from Abu Dhabi, expressed that he was particularly moved by Amaechi’s defiance.
He made these remarks on Saturday at Amaechi’s 60th birthday celebration in Abuja.
Amaechi served as governor of Rivers State from 2007 to 2015.
Read Also: Why I Refused To Work For Tinubu – Amaechi
“The main reason why I had to be here today — it’s first of all that I admire Rotimi Amaechi’s fighting spirit,” he said.
“And it’s a very consistent one, but the most memorable for me, because I watched this event live on TV from Abu Dhabi.
“I wanted to see the drama of all the primaries going on during the election. I wasn’t here, but I said I wanted to watch this contest, and I’m glad I did.
“Because it gave me a great—most malicious pleasure, rascally if you like, pleasure-to-to — see the incumbent president being given a dose of his own medicine.”
Soyinka said Amaechi’s decision to stay in the race reminded him of Tinubu’s defiance during the Olusegun Obasanjo era.
“Let me explain this. For somebody, we knew as the last man standing when he fought to a standstill, a former president who was manoeuvring himself into a position of changing the constitution and 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 emasculating the powers of the constituent elements of the federation.
“And by the end, this president was the last man standing and resisted that effort. All the others had sort of cowed down because their statutory allocation had been stopped, contrary to the Constitution.
“But one man — he was the last man standing. Well, he obtained a dose of his own medicine from Rotimi Amaechi during the primaries. I enjoyed that very much.
“While everybody was, you know, falling over one another conceding, there was one individual who got on the podium and he said no, I’m not conceding.
“I didn’t come all the way here to commit ‘lúlẹ̀’. And that man was Rotimi Amaechi. And I said this is what democracy is all about.”
In the 2022 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election, Bola Tinubu emerged victorious with 1,271 votes out of 13 contenders.
Rotimi Amaechi came in second with 316 votes, while then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo secured the third position with 235 votes.
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