Immediate past Minister of Transportation in the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration, Rotimi Ameachi, said that he did not work for President Bola Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election.
The former governor of Rivers State said the disclosure would not be shocking to Tinubu as he had personally told him in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
Ameachi, who made the disclosure at a ceremony to celebrate his 60th birthday on Saturday, drew several leaders of the coalition that is being put in place to unseat the President in the 2027 elections.
He said the reason he declined to work for Tinubu was that of his capacity to govern the country.
The former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly said: “I met President Tinubu in Yola and told him I will not work for you, and I will not vote for you.
“I told him in advance before the election.
“It was not a matter of whether I did or not
“I made him know that because I am convinced that there is an issue of capacity.
“Some of us here raised the issue of capacity.”
Ameachi, who came second during the presidential primary poll of the All Progressives Congress behind Tinubu, said the opposition had the capacity to remove him from power in 2027.
He said: “It was not a matter of whether those that served under me are from the South or North.
“What matters most is: How did we change this country?
“Growing up, we had a Student Assembly meeting in Kano.
“We started that meeting at 12 midnight, finished at 6am.
“We had the meeting in a private house.
“I missed my way.
“I only called someone: Where is BUK?
“If it is now, they will kidnap me.
“The ordinary Northerner, who is a Muslim, has no problem with an ordinary Southerner, who is a Christian.
“It is when it comes to the election they will tell you this man is a Muslim vote for him.
“Now we have a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“Now, where is Muslim-Muslim market?
“We are hungry.
“If you are not hungry, I am.
“If you want us to remove the man in power, we can remove him from this power.
“When we were students, we organised the Tai Solarin protest against (former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi) Babangida.
“We organised a protest against (former Military Head of State, Muhammadu) Buhari.
“The protest that shut down ABU, University of Lagos, University of Kano, the meeting took place in Kano.
“When we finished the meeting at night, going back to our schools, we were told to mobilise.
Once the National Association of Nigeria Students president addressed the press conference, all of us were on the streets.
“You will see a young handsome Northerner with his Southerner friend feeling free and eating the same kind of food.
“That is to tell you that we have poisoned the mind of our young men.” [Eagle Online]
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