Barrister Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, former minister of transport under President Buhari’s administration, has said that he and ex-Jigawa State governor, Mr. Sule Lamido would have challenged President Bola Tinubu’s administration if they were state governors.
He said this while speaking in Abuja during the public launching of Lamido’s autobiography titled, “Being True to Myself”.
Amaechi was the former governor of Rivers State and one-time Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum
He recalled the assertiveness of their era in office.
Amaechi 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.
“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.”
Also reflecting on their political alliance, Amaechi described Lamido as a close ally during their time in government, though their relationship eventually collapsed over differences in political strategy.
“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.