Rotimi Amaechi, minister of
transportation, says Peter Obi, vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), does not have the right to say he is politically
irrelevant.
Speaking at an interactive forum
of maritime stakeholders in Lagos, on Tuesday, Amaechi tackled Obi for
attacking him over his comments on the 2023 presidency.
The minister had said the Igbo
had nothing to negotiate for 2023 presidency.
Reacting, Obi had said Amaechi
lacked the competence to talk about which geopolitical zone should produce the
president in 2023.
“Amaechi is not from the
southeast, so he cannot speak for us. He is not in any position to make such
statement because even him that is in APC, he did not contribute anything to
the success of that election,” he had said.
“He did not even achieve anything
in his own state. Those of us from the southeast who are from the PDP
contributed to the success of our party.”
But in Amaechi’s latest response,
the minister said Obi did not have the credibility to speak on the matter
because he could not win the presidential election.
Describing Obi’s comment as “sad
and cheap one”, Amaechi said his name has been in the front burner of national
politics far more than that of Obi.
“Peter Obi said I’m not an Igbo
man and that I don’t have the locus to discuss whether Igbo presidency will be
or not in 2023. That comment is a very sad and cheap one from him,” Amaechi
said.
“But the truth is that Peter Obi
too does not have the locus to speak about Igbo presidency because he and his
party couldn’t win the presidential election.
“Aside from that, it’s most
unfortunate that Peter Obi, a man I defeated to become the chairman of Nigeria
Governors Forum(NGF), when we were both governors, can wake up today to say I
am not relevant in the polity to talk about national issues when journalists
ask me questions about it.”
He, however, noted that it is the
turn of the Igbo to produce the next president since they have never had the
opportunity but added that for it to become a reality, they must be part of
“national politics”
“I think what is important which
I have said to the Igbo several times is that they need to be part of national
politics. If they are not part of national politics, they cannot be president,”
he said.
“National politics means that an
Ikwerre man must have his interest covered by the Igbo if they want to be
president. The Yoruba man must have the Igbo cover their interests, the Hausa,
Fulani people must also be confident that their interests are covered by the
Igbo.
“I support Igbo presidency. I
believe that it’s the Igbo turn to produce the next president of Nigeria
because they have not been there before.
“The country will be unfair to
the Igbo if they say it’s not their turn. But it can’t be your turn and you
don’t want to fight for it. You want us to wake you up from sleep and say come
and take, it is your turn?
“It doesn’t work like that and it
will not work that way. So, Peter Obi should close his mouth. He lost an election
which I won and that’s why President Buhari, not Atiku will be sworn-in
tomorrow as president.”
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