Former Rivers State Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has expressed concern over the present state of governance in Nigeria, asserting that the situation would have met stiff opposition if he and Sule Lamido were still in power as governors.
Amaechi made this statement on Tuesday in Abuja during the public launch of Lamido’s autobiography, Being True to Myself.
Reflecting on their time in office and their influence within the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), which he chaired, Amaechi noted that their leadership style was one marked by boldness and confrontation.
“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 said during his address at the event.
He went further to underscore the assertiveness of the governors during that period, noting, “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.”
Amaechi also took a trip down memory lane, recounting his political collaboration with Lamido during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Their shared political vision, however, eventually diverged.
“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,” Amaechi admitted.
He recalled a pivotal moment that led to their political split: “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.”
