•Says: “You Lied In Your Interview With City People”
Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation is unhappy right now. This is because of the interview which one of his former political associates granted City People. And he is not hiding his feelings.
Last week, former Federal lawmaker, Elder Chidi Frank Wihioka granted City People an interview in which he revealed why he parted ways with Amaechi. He also said the Magnus Ngei Abe-led All Progressives Congress vs the authentic APC state chapter.
When City People Magazine reached out to the Minister of Transportation, he quickly replied: “He lied all through”.
However, Elder Chidi Wihioka when contacted for further comments disagreed with Amaechi’s response.
Elder Chidi Wihioka is one of the Rivers politicians who have parted ways with Amaechi, over irreconcilable political differences.
For those who don’t know Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi well, let’s tell you about this big player in Rivers politics. He is the leader of the party in the State. He is currently serving as the Minister of Transportation in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari. He is a seasoned politician. He previously served the oil-rich Rivers State, as Governor from 2007 to 2015 and Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2007.
He is from Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. He was born to the family of the late Elder Fidelis Amaechi and Mary Amaechi. His first and last names are Ikwerre meaning “God is strength or power” and “who knows tomorrow” respectively. He was raised in Diobu, a densely populated neighbourhood in Port Harcourt.
He had his early education at St Theresa’s Primary School from 1970 to 1976. He earned his West African Senior School Certificate in 1982 after attending Government Secondary School Okolobiri. Amaechi received a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) in English Studies and Literature from the University of Port Harcourt in 1987, where he was the President of the National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS).
He completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps in 1988, and thereafter joined Pamo Clinics and Hospitals Limited owned by Peter Odili, where he worked until 1992. He was also a director of several companies, including West Africa Glass Industry Limited and Risonpalm Nigeria Limited.
During the transition to the Third Nigerian Republic, Amaechi was Secretary of the National Republican Convention in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. Between 1992 and 1994, he was Special Assistant to the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili – his boss believed in Amaechi as a young man with potential in politics, and brought him under his wing. In 1996, he was the Rivers State Secretary of the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) caretaker committee during the transition programme of General Sani Abacha.
In 1999, he contested and won a seat to become a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly to represent his constituency. He was subsequently elected as the Speaker of the House of Assembly. Amaechi was elected the Chairman of Nigeria’s Conference of Speakers of State Assemblies. In May 2003, he was re-elected as the Speaker. In 2003, when the National Assembly moved to hijack the legislative functions of the State House of Assembly as enshrined in the constitution, he and his colleagues took the matter to the Supreme Court.
As Speaker, Amaechi used his close working relationship with Governor Peter Odili to increase the harmonious relationship between the Executive and Legislative arms of government in Rivers State, until when Rotimi Amaechi launched a campaign against the State Government, and verbally attacked the image of the State Governor, in an effort to succeed Peter Odili as governor in 2007.
In 2007, Amaechi contested and won the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primary for Rivers State Governor. His name was substituted by the party, an action which he challenged in court. The case eventually got to the Supreme Court. He became governor on October 26, 2007, after the Supreme Court ruled that he was the rightful candidate of the PDP and winner of the April 2007 Governorship election in Rivers State.
His administration invested in infrastructure development, construction of roads and bridges, sticking to the vision of connecting all parts of the state by road. The governor was also committed to Urban renewal and modernization of transportation services. His administration began building a monorail to provide mass transportation within the city of Port Harcourt. Some power plant projects (Afam, Trans Amadi, Onne) were also built to improve power supply in the state.
He was re-elected for a second term on 26 April 2011. In August 2013, Amaechi was amongst 7 serving governors who formed the G-7 faction within the PDP. In November 2013, Amaechi alongside 5 members of the G-7 defected to the new opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and became Director-General of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential campaign.
In 2015, following Muhammadu Buhari’s election, Amaechi was appointed Federal Minister of Transportation. In July 2019, he was re-nominated for ministerial appointment by President Buhari. Amaechi was asked to take a bow and go during his screening by the Senate.
How Amaechi and other APC Rivers politicians will rebuild the party is the biggest issue right now, because they all need to mend the cracks in their fold.
For quite some time now, the APC in Rivers has been enmeshed in crisis. And crisis seemed to have deepened, a few weeks back when the party held its Congress and Senator Magnus Abe faction of the party inaugurated executives to man its affairs.
The camp loyal to Amaechi had during the Congress elected Emeka Bekee, as Party Chairman. However, the Abe faction also appointed its state officials, with Golden Chioma as the party Chairman.
Briefing journalists shortly after the inauguration at the party’s Freedom House Secretariat, Port Harcourt, Chioma said there had been lots of comments about their recent state congress, which needed to be addressed.
He stated that they were “ready for battle” to occupy the Bricks House (Government House), Port Harcourt, in 2023, and that nobody could intimidate them.
The chairman stressed that the era of wishing “happy birthdays” was over and that they had persons of impeccable character that could take the party to the desired height.
“In the last 72 hours, our great party has been saddled with a lot of rift by a lot of mischief-makers. We just want to clear the air, so that this press conference would settle all dust.”
“We held the ward congress; we held the local government congress and we also held the state congress. For the avoidance of doubt, all those whose names were mentioned this morning bought forms, submitted forms. They are men of impeccable personalities and ladies of repute.”
“I stand as a duly elected Executive Chairman of APC in Rivers State. I also want to sound a note of warning that this party will no longer wish happy birthdays. We are leaving the era of birthdays for a political option, where we must take the Brick House.”
“We are the political party that is only known to contest an election; we don’t want to be the second-best. We want to be the best and we want to produce the next governor of Rivers State.”
“This state is very important to the Nigerian project. We cannot continue to be in the opposition. APC will rule Nigeria, APC will rule Rivers State.”
On his part, Chris Finebone, the recently elected publicity secretary of the Amaechi faction, stated that there was no parallel APC in the state.
Finebone, who was reacting to the inauguration of Chioma as a factional chairman of the party, said, “there was no parallel congress in Rivers APC on Saturday.
“What qualifies as parallel congress is when the team sent by the APC CECPC conducted two congresses with INEC and security agencies observing. There was no such thing that happened in Rivers State last Saturday.”
“The team from Abuja conducted the only Congress that took place in Rivers State at the Polo Club, Port Harcourt. That exercise saw the emergence of Chief Emeka Bekee as the State Chairman with other officers for various positions.
“As soon as we are inaugurated, we will get security agencies to go after any imposters right into their holes and fish them out to face the law. You just watch. They are impersonators,” Finebone added.
– Emeka AMaefula
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