•Says he’s from Ikwerre in Rivers

Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that the poor treatment meted out to the Southeast was the reason he claimed to be an Igbo man.

Amaechi, in an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time, said he was an Ikwerre man from Rivers State, adding that his disdain for how the Southeast was treated made him claim to be an Igbo man.

Amaechi disclosed that his affiliation with the Igbo tribe was a protest to make Nigerians address the issues of the Southeast.

“I’m an Ikwerre man, if you ask an Ikwerre man who are you? He will tell you that I’m an Ikwerre man.

“So, what you can say is that, is an Ikwerre man an Igbo man? There are divergent views. The majority will say no, but there is a very tiny minority which includes me.

“Why did I take that position? It’s political but not to win the votes of the Igbos. I didn’t like the way Igbos were being treated at a particular point in time – in protest, I began to wear the Tiger head cloth with the red cap.

“I wore it in protest asking Nigerians to address their problems. Again, I made it public that I’m an Igbo man in protest.”

Speaking before a crowd of supporters at the All Progressives Congress (APC), presidential campaign in Aba, Abia State in 2015, Amaechi said, “I am a bona fide Igbo man.

“My name is Amaechi but President Jonathan who says his name is Azikiwe cannot speak the Igbo language.”