Atiku, Amaechi, El-Rufai united by desperation for power - APC, Wike - Blueprint Newspapers Limited
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected poverty weaponisation allegation made by the trio of former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna state Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
APC described the coming together of the trio as desperately self-serving.
The ruling party was reacting to statements reportedly made at a public lecture held in Abuja on Saturday, May 31, 2025, to mark the 60th birthday anniversary celebration of Amaechi.
In a statement signed Monday in Abuja by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the party said these three individuals, at different times, occupied Nigeria’s highest political offices between 1999 and 2023, either as Vice President, Governors, or Ministers, among other important positions and in all 24 years, and individually or collectively, could not and did not eradicate poverty in their states or the country.
According to Morka, they also did not even attempt to address, let alone tackle the structural challenges and distortions that stifled the economy and worsened poverty over the years.
“Rather, they revelled in mindless rent-seeking behaviour, sold national assets to their cronies for mere pittance, engaged in corrupt and wasteful expenditures in their states, and relentlessly sponsored state violence against their own people.
“Take the case of Amaechi, the celebrant, who served for an unbroken total of 24 years – eight years as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, eight years as Governor of Rivers State, and eight years as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That’s about a quarter of a century of freeloading by Amaechi on state resources, with absolutely no record of attempting to combat poverty in his Rivers State or the country,” the statement said.
The APC said the criticisms by the quartet of Amaechi, Atiku, El-Rufai and Peter Obi “mask a shameless attempt to perpetuate and cling to the old rent-seeking economy that enriched them at the expense of the Nigerian people.”
He said in two years, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had demonstrated the political will to tackle structural barriers to the country’s economic growth and development far more than any other President in Nigeria’s modern history.
Morka said: “By his bold economic reforms, President Tinubu is systematically building the most potent bulwark against poverty and positioning the economy to deliver sustained and sustainable growth and prosperity for all Nigerians.
“As beneficiaries of the corrupt and inefficient economic system, they are discomforted that Tinubu’s reforms are dismantling the insidious and permissive system that enabled and sustained their reckless plunder and exploitation of the economy.
“The administration’s reforms may have transient higher cost of living implications challenges, but they are indispensable to securing a more sustainable economy that rewards hard work, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
“Mr President is on course, and will not be distracted by the selfish partisan rambling of some hardened political opportunists and economic exploiters only bent on preserving the old inefficient and permissive economic system that fed them at the expense of the common good of all.
“The best strategic interest of our economy and the good people of Nigeria must continue to trump any and all political or electoral calculations,” the APC further added.
In a related development, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, described the Amaechi’s “I’m hungry” remark as hunger for power.
“We’re all hungry, all of us are. If you’re not hungry, I am. For us, the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power, we can remove him from this power.
“In Nigeria, there are no capitalist ideas among the politicians; it’s about sharing,” Amaechi was reported to have said at the event marking his 60th birthday recently in Abuja. / 0:00
But speaking at a media parley Monday in Abuja, Wike said: “We have no time to listen to nonsense in Nigeria. I don’t understand why a man like Amaechi would choose his 60th birthday to lie to Nigerians about being hungry.
“He was Speaker from 1999 to 2007, Governor from 2007 to 2015, and Minister from 2015 to 2023. He never spoke about hunger during those years.
“Now they are regrouping. They are only hungry for power. This shows his failure. How can you trivialise the issue of hunger? He joined Atiku and claimed hunger. It is clear he cannot stay out of power. From 1999 to 2023, Amaechi stood before Nigerians and claimed hunger. He was a former governor who couldn’t secure even 25% for Buhari during elections, despite being the campaign DG.
“Thank God we did not support the PDP; otherwise, he would have taken the glory. He is now in a coalition. I don’t like to talk much. Let them form their team and start from home in Rivers.
“Let’s see how he plans to remove the president. Is it a military coup? The term ‘removal’ is synonymous with dictatorship or military coup. Nigerians remember what happened in 2015, and now he claims Nigerians are hungry.
“I am not a liability; I am an asset. You may dislike me, but I am an asset in ensuring President Tinubu wins a second term.”
Meanwhile, a former federal lawmaker from Kaduna state, Senator Shehu Sani, has called on northerners to support President Tinubu for another four-year tenure in 2027.
He said some politicians excluded from the government of the day were bent on inciting the masses against the Tinubu administration.
The former lawmaker who said this Monday at his Kaduna residence, said the North appreciated the progress made so far under the APC-led government, and urged the people to support Tinubu’s re-election.
He said: “For those of us from this part (North) of the country, we appreciate the progress made so far by this present government and for those of them who had the opportunity to do better and they failed, we tell them that it is better they are apologise for the wrong they have done to the people of the North.
“And for the masses of the North, they should not allow themselves to be incited against government that is doing far better than the one that came from their side, they should not be incited against the president who had supported our own for eight years in power. I have heard a lot of comments and remarks that are linked to tribal sentiments.
“But let’s put it in a better perspective, the Northwest of the country had produced two Presidents since 1999. One was President Umar Musa Yar’Adua and the second was President Muhammadu Buhari. And in all these elections, the Southwest part of Nigeria had supported the North and never gave any serious challenge as long as the smooth running of President Buhari was concerned. So, it is only logical that we allow the South to complete their eight years in power for the peace, unity and for the survival of our democracy. And even if there should be another presidential candidate from the opposition, that candidate should be from the south west because that is equity, justice and that is fairness.”
Continuing, Sani further said: “Nigeria is not just a country, it is a country that came from horrible and terrible experiences as a nation. And we ought to learn from our past experiences in order not to repeat the same experience. So I want to call on the people to caution the elements who had the opportunity to turn the North to a paradise but left it as a hell but today such elements are crying foul for no reason other than that they have been excluded from government.
“So their grievances is about their own personal interests and not about the people, not about the North, not about the masses, not about insecurity and governance. However, everybody has the rights to voice out his opinions but it shouldn’t be done in such a way to burn down the country.”
On appointments of northerners into positions at the federal level, he said: “Under the last administration, all the security apparatus are of Northern extraction, they never stopped terrorism in the North, they never stopped banditry in Northwest, they never stopped killings in Benue State, in Plateau, and most part of North central States. We need to be very factual about it. Most of the positions of authority and in NDA today, key positions are still held by Northerners, Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a Northerner from Bauchi State that is heading it, the same thing with Ministry of Health, Minister of Defence and Minister of State for Defence are Northerners, Minister of Transport is still a Northerner that is in power, minister of environment is Northerner, minister of Agriculture and minister of State for Agriculture are all Northerners, a ministry has been created for Livestock and is headed by a Northerner, minister of State for work is a Northerner, Chief of Defence Staff is a Northerner and for us in the Northern part of the country, we are very much glad particularly the people from Kaduna State.”
Speaking on the current state of security in the northern part of the country, the former lawmaker said: “The insecurity in the North is not yet over. Bandits are still killing people, they are kidnapping people in Katsina State, they are still doing that in Zamfara State. There are major killings on the roads by bandits. But if we are going to compare it to where we are coming from, I think things are better. The Chief of Defence has relatively been able to bring peace to southern part of Kaduna which was neglected and abandoned when Governor Nasir El-Rufai was in power. We know Birnin Gwari road, it used to be road that is inaccessible because of banditry.
“Banditry happened every hour, not every day for eight years along Birnin Gwari road. Now people can travel day and night. When last did you hear attack since the attack on Kuriga school , when last did you hear attack on any school in the State. So for those of us when you compare the government headed by someone who came from our own part of the country and the government headed by someone who is not from our own part of the country, I think it is important for those of us from the North to appreciate the relative progress they have made.
“For those of us from Kaduna State, we are beneficiary of a medical center and federal university in southern Kaduna. There is increasing funding for road project from Kaduna to Abuja. We have seen many things that were brought in, and we only demand for more. But my message is also to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that more should be done in terms of addressing challenges in Northern part of Nigeria, and critics should be listened to and where there is lies, it should be responded to. And this country will be great if there is development in all parts of Nigeria.”
