AT 60, Rotimi Amaechi could be described as a very lucky politician in the Nigerian context. Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, his name has been in the public discourse, holding one political office or the other. From being elected as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, where his colleagues also appointed him as the Speaker of the House, to being elected Governor of Rivers State for eight years, to being in the corridors of power in Abuja, where he was a federal Minister, Amaechi has at different times, effectively been in government and power for 24 years.
Whilst he was in government, he was ‘eating’ and ‘chopping’. In Nigeria politics, that means that you’re not expected to ‘talk’, (apologies to the late Samuel Afolabi). Even now, children have learnt to keep their mouths shut while eating so that they don’t get choke. It’s the same in Nigeria’s politics.
His path to political relevance was paved by Dr. Peter Odili, former Governor of Rivers state, who took him under his wings after he left the University of Port Harcourt, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Studies and Literature.
After he completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps in 1988, Amaechi became a staff at Pamo Clinics and Hospitals Limited owned by Odili, where he worked until 1992 as the Public Relations officer (PRO). He became a Personal Assistant to Odili when Odili was Deputy Governor to then Governor Ada George. That close working relationship with Odili paved the way for his gradual rise in Rivers State politics.
Between 1999 and 2023 that he was in power and typical of a Nigerian politician, he played the game to the fullest. In 2023, he resigned as a Federal Minister to contest for the Presidency under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but lost to the incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Rather than work for his party during the presidential campaign, Amaechi chose to return to the classroom for another degree in Law.
However, two years out of power, Amaechi is back on the soap box to gaslight Nigerians to forcefully kick out his former colleagues who are holding the reins of power in the country.
To him, Nigeria has been messed up by politicians, as many Nigerians can no longer afford to feed themselves and it is time to kick them out. Hear him: “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.” Citing instances when he joined protests in the past, Amaechi said with the help of the opposition, Tinubu can be removed from office in 2027. And his clincher: ‘Nigerians are the problem because “they do nothing when government’s policies truncate their standard of living’’.
Amaechi fits the bill of an average Nigerian politician who is like a fish out of water when not in power. To cope and survive becomes a herculean task, having been used to the allure of office and the raw power that comes with it. They tell the people that they are in power to better their lot while the real reason for holding political office is to take care of their personal ambitions and pockets.
Just few years out of power, Amaechi is telling Nigerians that politicians have completely ruined the country. I find it hard to identify the politicians that Amaechi is referring to. While I agree with him that Nigerian politicians have done their worst to the nation, it would be appropriate to include him as one of those that have supervised the nation’s ruination.
Nigerians have held the short end of the stick since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Promises upon promises made by their leaders have not had much impact on the lives of average citizens. The standard of living of many have plummeted progressively over time and with each administration. Several national economic indicators are pointing south, yet politicians are still engaging in outright lies and doublespeak in other to hoodwink the masses.
Today, the Nigeria Poverty Map (NPM) indicates that 133 million people, which is about 63 per cent of the country’s population, are multidimensionally poor. Out of this, about 86.1 million of them, representing 65 percent, are said to be in the North, while nearly 47 million others, representing 35 percent, are said to be in the South.
Over half of the population of Nigeria cook with dung, wood, or charcoal, rather than cleaner energy. High deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, access to healthcare, food security, and housing.
The multidimensional poverty figures, according to the NBS, is higher in rural areas, where 72 percent of people are poor, compared to 42 percent of people in urban areas.
But politician like Amaechi continue to use sweet talk to obscure, disguise, or distort the truth in political discourse. They continue to use euphemisms, jargon, and ambiguity to make negative actions or policies sound more palatable or to avoid responsibility to the people.
Amaechi, who has now dumped the APC for the latest bride in town, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), should have been bold to tell Nigerians what he did for eight years in Rivers state as Governor, as well as show us his track record as Minister of Transport under President Buhari.
While most Nigerians know that the country is not where it ought to be in the comity of nations and that politicians, amongst whom is Amaechi, are the cause of the problem, it is not his place to rub it in on the faces of the masses for political expediency. Not once whilst in power as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly for eight years nor as the Governor of the state for another eight years, did Amaechi speak about hunger, which, of course, was far from him at the time. As Minister of Transport, billions of dollars passed through his desk and there was no hunger in the land then, I presume. Now out of power for just two years, he is using the suffering of the people as a score card for political manipulation.
Nyesom Wike, the man who took over from him as Governor of Rivers has rightly observed that Amaechi is simply hungry for power and not for food. Hear him: “How do you insult Nigerians? How do you trivialise the issue of hunger or poverty? He joined Atiku, and (ex-Kaduna governor Nasir) el-Rufai, all because he is hungry, has he not insulted Nigerians? Just that he can’t stay out of power. He is hungry for power and not for food.”
Indeed, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutes absolutely. Amaechi not only insulted the masses, he went ahead to gaslight them to take over power from the present occupier of Aso Rock. “Inflation is at its peak and the federal government is busy going around trying to hijack the election”, he laments, adding that “INEC is helping them to hijack the election”. His grounds to posit that the ADC “must start not just a party, but a movement that brings Nigerians to their own side to take over government.
It is unfortunate that characters like Amaechi found themselves in positions of leadership in Nigeria for starters. Because his understanding of power is for self and not public service, it is now that he is out of power that he knows that Nigerians are suffering. Telling Nigerians what he did while in office in Rivers state should serve as the launch pad for his campaign for his new found political party.
In Rivers State, what should have been described as the legacy project of his administration – the monorail project – has become a source of embarrassment to most Indigenes. Amaechi conceived of the monorail project in 2009. Preliminary works began in 2010. About $400 million was reported to have been committed to the project by Amaechi’s government for the 4.7-kilometre coverage area. It was subsequently discovered, and painfully, too, that the cost of the Port Harcourt initiative, was almost twice the cost of the Moscow monorail of the same distance.
The Moscow equivalent cost $240 million, and is fully operational. The original plan for the Port Harcourt monorail was to have it cover a 5.4 kilometre distance, beginning from Sharks Park Station to UTC Station at the heart of Port Harcourt. It was subsequently scaled down to 4.7 kilometres. The guide way and three stations on the rail route were in place and test runs began on a section of the monorail in 2014.
Wike, who succeeded Amaechi as Governor in May 2015, initially raised hopes for the continuation of the project. About a month after that promise, in July 2015, a rail car was seen running on the monorail, further fuelling optimism about the continuation of the project. There were controversies over the cost of the project which reportedly gulped about N30 billion under Amaechi when the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar was still respectable. This was before the Buhari era of free cascade of the nation’s currency.
The ensuing beef between Wike and Amaechi, both very prominent gladiators on the political landscape of Rivers state, did not help the situation either. Rather than continue with the contentious project, Wike embarked on a very massive infrastructural makeover of the riverine state, earning national acclaim.
The decrepit metal and concrete pillars on which the monorail should run, and three stations of Amaechi’s botched dream, continues to embarrass the skyline of the Rivers state capital, Port Harcourt, once nicknamed the necklace of the ‘Garden City’ in popular conversations.
There’s this stanchion that stands there, looking forlorn, as you drive through the main artery of the city, Aba Road, and approach the government house, by UTC. The concrete guide way and stations are rooted there as monuments of waste, profligacy, greed and graft for all to see. Again, Amaechi should be bold enough to itemize for Nigerians, what he did while superintending as the Minister of Transport of the nation.
In a book titled ‘The Allure of Toxic Leaders, (2006), Jean Lipman-Blumen, a Thornton F. Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, explains why followers knowingly follow, seldom unseat, frequently prefer, and sometimes even create toxic leaders. She argues that these leaders appeal to our deepest needs, playing on our anxieties and fears, on our yearnings for security, high self-esteem, and significance, and on our desire for noble enterprises and immortality.
“Toxic leaders”, she says “first charm, but then manipulate, mistreat, weaken, and ultimately devastate their followers”. In her book, she tells readers how to recognize these leaders and identify the germ of toxicity within their ‘noble’ visions before it’s too late.
We have several toxic leaders that should not be near the corridors of power. Many of them are into politics for what they can make out of the system and not for the betterment of the society or their fellow citizens. Like gun-wielding terrorists, the entire political class in Nigeria has consistently exploited the widespread poverty of the people to win elections. Amaechi is treading the same path, but he should know that he cannot hoodwink Nigerians any longer. We all know that his ‘hunger’ is for political power to continue where he left off in 2023, and not for a basic survival need as food.
See you next week.
– Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.