The former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has refuted a trending report on the social media that he regretted ever joining the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, due mainly to the way he has been treated by the party’s leadership.
Recall that recently, the caretaker committee chairman of the APC, Chief Tony Okocha had alleged that Amaechi had warned that he should not be invited for any activities concerning the party.
However, Chief Eze Chuekwuemeka Eze, a close ally and confidant of the former minister, reacted in a statement on Monday.
He said Amaechi never had any media audience with any faceless person, neither did he authorise anyone anywhere to manufacture such falsehood as the report portrays.
Eze said that the former Governor of Rivers State does not entertain any regrets in building and nurturing the APC into a formidable political bloc.
He emphasised that leadership failure has little or nothing to do with a political party in the Nigerian context.
Eze added that Amaechi, like every other Nigerian, regrets the odious insensitivity of the ruling class to the plight of the ordinary people of the country and the difficult times the loud negligence of government holds as a consequence.
However, he maintained that “the author of the vague piece in circulation is on the frolics of his own, as he did so of his own volition”.
Eze went further to state that “as an outstanding stakeholder within the political family of the erstwhile governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transportation, I read with great disdain, the fabricated falsehood that Amaechi regrets joining and expanding APC.
“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have decided to join issues with undemocratic merchants on their ill-fated assumption concerning the political life of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
“Doing so definitely will amount to glorifying detractors, backstabbers, and habitual blackmailers, who are threatened by Amaechi’s silence in the affairs of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
“However, as a progressive, humane and grassroots-oriented politician, and considering the fact that Amaechi is one of the key political gladiators that formed APC and eventually wrestled power from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, I am constrained to set the records straight.
“For posterity’s sake, I have come to make this clarification in order not to massage the political ego of ungrateful allies, as keeping quiet will send a dangerous signal in the APC family and the country’s polity.
“Flowing from the above summation, I make bold to state that Amaechi’s silence in the affairs of our great party is purely a personal issue and based on self-convictions.
Political charlatans
“It has come to my knowledge of an orchestrated mischief and a deliberate but concerted effort aimed at maligning and placing Amaechi in public opprobrium.
“The said report ascribed to Amaechi, to say the least, is a handiwork of political charlatans and their sponsors who are hell-bent on destroying a hand that once fed them.
“Amaechi is a complete party man, a strategist, a proactive and focused politician, who would not condescend so low to rant publicly on issues that would negate the growth and existence of APC and intra-party politics.”
Eze disclosed that he drew the attention of Amaechi to the false report, which he vehemently refuted claiming not to have ever encountered the said person.
According to Amaechi, “I did not say that rubbish. I must state that I am fully aware of the sponsor of such a diabolical act aimed at demeaning the person and personality of Amaechi before the public but that is an exercise in futility.”
According to him, “Amaechi didn’t utter or was interviewed by the mysterious person as he has no regret of joining APC and bringing it to power.
“He has no regret for whatsoever he did in making history by transforming the rail transportation in Nigeria, neither does he have any regret bringing Buhari to power.”
