…Says Nigeria is Sitting on a Keg of Gunpowder …Calls on Citizens to Unite and Reclaim Country from Plunderers…Highlights Some Key Nigerian Politicians that passed through Amaechi s Political Institution.
“….Eze recalled how Amaechi invested so much time and energy traversing through the murky waters of Nigeria’s political terrain just to see that the APC is built into the formidable political bloc it is today and called on Morka whom he described as a neophyte, to keep quiet if he has nothing reasonable to do with his office.
The concern raised by Amaechi is true and very factual in the face of what Nigerians are passing through on a daily basis and should not be a yardstick for the APC to haul invectives on him. Calling Amaechi “irresponsible and unpatriotic” will never make one to last forever in power, for power is so transient…..”
Erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), an ally of Amaechi and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has condemned in very strong terms, the cascade of unsavory reactions that have greeted the harmless advise of former Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, to Nigerians over the teething hardship that has encircled the Nigerian populace since the inception of the current ruthless regine of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In their separate unbridled responses to Amaechi ‘s candid brief, Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Mr. Omoyele Sowore; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle; SA on Information to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga; Senator Shehu Sani and the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Felix Morka, condescended to smear campaign, avidly hounding the ex Rivers Governor for speaking truth to power.
Recall that Amaechi had in a recent media interview with ABN TV, lamented the bad situation of the country and criticized Nigerian leaders for retarding the socio-economic and political advancement of the nation that once prided itself as giant of Africa, through their characteristic fanfare of squander-mania while leaving the people they claim to lead in a squalor without a hint of remorse.
Nigerians have been battling the harsh realities of the bad economic policies of President Tinubu. With cost of living and prices of petroleum products on a steady rise, Amaechi had expressed surprise at the lukewarmness of citizens over the sad reality.
See excerpts from Amaechi’s media interview below “I expected more agitation, especially from the youth. I thought we would see protests in the streets, but it seems people are not expressing the kind of anger I expected.
“You cannot have a situation where a group of people are mismanaging resources and expect citizens to remain silent. I am truly baffled by the lack of action.
“The price of diesel is at an all-time high, and even some of us are finding it difficult to afford it. Yet, the general public seems unmoved” Amaechi was quoted as saying.”
Flowing from the excerpts above, Eze wondered where the former Transportation Minister erred, to warrant the cacophony of intemperate jeers that flowed from the corners of Sowore, Morka, Sani, Matawalle and Onanuga, all of who took turns in their various reactions to throw jab on the former Rivers Governor for laying bare the crucial issues that affect the Nigerian state at the moment.
In particular response to Sowore’s cascade of multisyllabic vitriol, Eze said if Amaechi was wrong in expressing his frustration on the shambolic state of the nation, why then is Sowore and his group rooting for a revolution? Certainly, to every right thinking Nigerian, Amaechi has not committed any blunder in his statement.
What is particularly difficult for Sowore’ Morka, Mattawalle, Sani and Onanuga to comprehend in Amaechi’s sincere expression? Are Nigerians not suffering the effects of the clueless policies of the Tinubu administration?
What signs are there that the administration is interested in listening to the cries and tackling the frustration of Nigerians? Was it not few days ago that the President Bola Tinubu led APC government increased fuel pump price to over One Thousand Naira while doing nothing to combat the attendant poverty, insecurity and deaths.
It is unpatriotic and grossly wicked that in the face of the hydra headed challenges overwhelming Nigeria, APC, Sowore and the Tinubu government expect the likes of Amaechi to be stocked like pieces of furniture and watch the country slide into the abyss.
As a matter of fact, Nigeria will collapse and remain irredeemably so, should patriotic Nigerians like Amaechi, keep mum over the spate of economic crisis that has encircled the Nigerian state as a result of the reckless indulgences of the clueless Tinubu regime.
The barrage of baseless media invectives hurled at Amaechi by the Tinubu regime alongside APC, over his honest concerns on the state of the nation is condemnable and
exposes the plot by the government to perpetuate poverty and deploy same as a veritable tool for 2027 and this stack reality calls for serious concern.
One would have loved to hear the presidency tell Nigerians the policy thrust of the administration in driving the country out the current hardship, rather than the frivolous reactions that were put up as a defense to the woeful results the regime has continued to churn out since it’s inception.
Amaechi has an unmatched trajectory of excellence in public service. From his days as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly to the time he became Governor and up to the period he held sway as Minister of Transportation, his performances have always exceeded expectations.
One need not remind the Tinubu administration that it was under Amaechi as Governor that Port Harcourt beat contesting cities of the western world to clinch the world book capital title. A global record which demonstrated the envious achievements of the Rivers State Government under Amaechi. It was the first time an African city would be so recognized.
Amaechi, in his magnanimous penchant has raised an army politicians some of whom have grown to be leaders. Typical Nigerian politicians like Nyesom Wike, Magnus Abe, Tony Okocha etc. and modern leaders Dr. Dakuku Peterside, Tonye Cole, Engr. Tonye Princewill, Barr. Osima Ginah, Dr Dawari George and others were under the tutelage of Amaechi and some of them were in their early twenties when he adopted them into his political family. This fact demounts the false assertion that Amaechi did not groom any youth leadership.
Particularly responding to the reaction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) through it’s Spokesperson, Mr. Morka, Eze said the sincere response of the party in the face of the galloping hardship and directionlessness of the Tinubu administration would have been to counsel the President to align the policies of his government to the objectives of the APC, hence his policy framers appear bereft of any idea to wriggle the country out the woods rather that hurl invectives on Amaechi to continually curry favour while Nigerians go to bed each night hungry.
Eze recalled how Amaechi invested so much time and energy traversing through the murky waters of Nigeria’s political terrain just to see that the APC is built into the formidable political bloc it is today and called on Morka whom he described as a neophyte, to keep quiet if he has nothing reasonable to do with his office.
The concern raised by Amaechi is true and very factual in the face of what Nigerians are passing through on a daily basis and should not be a yardstick for the APC to haul invectives on him. Calling Amaechi “irresponsible and unpatriotic” will never make one to last forever in power, for power is so transient.
Those in the Tinubu government must exercise utmost care on the way they treat people now that they have attained power because they may be down tomorrow.
What the APC and Tinubu government desire to hear from citizens is a ripple of praises whereas, deep down they languish in agony and gnashing of the teeth.
Amaechi’s statement is not inciting as adjudged by Mattawalle but clearly a clarion call for the President Bola Tinubu administration to come alive to it’s duties by providing basic public facilities that make life worth living for humans.
According to a recent World Bank Report on Food Security, published in Punch of October 12, 2024, over one million more Nigerians are facing severe food crisis under the regime of President Tinubu.
Data from the report further showed that domestic food price inflation in Nigeria remained among the highest globally, with food prices increasing by 37.5% year-on-year as of August 2024.
The surge in prices had put a strain on household incomes, making it increasingly difficult for low-income families to afford basic food items.
Punch had also earlier reported that about 172 million Nigerians were unable to afford a healthy diet, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 report.
These concerns of national scale, Eze said, are enough to place a burden on the President and his economic advisors to live up to their offices. But the administration seem unbothered about the impacts of the recklessness of its frivolous indulgences, instead, they exert so much energy trying to gag dissenting voices that project constructive criticism.
Little wonder the country was denied admission into the UN Human Rights Council. Recall that recently at United Nations, Nigeria could only secure three votes in an election to elect African countries into the UN Human Rights Council
From the report , Ghana and Burundi were voted in as new members with 179 and 168 votes respectively, while Malawi (182 votes) and Côte d’Ivoire (181 votes) were reelected for a second term. Eze lamented the startling reality of the tainted reputation of the most populous black nation on the planet.
Eze added that Nigeria is undergoing the perils of one of its most challenging economic periods since she attained nationhood with inflation, unemployment, and widespread poverty at their peaks, wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of helpless citizens.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), inflation surged to 25.8% in August 2023, the highest rate in nearly two decades, while food inflation has reached even more alarming levels, hovering at around 30%.
As gathered, Eze hinted that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 34.19% in June 2024, 11.4 percentage points (ppt) higher than 22.79% in June 2023. This is the 18th consecutive monthly increase since January 2023 and the highest inflation rate in 28 years. Compared to May 2024 (33.95%), inflation rose by 0.24ppt. Food and energy costs drove the price increase. Y-o-Y food and core inflation rates increased to 40.87% and 27.40% from 40.66% and 27.04% in May, respectively.
With the rising costs of essential goods and services, the average Nigerian is left with little to nothing to survive on.”
Unfortunately, this flock of angry birds – Mattawalle, Sowore, Sani Morka and the rest of them are busy hurling Invectives on Amaechi for raising alarm on a crucial matter to help Tinubu and his uninformed Economic Team to seat up and think out possible escape route for the country.
The World Bank report indicates that more than 40% of Nigeria’s population, over 83 million people, live below the poverty line, and the numbers are rising on daily basis.
If a man as highly placed and powerful as Amaechi could be feeling the effects of the economic downturn, then it is clear that the country is deep in the woods.
For the masses, the question remains: What hope is left for us? The future may seem grim, but it is not without hope if the right steps are taken.
Like Ezekwesili said, it does appear that the political class has decided that they are the bandits against the people of Nigeria because it is not feasible that the topmost priority of a government that has this level of biting hunger in the land,this level of poverty where its people are dropping into poverty per minute would consider the purchase of a befitting aircraft for the president. The construction of a 20billion Naira home for the Vice president. The Purchase of all kinds of funny looking cars and the fleet of the national Assembly members and the executive. “What exactly is that and I speak with a lot of moral authority?
Farooq Kperogi a Nigerian, a renowned columnist and United States-based professor of journalism in a treatise titled, “Tinubu, Remi and Akpabio mocking Nigerians’ hardship, gives another insight of those behind the hardship facing Nigeria and Nigerians and not Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.
According to him, “Now, the vast majority of Nigerians have resigned themselves to the fact that death, starvation, and hopelessness are the only certain outcomes of Tinubu’s “reforms” and are seeking a way out. Middle-class citizens are saving up to leave the country, and, for the first time ever, even the majority of northern Nigeria’s middle class is investing in plans to escape from Nigeria.”
Patriots like Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, are deeply concerned, like every other Nigerians about the mess that has been made of Nigeria’s economy in just less than two years into the Tinubu regime.
Eze stressed that given the circumstance, Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder and citizens must be proactive and come together to redeem the country from the claws of plunderers on the corridors of power.
CONCLUSION:
Let me conclude this statement by bringing President Tinubu to answer Matawalle and Onaunga on Amaechi
Read Bola TINUBU’s outburst against Jonathan as he led a Protest against the then Federal Government without Matawalle or Onaunga uttering the rubbish they are heaping on Amaechi now for emulating Tinubu.
Listen to the famous and historical prophecy of Bola Tinubu as he prophesied what his government is doing to Nigeria and Nigerians currently. According to him, “….You know what they say to us when they remove subsidy & we said NO!! Hunger is increasing & they said so what ? Unemployment is a cause they said yes we know,why are the people hungry,he said let them face death,that is what is in Abuja of today.
The current way of governance let nation building impossible what it does & make poverty & the erosion just society inevitable.
We have gathered at this hour in this place to put an end to the national corrosion & corruption. We have assembled here & today to bring a new day & a new Nigeria to our people.
The Nigeria people are decent & hard working people,they are equally long suffering and they tolerate for too long, just because they are long suffering does not mean they should be forced to suffer until death comes .
Our people,we have had enough of excuses ,our people have had enough of having nothing. The current government’s trademark is to throw empty words at our problem as if doing nothing we cause our troubles to leave for sheer boredom. Unemployment increases, industrialization we have nothing, refinery nothing is working,electricity they lie,if this is the government’s idea of transformation I will have none of it ,we should not have any of it because before we say the government slow motion now it is the government of no motion at all .
If they want to stand still at the bus stop or train station & be stagnated with our poverty they have their right to do so & we have our right to kick them out not enough that they are stealing from our children tomorrow for lack of inspected due education. They are still embezzling the retirement benefits of hardworking Nigerians including our grandfathers. They are stealing the pot,the Treasury not even leaving some coins for us to work with. Let them be out ,out now.” Tinubu
Finally, Eze urged Amaechi not to be deterred by the gale of uncomplimentary remarks heaped on him just as he advised the party, and the present administration to look inwards, sit up and provide genuine democratic governance to Nigerians and find ways to wriggle the country out the mess it has been thrown into.