Amaechi, Eze, Politics: Rivers State Political Stalwart, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has dismissed as oblique allusion, arguments championed from a section of the media that after his loss to President Tinubu in the 2022 APC Presidential Primaries, former Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi lapsed into an exhausted quietude, restraining himself from political engagements including intra-party concerns of the All Progressives Congress, which membership he still holds.
In a statement made available to the media, the erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), said the silent disposition of the former Rivers Governor especially over the hazy political atmosphere in Nigeria and particularly the deepening political turmoil in Rivers State triggered by the struggle to salvage its battered soul from captivity does not mean backing down from partisan politics.
According to the APC Chief, “as a patriot and lover of Rivers State, the former Transportation Minister only commits himself to actions that will in each peculiar circumstance calm frayed nerves and offer some respite to those Nigerians who feel disappointed over the country’s failed leadership. And though he may appear silent, he remains strongly behind his people and is committed to doing anything that will offer the desired opportunity that would better the lot of men and women of his dear state and Nigeria in general.
He argued that “it is a fact most undeniable that there is crisis in Rivers state and Wike and his cohorts have plotted to make the state ungovernable for Gov. Fubara and uninhabitable for Rivers people, but you do not expect a political model like Amaechi to begin to make media appearances and issue press statements. No one is happy that Wike is trying to distract the Governor by instigating former Assembly members against him. What Amaechi can offer is wise counsel from his wealth of experience when consulted and not media parleys. So that cannot be taken for shying away from the problem of the state at hand. Amaechi cannot be on the side of evil but always on the side of God and humanity – the people.”
On where lies Rivers APC structure, Chief Eze hinted that Wike made efforts through a front with the help of some people at the helms of the party national leadership to usurp a congressionally elected executives at the state, LGA and ward levels but the scheme was resisted and now a subject of litigation and further comments on that may be prejudicial. So we await the court to determine that question. However, anyone parading as caretaker in the name of Rivers APC is on the frolics of his own.
Furthermore, Eze re-echoed that Amaechi remains a member of the APC, adding that the former Governor’s recent BBC interview where he restated his membership of the party confirms his consistent allegiance to the ruling party, contrary to rumors that he had since left the APC.
On the question why Amaechi contested the 2023 Presidential election and his political future, Eze recalled Amaechi’s statement during his recent BBC interview on this, “
” I didn’t even want to run for election ,I ran for election in the primary because I felt I had supported people who promised me that they would change the country but they didn’t change it. Buhari promised me that he would change the country , President Jonathan promised me that he would change the country, then I thought maybe something is wrong with me I am not seeing the change or maybe there is a problem, there is no change why don’t you go and try . So I am not saying Buhari changed the country or not or Jonathan changed the country or not ,I am saying by my own interpretation I felt something needed to be done so I put myself up there and the implication therefore is that even if I lost ,I would still serve the party and the country.”
Chief Eze called on Rivers people to continue to stand firmly behind Governor Fubara, assuring that the Governor means so well for the state and its people and only their support can help him ward off evil forces from the camp of the adversaries and succeed in delivering democratic dividends to the state.