The former Governor of Rivers State and, Presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi has questioned the involvement of President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 race.
Speaking in Abuja while submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms, on Thursday, Amaechi blamed the Tinubu administration for the worsening economic hardship.
He said the country could no longer afford to choose leaders based on ethnicity, religion or whose turn it is to rule.
“It is what do you call it, Emilokan, that brought us here. It is our turn that brought us here. It is the turn of Nigerians, because you see there is no market for Christians, neither is there a market for Muslims, or a market for northerners or southerners.”
“The market has only just one purpose, the forex. And what is forex? Naira. Nigerians are suffering. They are suffering.
“The current president has put us in this suffering. I don’t know why he wants to run. I don’t even know why APC wants to participate. They should be in shame and allow other Nigerians to participate and change the country.”
The former minister also urged Nigerians to reject identity politics.
“Nigerians should vote for merit but not vote for those who say ‘I’m from this place’, ‘I’m from that place’, ‘vote for me because my people have not been voted for before’, or ‘it’s our turn’,” he said.
“I would say that what you are seeing currently is that nearly everybody who is running for the office of the president has served Nigeria in one way or another. Let this be a referendum.
“If you have performed, whoever has outperformed the other, vote for the person. The next thing is who is capable of delivering the votes? Who is capable of beating the incumbent? Who has the experience?
“I believe I am the most experienced. I am young, I am the most experienced, and I believe I have the capacity.
“Go back to Rivers State and see what I have done. Go back to Ministry of Transportation and see what I have done, and assess it and see whether I can turn the country around. And I will, in four years, turn the country around.”
On the forthcoming ADC presidential primaries, Amaechi said he preferred a direct primary process but would accept consensus arrangement if it favoured him.
“I’m going for primary. If the consensus is me, fine. But if it’s not me, I’m going for primary,” he said.
