Former governor of Rivers state and ex-minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has claimed that supporters of Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, have “abused” him, but that he has refused to respond.
Amaechi spoke on Friday in Lagos at a town hall convened by his supporters under the aegis of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) progressive movement.
He said he has warned his supporters to argue with facts instead of engaging in online abuse of party chieftains or political opponents.
“My people don’t fight. Have you seen any Amaechi person fighting on social media? It is between Atiku people and the Obi people. And Obi people are abusing me; we never reply,” he said, according to a video posted on X by CRA27 Advocacy, his campaign network.
“It’s not because we don’t know English or we cannot reply. The reason we don’t reply is that we always want peace.”
He said his camp avoids verbal attacks to keep the opposition united ahead of the elections.
“There are things you say when you want to win, because it becomes difficult to bring everybody together. Because we know we will win, we’re not abusing everybody, so we can bring everyone together. I’m careful what I say,” he said.
“My team is under permanent instruction: don’t abuse anybody in ADC. Even Mr President — don’t abuse the president, show the facts.”
Amaechi, who contested for the presidency in 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but came second in the primary won by President Bola Tinubu, officially joined the ADC on March 6 and is seeking the party’s 2027 presidential ticket alongside Obi and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
At the Lagos event, Amaechi reiterated his ambition, urging Nigerians to assess his record against that of Obi and the former vice-president.
“Compare me to Peter Obi — we were governors at the same time. If he’s a better governor, please choose him. Although the former vice-president was not a governor, he was once a vice-president. Compare my role as governor, as minister, with the role he played as vice-president. If he’s a better person, please choose him,” he said.
He added that he played more roles in public service than the other ADC figures, citing his hands-on approach to infrastructure projects.
“When you are sleeping, I’m running on this track, coming back to Lagos by 2 a.m. As minister, from Ibadan, making sure this job was completed on time — I wasn’t sitting in my office writing or reading memos. I made sure that either once or twice a month, I’m on this track. When we were building Kaduna–Kano, the same thing,” he said.
Amaechi described himself as a “practical man” who understands realities on the ground.
“I’m young. I’m on the street. I know what the problems are. As a minister, as a former governor, I eat in the same restaurants people eat. I don’t go to all these big men’s restaurants because they don’t give me the kind of food I ate when I was small,” he said.
He urged supporters of Obi and Atiku to close ranks, warning that internal divisions could weaken the opposition.
“If you cause this kind of friction, it will be difficult to come together to defeat Tinubu. Focus on defeating Tinubu. On the day of the primary, go and vote for your own candidate, so that when your candidate wins, you’ll be able to bring everybody together,” he said.
Amaechi added that political leaders are influenced by their supporters, warning that persistent hostility could undermine future cooperation within the party.
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