In a startling and brutally honest critique of Nigeria’s political class, former Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, has declared that no Nigerian leader truly cares about the poor, accusing the ruling elite of exploiting the powerlessness of the citizens.
Amaechi, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said this while speaking at an event in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Saturday to mark his 60th birthday.
The discussion, themed “Weaponisation of Poverty as a Means of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of Nigeria”, provided a platform for the former governor to deliver sharp criticism of Nigeria’s current political and economic direction.
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“Let me tell you, no Nigerian leader cares for the poor, because they know that Nigerians can do nothing to them once they are in power,” Amaechi said.
His remarks underscore a deep-rooted frustration with the country’s political system, where public office holders often operate with impunity and disregard for the welfare of ordinary citizens.
Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State went further to highlight how the government reacts to public discontent with even more hardship, citing the recent increase in fuel prices in the wake of national protests.
“When Nigerians protested, the President announced an increase in the price of fuel because they know you cannot do anything,” he added.He argued that hunger and poverty are central tools used by those in power to control the population.
According to him, the ongoing hardship in the country is not accidental but rather part of a system of exploitation designed to keep the masses subdued. “We are all hungry. All of us are. If you are not hungry, I am,” he said.
“It is when they come to elections, they will tell you. Now you have a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Let the Muslim-Muslim market come out now. It’s time.”
Despite being in the same political party as the president, Amaechi made it clear that he neither endorsed Tinubu’s presidential bid nor voted for him during the 2023 elections.
“I met President Tinubu in Yola and I told him I will not work for you and I will not vote for you,” Amaechi revealed.
“I told him like that. People have been saying I do not work for All People’s Congress (APC) or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that is because I was convinced that there was an issue of capacity.”
Amaechi emphasized that opposition forces can change the course of governance in the country, but only if they place national interest above personal ambitions.
“For us, in the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power, we can remove him from this power,” he declared.
“We want to submit to the opposition if the opposition can lead us out of this problem. And for the opposition to lead us out of this problem, we must agree to submit ourselves to the interests of the nation first before the interests of ourselves.”
He accused those in power of looting the proceeds of national economic policies instead of allowing the public to benefit from them.
“If I were president, yes, some of the policies they are pursuing, I would pursue them, however they are more interested in the gains than the benefits to Nigerians,” he stated.
“Take for instance, we were paying N4-5 trillion on fuel subsidy, now that the subsidy is gone where is the money now? Imagine if they had dumped it in the economy, would an average Nigerian not have felt the impact?”
On the root causes of the country’s growing security challenges, Amaechi traced it directly to worsening poverty and a lack of economic liquidity in society.
“Insecurity is 99 per cent poverty. Insecurity is increasing in Nigeria because there is hunger,” he explained.
“When I was the governor of Rivers State and there was increase in insecurity, I knew that there was no money in the system. So I directed my commissioner for finance to release money, pay salaries, then insecurity will reduce. So it’s about poverty.”
