TheNewsGuru

Tag: Amaechi

  • Malami reacts to PDP’s allegations of working with Amaechi to void Rivers poll results

    Malami reacts to PDP’s allegations of working with Amaechi to void Rivers poll results

    The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar-Malami (SAN), has distanced himself from claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he was working with Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, to void the result of the Rivers State governorship election.

    Malami’s spokesman, Salihu Isah, described the claim as ridiculous, and warned that the AGF should not be linked with the local politics in Rivers State.

    He said: “I am not aware of any such ridiculous plan. There is nothing like that, to my knowledge. We are in a democracy, and there are institutions with powers to void elections if the need arises. That is not part of the responsibilities of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

    “So, they should not link him with such ridiculous claims. They should leave the AGF out of the local politics in Rivers State. There are better and more important issues to attract the attention of the minister.”

  • Amaechi apologises to Nigerians over suspension of free train ride

    The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi on Friday apologised to Nigerians over the suspension of the Iju-Abeokuta free train ride during the 2019 general elections.

    Amaechi tendered the apology during the monthly rail inspection of the Lagos-Ibadan modernisation project in Ibadan.

    He said that the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) suspended the three months free train ride due to security and safety of passengers.

    “It was suspended by the Chinese and the excuse they gave me was that they cannot allow it run because of safety, since they have not completed the second line but they are almost through with it.

    “It is almost completed from Iju to Abeokuta. I want to apologise to Nigerians that they suspended it when they left the country, which I didn’t envisage, they will go back soon,” Amechi said.

    Speaking on his passion for the project, Amaechi said that the responsibility was given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari, which must be delivered to create jobs and boost the economy.

    “I know you will say I’m stressed up but as a minister, I have a responsibility passed to me by Mr President and I must deliver on it.

    “Also, the economy of Nigeria can be driven most importantly, if we can link the seaport to hinterland because when cargoes come, they must go.

    “The more you are able to move goods and services to hinterland, the more you will create jobs and the more you create jobs, the more growth that you will have and that is my drive,” he said.

  • Stop blaming APC for your failures, Amaechi tells Wike

    “…Why avoid an election if you are popular”

    The leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi has admonished the state governor, Nyesom Wike to accept his failure as the chief security officer of the state and quit trying to pin acts of violence on the APC.

    Amaechi spoke at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, Thursday addressing Wike’s ‘malignant and calculated outburst’ alleging that the APC intends to visit violence on the state. Governor Wike had in his state broadcast on Thursday evening accused Amaechi and the APC of plotting to incite violence in the State. Wike also tried to make political capital of the stampede that led to the death of some persons at the APC Presidential rally in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

    Amaechi said, “I listened to our governor today. Again, like the child he is, rant and say we intend to visit violence on the people. All of you who have worked with me would know that I don’t like violence, because if you kill someone, you cannot replace him, you can’t bring him back to life. You can replace houses, you can replace cars and all that… You certainly can’t replace life.

    “We lost 15 persons. I was touring people’s houses, trying to identify with their pain. If the governor can remember when President Goodluck Jonathan came here and we lost 23 Nigerians in Rivers State, the same stampede, I couldn’t eat. I was watching them take lunch, I couldn’t, I was crying because those 23 persons are gone whether for good or bad just like these 15 persons will not come back. So I’ve never and I will never support violence. But I don’t also support injustice.

    Amaechi wondered why Wike is ‘trying so hard to avoid elections and enlisting different institutions to aid his cause. He also called on INEC to exonerate itself from being accused of trying to help the PDP by doing the needful and obey the stay of execution order by the court of appeal and relist Rivers APC and its candidates for the elections.

    “An example is the fact that there is a stay of execution granted by the court of appeal in Port Harcourt. Just because the INEC chairman was the head of TETFUND under Wike when he was a minister of education, he has refused to implement that judgement. He doesn’t have the right to choose which one to implement and which one not to implement. Obviously, he’s among the institutions trying to assist Wike become a second term governor without election. We understand, but again, we believe in the judiciary, the uprightness of the judiciary, I hope so, and you heard the President when he said that the injustice will be addressed.

    “Why is Wike avoiding an election if he is that popular, why is Wike using Magnus Abe to avoid an election? That’s the question to ask. But like I told Rivers people, it is not over until its over. We are going to go out on Saturday to vote President Buhari. If INEC decides to obey the stay of execution, then we are ready for the legislative election on Saturday. But if the INEC chairman will not obey the stay of execution because he was a worked under Wike in the Ministry of education then so be it… We’ll continue to pursue the rights of the people to choose who their leaders will be. You can’t force a leader on people,” Amaechi said.

    On the issue of violence, Amaechi continued, “Wike talked about violence. During my time as governor, you were free to go out at night, I drive out with just one car at night and go back home safe, but now as minister I can’t drive around without loads of security and he is happy to be a governor in that kind of state. As a governor, no minister can threaten me, so if he feels threatened, he should stop me, he has the executive powers to. Wike asked that they arrest me when he was a minister and you know that the brigade commander then came after me. “

    In contrast, he said, “Now nobody has been arrested because of election. In 2015 all APC leaders were in detention. The agent of the president, Emma Deeyah just came out of INEC office to buy food, they took him away. We thought he had been kidnapped only to be brought out after the day of election and that’s when we knew police took him. Now let Wike say if anybody has been arrested since we came in. It shows that the government of president Buhari understands what rule of law is, not rule of man. So tell Wike that I’m enjoying his fear, he’s scared. It’s easy to be a coward. I’ve governed this state before, all of you know I’m not a coward. What he says is happening now is not one third of what happened to me and I bore it… So there is a difference between boys and men.

    “…The governor superintends over security meetings, so what is he looking for other than the fact that he just wants to accuse APC and the leadership of APC in the state. We assure Nigerians and we assure the governor and every Rivers man to go out and vote peacefully. We expect the police and the army to provide the necessary security so everybody can go out and vote. We will not allow Wike to repeat what he’s been doing. He is not ashamed that he likes people to die. We will not allow him to continue to kill. For the first time in Rivers state people are killed and beheaded, no defence, he is not worried about the lives of people.

    “When we were fighting criminals in this state, I used to drive out with the brigade commander (then Brigadier General Bello) at night, we slept at 5am and woke up at 9 to go to work and we kept this state safe. The campaign then was that you can sleep with your two eyes closed while ours were open. So please tell the governor to stop killing Rivers people and Nigerians who live in Rivers state. even those we sent on scholarship, he brought them back, and business is suffering in Rivers state,” Amaechi lamented.

  • Rivers APC Rally: Abe condoles bereaved families, rebuffs Amaechi

    Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly has condoled families who lost their loved ones at the Presidential campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that held at Adokiye Amiesiemeka Stadium on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.

    In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, Abe attributed the cause of the incident to poor crowd management techniques and expressed regret over the unfortunate incident.

    The senator said: “I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the family of all those who lost their lives yesterday (Tuesday). It was very unfortunate.

    “Several times in the cause of campaigns in this country, this kind of incident has occurred out of poor crowd management techniques and sometimes overzealousness on the part of security agents and I believe like everyone that this incident was avoidable”.

    Abe, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on FERMA prayed God to grant the departed souls eternal rest.

    He commended APC party faithful for turning out en mass at the presidential campaign rally to give President Muhammadu Buhari a resounding welcome and the traditional Rivers hospitality.

    The APC chieftain went further to applaud the resilience of party members for holding on to their peaceful disposition and commitment despite all the childish provocations, abuses, and insults meted out to other leaders of the party at the venue.

    The Senator rebuffed the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, for inciting utterances which is unbecoming of a leader.

    Abe said, “One will recollect that each time the Minister of Transportation talks, he talks of betrayal, but he never bothered to sit down to ask himself how he has betrayed the expectation of members of this party who trusted him to provide a fair leadership and a level playing field for all party members to participate in party activities.

    “It is that failure that has resulted in the current situation in the party. I want to congratulate members of the party who stood boldly and valiantly to fight for their rights because the APC is the party of change, we must ensure that our rights are protected, respected and enhanced in the APC and it is that dream that we are pursuing.”

  • 2019: APC, Nigerians hungry because PDP stole nations wealth – Amaechi

    The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi on Thursday admitted that Nigerians are hungry under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Amaechi, who is the Director General of the Buhari campaign organisation said that while the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Nigerians are hungry, members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are growing fatter.

    He made the remark during the APC Presidential campaign rally in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.

    The former Governor of Rivers State alleged that the PDP made their money through stealing.

    Amaechi also charged Nigerians to question his successor in Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike to disclose how he made his money.

    He said: “We are hungry, we are growing slim but PDP is growing fatter, let me tell you how they made their money, they made their money through stealing.

    “There is a man in Rivers State who has so much money, let him tell us how he made his money.

    “It’s time to stop them by using your PVCs, ensure you collect it and use them.

    ‘Let me tell you Buhari has directed that we construct railway to Jalingo and this will create jobs for people of the state.”

  • 2019: Oshiomhole, Amaechi pressuring me to support Buhari – Umahi

    Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has said that he is under intense pressure to support President Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 16 polls.

    According to a statement during the weekend by the Chairman, Strategy Committee of Divine Mandate, Umahi’s campaign organisation, Chief Emmanuel Igwe, APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi are leading the pressure to get the governor support President Buhari’s reelection bid.

    However, he said all Governor Umahi asked of President Buhari is to allow free, fair and credible election in the state.

    He said that Umahi, as a mark of respect for the president, had promised to mobilise 2000 PDP members to come out and receive the president during his campaign stopover in Abakaliki, the state capital, this week.

    His words: “The governor wishes Buhari and his entourage a happy stay as APC Presidential Campaign Council visits Ebonyi on the 30th of January, 2019.

    “Governor Umahi wishes to put it on record that the President, Muhammad Buhari is his personal friend and a friend of the state. He has much respect for the office of the president.

    “The Governor has been under pressure to support the re-election of my president by APC bigwigs especially the party chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Chibuike Amaechi just to mention but a few who come under various guises that the APC has no interest in Ebonyi guber race.

    “The Governor has no need for external forces to win convincingly in Ebonyi since over 95 per cent of the electorate is supporting his re-election.

    “The Governor has been too magnanimous to the APC by donating the sum of five million naira to her guber candidate, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji to enable him print campaign posters and promised to mobilize two thousand people that will welcome Mr President on the proposed campaign rally,” Igwe stated.

    Warning that Ebonyi people will resist any form of manipulation or rigging and intimidation with the last drop of their blood, Umahi urged the APC presidential campaign council to make out time and inspect both completed and ongoing projects in the state during their campaign tour.

  • Onnoghen: Amaechi describes Wike’s allegations as ‘blatant lies’

    The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday reacted to allegations made by Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday that Amaechi was behind the travails of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.

    A statement from the minister’s Media Office said the allegations are not only spurious but disgusting. “We read with dismay and utter disgust another round of spurious allegations by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, at a campaign rally in the State yesterday, accusing the former Governor of the State of ‘the plot to destroy the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.’ “This is another blatant lie just to smear Amaechi and put him on collision course with the judiciary.

    Ordinarily, we would not have bothered to respond to a governor whose stock-in-trade is to concoct stories and lie about almost everything and anything. “Wike completely lacks any shred of credibility. Nothing is sacred to him,” the statement from Amaechi, also the Director General of All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, began.

    While saying the minister is not a judicial officer and therefore not part of whatever is happening in the Judiciary, the statement challenged Wike to mention the name of the APC chieftain he had the purported discussion on the “destruction of the CJN with”.

    According to the letter, “this latest attack on his person is reminiscent of earlier spurious allegations during the Ikoyi-Osbornegate scandal where Wike disgracefully opened his mouth to shamelessly allege that the former Rivers State Governor, Amaechi, was the owner of the $43.4 million and the owner of the Osborne apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, where the money was kept. “Wike lied that the money was stolen from Rivers State Government treasury.

    However, in Wike’s usual chicanery, up till today, he has refused to go to Court to claim the $13 billion found in that apartment which he claimed was Rivers money stolen by his predecessor. “Even when a court of law openly asked anyone laying claim to the money to come forward and collect it, Wike ran far away from the court and chickened out.”

  • I’m hungry like you, Amaechi tells Nigerians at Buhari’s campaign rally

    The Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, has told Nigerians complaining about hunger in the land that he himself is hungry.

    He said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party caused the hunger in the land by stealing money from the nation’s purse while in power.

    Amaechi said this at the APC presidential campaign rally which was held in Bauchi on Saturday.

    He urged Nigerians to demand that the PDP return the nation’s stolen money.

    The former Rivers State governor also claimed that the opposition was broke and hungry.

    He said that was why the party wanted to return to power by all means.

    Amaechi said, “I was speaking to my friend from the other divide and he said you are hungry, I said ‘yes, if they did not steal the money they stole, you would have had enough food.’

    “The money they stole is what is making me hungry. Tell them, to bring the money.

    “The PDP stole $2bn to prosecute 2015 elections but we still defeated them. They are broke, they are hungry and they want to come back to steal.

    “The PDP members know that they are broke and because of that, they are looking for cheap source of funds.

    “When they say there is no food, they want to steal money and they cannot do that because the President has said that public money is not for any individual.”

    The minister of transportation wondered what the PDP did with the money it got for 16 years when oil was $114 per barrel.

    He claimed that when the PDP was in power, he could not sleep with his two eyes closed even in the Rivers State Government House allegedly because of security challenges.

    He said the situation had changed under Buhari.

    The National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, said President Muhammadu Buhari knew how to catch thieves “and that is why the thieves have all gone to the PDP but even if they go to the PDP, they must be arrested.”

  • [Leaked tape allegation]: Lagos is a glorified village – Amaechi

    Another audio tape in the series of leaked recordings by Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s transport minister and the director general of President Mohammadu Buhari’s campaign team is presently making the rounds on the internet.

    The transportation minister in the recent audio tape said there is insufficient water and roads in Lagos while lamenting the spate of traffic jams in the state.

    The audio tape was released by Phrank Shaibu, an aide of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Recall that Shaibu had on Sunday released an audio where Amaechi said the only way Nigeria can change is for everybody to be killed.

    The minister made the comments during a conversation with some journalists.

    He said: “I live in Abuja, tell me where else we have infrastructure. Lagos is a glorified village. The only difference between Lagos and other cities is the fact that business is in Lagos, everybody is there doing business, so you can at least have food,” he said in the new audio clip.

    “If not tell me what else you have in Lagos? 1,000 plus megawatts. That’s all. That’s what you have. What else do you have? No water, there are no roads. The reason why you meet traffic jams in Lagos is because there are no roads.”

    Listen:

    Recall TheNewsGuru had earlier reported that the Transportation Minister had distanced himself from the audio.

    When asked by newsmen for his comments on the audio that has gone viral, Amaechi replied: “Nothing. I am not aware of any audio recording.”

    Further told that the audio was gaining momentum on different online websites, the immediate-past governor of Rivers State and incumbent Minister of Transportation asked: “Do I do website?”

  • Buhari does not read nor listen to anyone, Amaechi says in leaked tape

    Buhari does not read nor listen to anyone, Amaechi says in leaked tape

    A viral leaked tape of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi criticing President Muhammadu Buhari has surfaced online.

    Amaechi who so doubles as the Director-General of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation was heard in the tape saying President Buhari does not listen, read or care about anyone.

    The audio clip, which is less than 10 seconds, was posted on Twitter by Reno Omokiri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Amaechi purportedly said, “The President is not listening to anybody. He doesn’t care. You can write anything you want. The President doesn’t care. Does he read?”

    The context in which Amaechi made the statement was unknown.

    The person who the minister was talking to is also not stated.

    However, Omokri, who is a staunch critic of the Buhari government, said he had evidence to show that the audio was genuine.

    He threatened to release more audio clips in the event that Amaechi denies the authenticity of the clip.

    Omokri wrote, “We have more of the secretly recorded audios of Chibuike Amaechi, DG of the Muhammadu Buhari campaign, saying terrible things about Buhari’s government. I hear Amaechi wants to lie that he was referring to Goodluck Jonathan.

    “Let him do that and I will release part two which clearly shows he referred to Buhari.”

    Omokri said Amaechi had no respect for Buhari and even stated in another audio clip that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was the only Nigerian leader he respects.

    He added, “The man has no iota of respect for Buhari. In fact, he (Amaechi) hero worshipped former President Obasanjo in the tape and said he is the only worthy Nigerian leader. They know the truth but hide it.”

    Attempts to get a response from Amaechi proved abortive as his Spokesman, David Iyofor neither responded to phone calls nor a text message sent to him on Saturday.