WATCH: Governor Rotimi Amaechi Bares it all on BBC HardTalk
Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has said nobody can stampede him out of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The governor also said he did not have
to tell President Goodluck Jonathan or anybody about his ambition before
contesting any public office.
Amaechi, who said he had yet to declare
his ambition to contest the Vice-Presidency in PDP, spoke in an
interview monitored on the BBC programme, Hard Talks, on Thursday.
He said, “You see what you must know is
that I believe in the rule of law. Let’s even assume, for the purpose of
argument, that an ambition exists, nobody has the right to bring down a
state just because an ambition exists.
“It is important to say clearly that
everybody should allow 2015 for 2015; it is a bit too early. The
President is elected to preside as the President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, and I support that and I want everybody to allow Mr.
President to preside over the country for the interest of the country.”
According to Amaechi, there are people around Jonathan, who abuse and compromise power.
He added, “When the Financial Times reporter
interviewed me in Port-Harcourt, I did make that clear. That was the
day some hoodlums were hired to stone some northern governors, who
visited me to show solidarity.”
On the crisis rocking Nigeria Governors’
Forum, Amaechi said he won his election against Plateau State Governor,
Jonah Jang, who many believed had the backing of the presidency against
him.
Asked why he did not tell Jonathan about
his intention to contest, he said, “Nobody told me not to run. I
challenge anybody. There is no law that requires me to tell anyone that I
was going to run.
“That is the freedom we are looking for
in the Nigerian Governors Forum. I didn’t need to go to Mr. President to
tell him that ‘Mr. President, I want to run for the office of the
chairman of the Nigeria’s Governors Forum’. I didn’t have to do that and
I didn’t do that. And he, in turn, did not tell me ‘don’t run, I heard
you are going to run’. So, I ran, and I didn’t see the President on the
ballot, the person I saw on the ballot was Jonah Jang.
“The result was clear that 19 governors voted for me. He didn’t object to the fact that I won.”
On the demand by Minister of State for
Education, Nyesom Wike, that he should leave PDP, Amaechi said, “He
(Wike) doesn’t have the right to tell me where I should belong to
whether I want to belong to the PDP or not. He doesn’t have that right.
We have all been in PDP.
“Let’s assume that I remain in the PDP.
Let’s assume that I am running for the office of the vice president,
would my leaving PDP not enhance that assumption?
“The reason for remaining in PDP is
because nobody can chase me out of PDP. I am a member of PDP and I love
to be a member of PDP. We must allow 2015 to remain for 2015. Nobody can
now state if you want to be president or you don’t want to be
president.”
