Former Governor of Rivers State and current Minister of Transportation, Dr. Rotimi Amaechi has explained that he joined politics not because he wanted to be a leader or solve Nigeria's problems. but because of unemployment.

The Minister said he would have loved to become a broadcaster or lawyer if he did not end up as a politician. Amaechi said his father was a politician who participated in Councillorship elections.

He disclosed all of these in an interview with The Punch.

Amaechi said, “My father was a politician. He ran for councillorship during his time. However, I didn’t join politics because I wanted to be a leader or because I wanted to solve Nigeria’s problems. I joined because of unemployment. I also believe there is a part that grace played in it.”

Even though the Minister has played his political card well, he has said he would not allow his children to join Nigerian politics because it is very destructive and that a politician must be strong to survive betrayals in the political space.

He said, “Nigerian politics is not something one would want one’s child to go into because there are no rules. One can be easily destroyed. One must have the grace to survive. I don’t know if he has that grace (and I’m not talking about tact or sagacity) to survive because it is a man-eat-man world."

“You can see what is going on in Rivers State now– young men, who God used one to help raise in politics are now turning against one. If God wasn’t by my side, I may not have been standing till now. There is a lot of betrayals and I don’t know if he can survive that because he literally grew up in Europe. One has to be a hard man to survive the betrayals in Nigerian politics,” the Minister added.

THE STREET JOURNAL
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