GOVERNOR Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was recently appointed
Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation. At an interactive
session, Amaechi among other things, reels out plans of the campaign
organisation and also clears the air on knotty issues. Excerpts:
Why Jonathan is in trouble — Gov Amaechi
Says he didn’t fund Buhari’s campaign
By Dapo Akinrefon
IS it true you funded the Buhari campaign for the primaries?
I did not. Buhari did not spend money for the primaries. Anybody who
said they spent money should come forward with evidence. We have
maintained consistently that Nigerians would fund us and that is why
we have launched our campaign we are hoping that people will
contribute. It is there on our website; you will just look at the account
and go and pay.
And we are making sure that we convince General Buhari to be the sole
signatory to that account. That is the way we would raise our money.
We would not depend on rich men. You can’t fight the president on
funds. See how much he raised from people who some of them collected
the N2.3trillion on oil subsidy and are yet to pay back. If he is not
prosecuting them for oil subsidy, why shouldn’t they pay for his
election?
Symbol of change
The president is trying to raise over N200 million for power and then
those people he is helping to raise the money are giving him
N500million. We can’t fight the president with money, we will fight him
with the people. We will fight the president by telling Nigerians that
they have to vote for change and the symbol of change for us is the APC
and General Buhari. I will like to reiterate again that General Buhari did
not pay anybody to vote for him at the primaries and he won because
Nigerians want change.
How do you intend to combine your duty as director-general of the APC
presidential campaign with your duties as governor?
We will try. That is why there is a deputy governor. I have a deputy who
is efficient and I will also from time to time go back to the state. But we
need to deliver and we are all making sacrifices ?to deliver this change.
I don’t know how people feel. The president and the federal government
have not denied the fact that N2.3trillion was taken for oil subsidy and
that was six months in 2011.
Oil subsidy before that time was N300billion, so how did it rise to
N2.3trillion and the people are not afraid? The federal government and
all its agents were not afraid that N2.3trillion was taken. So, basically, I
don’t mind what I can do legally to make sure that there is a better
Nigeria.
What about the controversy that you have not paid eight months
salaries?
Anybody who said I have not paid him salaries should come forward.
We have paid up till December; you can call Rivers State to confirm. I
got a Blackberry message on Tuesday, saying; “Thank God, we are
going home with our salary before Christmas.”
Payment of salaries
What we agreed in the cabinet was that we should make sure that
everybody goes home with his salary before Christmas because as a
Christian, I know that December 23 and 24 are the two days that
Christians like to shop. I do not owe salaries in Rivers State. I am proud
to say that I will pay salaries until I leave office and I will continue to
pursue development projects in the state.
I was even surprised that the president’s spokesman even put it in one
of his statements when he was responding to the accusation that the
people who contributed to the N21billion are those plundering our
economy and he said after all, Governor Amaechi funded the election of
Buhari while he owes teachers eight months salary. And I asked the
question, for you to be a presidential spokesman, facts and statistics
must be on your palm; you shouldn’t joke with that. But the man was
just reacting to gossip.
What are Buhari’s programmes for Nigeria if he wins the 2015 election?
The message is simple. Buhari chased away Maitasene while he was
Head of State. Many Nigerians will remember that Maitasine was like
Boko Haram and they were killing people in Borno and Kano and Buhari
chased them away because he is a strong leader.
Strong leader
We need a strong leader now to chase away Boko Haram or it will
chase us away. Buhari will deal with insurgency because he has done
that before. Many Nigerians would remember that when Borno was
attacked by Chadian rebels, Buhari as an officer of the Nigerian Army
almost chased them into Ndjamena. He had crossed the Lake Chad
when President Shehu Shagari called him back. If he didn’t do that,
Borno would have been overrun by Chadian rebels and till today Chad
has never crossed into Nigeria to fight us. It takes a strong leader to do
that.
We will deal with insurgency. The country may be broke now because of
two factors. The first which is very critical is the diversion of funds at
the NNPC. That is the greatest factor for me. The level of diversion in
the NNPC has affected everybody including me.
We will deal with power because if you don’t address it, you cannot
tackle unemployment. The essential factor for industrialisation from
elementary economics is power.
So, when you hear that people in the power sector contributed N500
million for the president’s re-election, where did they get it? First, you
must pay your bill every month whether you like it or not; whether you
have power or not. People are now being forced to pay N75 every month
whether they use power or not. So, they are being punished for not
having power.
How do you respond to the claim by the PDP that Buhari is a semi-
illiterate jackboot?
Our campaign will be issue-based. The president has a PhD in Zoology,
how many farms do we have and how many people has he employed? If
you say the president has a PhD and Buhari does not have one, let him
show us his thesis. You are bringing yourself to the level of those who
are making those allegations. Don’t bring yourself to that level, remain
focused on the issues and let the president meet you there.
Many have defected from the PDP to the APC and as soon as they move
they become progressives. What exactly does the APC stand for and
what is the ideology of the party?
How many people would say that when I was in the PDP, I wasn’t a
progressive? Those who left the PDP are the progressive wing of the
party.
Please tell me what else I need to do to become a progressive. The
ideology of progressivism is about the people and I bother about them a
lot. That is why there is free education in my state which is not part of
the PDP manifestoes. While in the PDP, I introduced free education and
health care. What else would I need to become a progressive?
Those who studied at the University of Port-Harcourt will say that I have
been a Marxist from my university days till today. APC stands for a
progressive ideology and you can see that in our manifestoes.
What is the assurance that Buhari will win the presidential election?
The simple electoral arithmetic is that before the president had the
South-south and Southeast 100 percent, but now there are problems for
the PDP in Cross Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States. It
wasn’t like that before.
By this time the PDP would have been dancing but have you seen them
doing so? When they were doing the Transformation Ambassador of
Nigeria (TAN) rallies, I knew that it will get to this point.
You have not seen the PDP dancing or doing any major campaign
because there are problems everywhere. There is problem within the
party in Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia States. So, it is no longer the same.
The electoral map appears to have changed.
If we go to the north, does the APC have problems in Kano, Kaduna,
Jigawa and Sokoto? Did we have problem in Lagos State? No, it is the
PDP that has problems in those states. So the political map has
changed and that is why I believe that by God’s grace, Buhari and the
APC will win. I am a Christian and I think positively.
I am not from the north; I am not from the south. I am a Nigerian. I
don’t believe in indigeneship, but in citizenship. Buhari will win the
2015 presidential election by God’s grace and he will also win because
the political map does not favour the president anymore. In 2011, in the
South-South and Southeast, we said he is our brother and now we are
saying he is no longer our brother.

www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/jonathan-trouble-gov-amaechi/

I love Amaechi's sincerity

Abagworo:
I love Amaechi's sincerity

he is a realist , he talks the matter as it is . where is the power ? yet they are donating money .... for what ?

trust me, wit dis guy as DG buhari campaign, d heat is much on d presidency. Oga jona be like 'why did ma wifey hav to fight dis guy in d 1st instance. in another story, I notice dt mama peace has bn trying to keep her peace of recent.

Na dat power sector own suprise me pass.

A sector. That require 200million Naira to survive, yet donate 500million Naira.
Such recklessness exposes the fact that all is seriously no well with GEJ presidency.
Only in Nigeria.

True talks devoid of lies.
All progressives are embodiment of justice and development.

GMB/APC stands for truth and justice to all.

Support APC at all Levels.

Nigeria deserves a change.

Will this not make PF?