Former Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that he is more experienced than any presidential aspirant in Nigeria, especially because he came from a very low background.
Amaechi made the statement when he met with delegates of the APC in Niger State on Thursday ahead of the party’s primary elections, saying that he could easily connect with the poor as he used to, and still, eat ‘garri’ three times a day.
The former minister stated that, apart from his vast experience, having served and delivered as Speaker, Governor, Minister, and Director-General of two successful presidential campaigns, there existed a difference between him and other aspirants, a fact that he was a better-experienced politician and a people-person.
“Another difference between me and them is that I am a politician, they’re not. The difference is that I can walk to you and I’ll talk, discuss with you.
He added that his humble background had afforded him the opportunity to understand the plight of the common person and relate easily with them.
“I can connect easily with the people. I wasn’t born into a rich family. My father was a poor man, and the only English my mother knows how to speak is pidgin English. I ate garri three times a day, and I still eat garri three times a day till today, so I know poverty”, he said.
He told the people of Niger that he understood their problem of insecurity therefore he had an idea of the problem bedeviling the state.
“I know what you’re suffering, I was governor of Rivers State when they were kidnapping two months old children, and I never slept until everybody slept.
“But in six months, we brought down insecurity in Rivers State,” Amaechi said.
He opined that now is the time for the people of the North and all Nigerians to stand by him, as he did for the country when he supported the emergence of the President Buhari, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), without looking at whether he was from the North or South.
“When everybody was fighting me, saying ‘he’s supporting a northern candidate, he’s supporting a Hausa/Fulani candidate,’ I remained steadfast that I was supporting a Nigerian candidate. Now it’s your turn to,” he said.
