Director-General of President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, has reportedly described Nigeria as hopeless, saying the only way for the country to make progress is for “everybody to be killed”.
According to an audio released by Phrank Shaibu, an aide of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Amaechi, who is Minister of Transportation, said this in a conversation with some journalists.
The minister was heard saying there would be a university in his village after the plans to build one in Daura, hometown of President Buhari in Katsina State, have been concluded.
Amaechi is from Ubima in Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State.
Online medium, The Cable could not independently verify the audio. It is unclear when the conversation took place but it has been generating reactions on social media.
“This country can never change, I swear. The only way this country can change is in a situation where everybody is killed,” Amaechi said in the audio.
“This country is going nowhere. When Magnus (Abe) was secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), I told him that this country is hopeless and helpless and he told me, ‘Oga, stop it’. This cannot be coming from a governor.
“But two months in Abuja, Magnus came to meet me and said, I agree with you; this country is hopeless and helpless. All they do in Abuja is to share money.
“I have already written to the governor of Katsina state and I don’t know why he has not replied to give us the land in Daura for a university in Daura. The next university would be in my village. There is a popular saying while we were growing up, that charity begins at home. Will my own begin abroad?
“The president does not listen to anybody. He doesn’t care. You can write what you want to write. Does he read? I was flying with him in the aircraft and we saw a news report where a goat seller was complaining that he couldn’t sell his goats during Sallah because of Buhari’s administration. And the president said what my business with goat sellers is?”
Spokesman of the minister, David Iyiofor, could not be reached for comments as at the time this report was filed. He neither answered calls nor responded to a text message sent.
Commenting on the audio, Shaibu asked Nigerians to vote against Buhari in the forthcoming election.
He said a vote for the president “is a vote for stagnation”, asking Buhari to “quit honourably instead of wasting tax payers monies on his reelection bid”.
“The truth is that, the other day, the President confessed that the economy had collapsed under his watch. On another occasion , the wife confessed to the fact that, the canal and not her dearest husband, President Buhari was in charge of the country and now, the director-general of his re-election campaign has confessed to the lack of capacity of President Buhari and the dismal failure of hid administration,” he said in a statement.
Director-General of President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, has reportedly described Nigeria as hopeless, saying the only way for the country to make progress is for “everybody to be killed”.
According to an audio released by Phrank Shaibu, an aide of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Amaechi, who is Minister of Transportation, said this in a conversation with some journalists.
The minister was heard saying there would be a university in his village after the plans to build one in Daura, hometown of President Buhari in Katsina State, have been concluded.
Amaechi is from Ubima in Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State.
Online medium, The Cable could not independently verify the audio. It is unclear when the conversation took place but it has been generating reactions on social media.
“This country can never change, I swear. The only way this country can change is in a situation where everybody is killed,” Amaechi said in the audio.
“This country is going nowhere. When Magnus (Abe) was secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), I told him that this country is hopeless and helpless and he told me, ‘Oga, stop it’. This cannot be coming from a governor.
“But two months in Abuja, Magnus came to meet me and said, I agree with you; this country is hopeless and helpless. All they do in Abuja is to share money.
“I have already written to the governor of Katsina state and I don’t know why he has not replied to give us the land in Daura for a university in Daura. The next university would be in my village. There is a popular saying while we were growing up, that charity begins at home. Will my own begin abroad?
“The president does not listen to anybody. He doesn’t care. You can write what you want to write. Does he read? I was flying with him in the aircraft and we saw a news report where a goat seller was complaining that he couldn’t sell his goats during Sallah because of Buhari’s administration. And the president said what my business with goat sellers is?”
Spokesman of the minister, David Iyiofor, could not be reached for comments as at the time this report was filed. He neither answered calls nor responded to a text message sent.
Commenting on the audio, Shaibu asked Nigerians to vote against Buhari in the forthcoming election.
He said a vote for the president “is a vote for stagnation”, asking Buhari to “quit honourably instead of wasting tax payers monies on his reelection bid”.
“The truth is that, the other day, the President confessed that the economy had collapsed under his watch. On another occasion , the wife confessed to the fact that, the canal and not her dearest husband, President Buhari was in charge of the country and now, the director-general of his re-election campaign has confessed to the lack of capacity of President Buhari and the dismal failure of hid administration,” he said in a statement.
…says Nigerians are hungry, poverty growing under Buhari
Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, has been heard in an audio recording to be expressing shocking pessimistic views about Nigeria and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, whose re-election bid he leads.
Ameachi in the audio reportedly said Nigerians are hungry as poverty continued to grow under the Buhari administration.
The recording was shared with Premium Times by Phrank Shaibu, spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar campaign.
Former vice president, Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is the main challenger of Buhari, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in next month’s presidential election.
The recording contains a portrayal of Buhari as a dismal failure who has been unable to meet the expectations of various segments of the society, ending with a dismissal of Nigeria as a fated-to-disintegrate hopeless nation.
The transcript of the recording reads: “These are not things you publish ooo. If you publish them, you will never sit with me any day.
“Three years of Buhari oo, everybody is crying, crying…pressmen are crying, farmers are crying, workers are crying, politicians are crying, students are crying, three years oo!
“The rate of poverty is very high. The people are hungry. Nigeria will divide!”
The online medium is however yet to independently verify the recording.
The claims, particularly regarding expectations, expressed in the recording may be correct.
Government’s own official information shows Mr Buhari has presided over a worsening national job situation, with the unemployment rate standing at 23.1 per cent by the third quarter of 2018 up from 18.8 per cent per cent by the end of 2017.
However, government officials argue jobs are not dropping but that it is the number of people entering the working age bracket that is outpacing the existing opportunities in the labour market.
Invariably, poverty, under Mr Buhari, also continues to soar, a crisis Nigeria has experienced for decades.
According to the World Bank 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, between 1990 and 2013, Nigeria added 35 million people to its poverty population, jumping from 51 million to 86 million (and now over 100 million). Of the 10 populous countries surveyed, Nigeria is the only country that failed to reduce poverty.
By 2018, Nigeria has overtaken China and is only behind India, arguably, with the highest number of extremely poor people within one national territory.
In an earlier recording also shared by the Atiku campaign, Amaechi appeared to be describing Buhari as a leader that does not listen and care.
According to the recording: “The president does not listen to anybody. He doesn’t care. You can write what you want to write. The president doesn’t care. Does he read? He will read, he will laugh. He will say ‘come, come and see, they are abusing me here’.
“In fact, there was one case of somebody in Onitsha, a trader in Onitsha who couldn’t sell his goats during Sallah. And I was with Oga on the plane and the man was busy abusing Buhari. He said, ‘Amaechi, come, what is my business with Onitsha goat seller?’”
When contacted, David Iyofor, the spokesperson for Amaechi, said the minister’s team was still reviewing the recording and needed more time to do so before commenting on the matter.
