Amaechi says dissatisfaction led him to withdraw from Buhari administration
Former Nigerian transport minister Rotimi Amaechi says he gradually withdrew from Muhammadu Buhari’s government after concluding that it was not meeting the expectations that brought the All Progressives Congress to power. He said Buhari later permitted him to attend university while remaining minister.
Former Rivers State governor and former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi says dissatisfaction with the direction of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration led him to withdraw from day-to-day government work. Amaechi made the claim during an interview on AIT on Wednesday night, while discussing his time in the Buhari administration and his political plans ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election. He said he privately confronted Buhari after becoming concerned that the government was not fulfilling the expectations associated with the All Progressives Congress victory in 2015.
Amaechi recalled asking whether the administration was governing as Nigerians had expected from Buhari’s earlier period in office. According to Amaechi, Buhari replied that the circumstances were different from those of 1983 because he was younger then and leading a military government without a parliament. Amaechi said he later asked Buhari for permission to attend university while retaining his ministerial position.
He said his arrangement meant he would be absent from the ministry on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and would attend only on Wednesdays. “That’s technically resigning from government,” Amaechi said in describing the arrangement. Amaechi served as transportation minister from after Buhari’s 2015 election victory until May 2022.
He had previously been governor of Rivers State and director-general of the APC’s 2015 presidential campaign organisation. He later resigned from the cabinet after declaring his intention to contest the APC’s presidential primary for the 2023 election, finishing second behind Bola Tinubu. The account comes as Amaechi campaigns for the 2027 election on the ADC platform.
The source material says he later became running mate to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar after losing the ADC presidential primary.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.