Political camps in Rivers State are either challenging or defending the relevance and legacies that Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, immediate past Minister of Transportation and onetime governor of the state may have left on the sands of history of the state.
Rivers political crisis began in 2021/13 when Amaechi was governor. It was initiated when his former aide later Minister, Nyesom Wike, chose to fight his boss by joining forcers with the first lady of the time, Patience Jonathan, for who would become next governor.
This began when Wike, who actually was overseeing the political structure of the state under Amaechi, swept the carpet off his boss by procuring Felix Obuah to become to take over as chairman of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) instead Ake (now late).
Amaechi was to decamp with almost his entire public sector support base to the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC) to back Muhammadu Buhari to win the APC presidential ticket and ahead to win the presidency and rule for eight years.
Wike, on the other side, won the governorship seat of Rivers State with the help of Patience Jonathan (and Jonathan himself).
The division of the political class into two continued with Amaechi (centre) and Wike (state) until Wike seemed to defy all weapons fashioned against him from the centre and singlehandedly picked his successor (something Amaechi could not achieve because his boss did not seem to give him logistics as Jonathan gave Wike).
Then, trouble burst out after victory was assured as Wike and his handpicked successor, Sim Fubara, exploded into a monumental dispute that tore the victorious camp into two. The two camps now mopped up and absorbed the fledgling fragments from other factions such as followers of Peter Odili, Celestine Omehia, and Amaechi, now into Wike versus Fubara power camps; one backed by federal advantages, the other with state power that is made bigger by 23 LGA power structures and logistics. Many call it the balance of power or the mutually assured destructible (MAD). This seems to reflect a new version of Wike vs Amaechi power structure with all the fire of crisis, but Amaechi has tried to stay clear of any of the camps, seeing none as his favorite, but almost all his followers are now with Fubara with a few particles garnishing the Wike camp.
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The Wike camp thus shoots arrows at Amaechi once in a while by lambasting him as a failure that brought nothing to Rivers State from the centre. They rather point to things they said Wike brought when he was Minister of State for Education and what they say he is bringing now as FCT Minister, all to prop him as the undisputed political leader of Rivers State, and not Amaechi.
Some have however kicked against this attempt, insisting that Amaechi is the real political leader of the state for the mere fact that he created Wike as a personality by making him LGA chairman, Chief of Staff, nominated him to be Minister to Jonatha. They also say Amaechi brought many things home as minister, claiming that Nigeria and Rivers State are still reaping the usufructs of Amaechi’s impactful service. They named the University of Transportation, Daura, which is now recruiting thousands f workers while a new University of Environment births in Ogoni probably in a model secondary school built by the former governor in Tai LGA.
One of Amaechi’s strongest support pillars, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said these are a substantiation of the assertions of Olusegun Obasanjo and Wole Soyinka that Amaechi’s model secondary schools were way better than most Nigerian universities.
Eze said this was in confirmation of the position of those great Nigerians that one of those schools is today acknowledged and named as a federal university, making Amaechi to be seen as a man of vision and foresight who teaches Nigerians how to use the instrument of public office to make society better.
Eze said: “The fact that the abandoned edifice is being considered for a federal university is a testament to Amaechi’s foresight and commitment to education. It’s a great example of how visionary leadership can shape the future and create opportunities for generations to come.”
Eze, the erstwhile national publicity secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and chieftain of the APC in the state, said Amaechi as governor, particularly in the area of education, is still attracting fortunes and yielding profound results that are bound to reshape the landscape of the state in the sector for years to come.
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In a statement, Eze said: “With the recent approval by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the establishment of a University of Environmental Technology in Tai, one of the four LGAs of the oil-rich Ogoni zone of Rivers State, to be sited in a world class secondary school equipped with top-notch facilities, built under the administration of Amaechi as Governor, has continued to attract development in multiple areas despite leaving office a decade ago.
Speaking through a statement made available to the media, Eze said beyond the landscape of Rivers State, Amaechi’s legacies as Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation are also paving way for job creation and other useful opportunities for Nigerians. “For instance, the Federal University of Transportation, Daura, Katsina State is now operational and has meaningfully engaged thousands of Nigerians under its employ. And just recently, in appreciation for setting the pace for the establishment of the College of Medical Sciences, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Amaechi was honored with an award from the management of the institution. Recall that under his tenure as Governor, the Rivers State University was reckoned as the foremost e-University in Africa. It was still under the administration of Amaechi as Governor that Port Harcourt was declared World Book Capital by UNESCO, after beating several other cities across the world.
“The award was presented to Amaechi at the maiden induction ceremony of the College of Medical Sciences, last week.”
Impressed with the good signs of the times, Eze stated that recent developments around Amaechi lend credence to the widely-held view of him as not only a man of vision but an elixir to Nigeria gamut of problems.
Amaechi’s vision and leadership, he added, have indeed left a lasting impact on the state and Nigeria at large. His efforts to develop infrastructure and education have been notable, and it is wonderful to see that his legacy continue to inspire and influence future development projects.
“The fact remains that Amaechi is a statesman. He doesn’t think like a politician. He is more interested in the future than today. He tried his best to put Rivers State on the world map. The money he would have used to appoint polling unit special advisers as his predecessor did is what he used it to build a better future for the next generation. His legacies will continue to speak even in the next generation. It’s not about give me power. It’s about what you do when you get the power” Eze noted.
Despite not being in government, he said, Amaechi remains relevant in concerns of development in Rivers State and Nigeria, as his legacies remain rallying points for successive administrations in different ways.
He noted that Obasanjo, Soyinka, and others who visited Rivers State in 2013 described most of the model secondary schools constructed by Amaechi as better and more equipped than most Universities in Nigeria and in confirmation of this stands by these great Nigerians one of those Schools is today acknowledged and named as a Federal university.
President Tinubu while signing the bill establishing the university highlighted, “Today marks a significant milestone in our national journey towards environmental justice, education and sustainable development.
“The Ogoni (people) have been at the forefront of our development and agitation and have suffered enough environmental degradation,” Tinubu said.
Continuing, the president said: “It is more than the creation of a university. It is the reaffirmation of our unwavering commitment to the people of Ogoni, the Niger Delta and the entire nation as a whole.
Eze further noted that it gladdens the heart of every patriotic Nigerian that the new University is recruiting suitably qualified Nigerians in 56 units.
Apart from the above, he stated, thousands of other jobs will be delivered to Nigerians through this university which establishment was made easy through the sterling performance of Amaechi, inspired by foresight.
Another leader (name withheld) postulated that some people want power but don’t know what to do with it apart from looting of the common patrimony thinking that it is what governance was all about.
Eze commended Amaechi for using every opportunity he gets to build the future of Nigeria.
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