Former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi has asserted that Nigeria’s political environment would be significantly different today if his generation of governors were still in power, declaring that he and former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido would have openly challenged President Bola Tinubu.
Amaechi made the remarks on Tuesday, May 13, in Abuja at the launch of Lamido’s autobiography, Being True to Myself.
“I asked you (Lamido) this morning, what is going on currently in the country, in Nigerian politics — would it have happened when we were governors? You said no. And the answer is no,” Amaechi stated. “We would confront the government, confront the president. That’s how radical we were, that’s how our governors forum operated, that’s how determined we were to change things.”
Amaechi, who served as NGF chairman during Lamido’s second term as governor, recalled a period marked by political defiance and ideological intensity. He admitted that while they enjoyed a productive relationship, it was not without disagreements. “We were quite good friends in government. We had our bad times when we disagreed,” he said. “I made the mistake of assuming he was as radical as I was. So, he was one of the governors I clung to when it came to radical decisions.”
Reflecting on a pivotal split within their ranks, Amaechi recalled how a faction of governors broke with then-President Goodluck Jonathan, an event that saw Amaechi and others align with the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC), while Lamido remained within the opposition camp and later aligned with the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He described their political era as one driven by conviction and a refusal to back down in the face of executive overreach.
Amaechi also took the opportunity to sharply criticise President Tinubu’s handling of the political crisis in Rivers State, accusing him of using federal power to manipulate state politics. He labelled the president’s actions a “brazen attempt” to consolidate power and secure political loyalty ahead of the 2027 elections. Amaechi alleged that Tinubu was leveraging state institutions to coerce governors into submission to protect his re-election interests.
