•Rotimi Amaechi
Vice presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has told leaders of the opposition party that many of them will be retired from politics if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is re-elected.
Amaechi said this while addressing ADC-National Women League Conference in Abuja, today, reports Daily Trust.
Citing example of how the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the center in 2015, Amaechi charged the women to go to their states and wards and bring in votes, saying that is the only way ADC will be able to defeat APC.
He said, “If you are not from FCT, go home and campaign, me I am going on Wednesday, I will not wear suit, I will dress like a young man. Let me tell you what will happen. We the crop of leaders you see here, if APC wins 2027 elections, we are retired from politics. So if you don’t want us to retire from politics, we must go home.
“If you bring two thousand votes per ward, don’t win your ward. Just bring two thousand votes we have won the election. Men are controlled by their wives don’t let your husbands sleep, because if we win, you have won. We will not take any election lightly, you will see me in Kebbi, Yola, Rivers, Delta fighting for the governorship elections, because the Presidential candidate cannot govern without the governors.”
Amaechi, a former minister of Transportation, said the APC used women to defeat the PDP.
“When we were in APC and we wanted to remove your government, you saw what we did. We brought out the women, in every state we went to, women were in front. We spoke to them, we met with them at night, and we made sure that we told them that if they did not come out to vote, we would not win. And they came out. We fought the war, and we won.
“That time, Nigeria was not as hungry as it is now. Nigeria could afford some food, right? Now, how many of you can afford the food? How many of you can pay school fees without texting, texting to Dino (Senator Dino Melaye) or somebody else to give you some money for school fees.
“Every week, 10 Nigerians move into poverty. If they tell you how many Nigerians have died, you’ll be shocked. By the time I left government in APC, I’m giving you figures now: 10 and 12 million out of school children. Today there are 20 million out of school. That means every day Tinubu is taking Nigerians, 20 million Nigerians, 80% from the north, into poverty.
“If you’re a northerner and you’re sitting here, you shouldn’t even be singing at all. Reason Tinubu is taking you more every day into poverty. The thing you need to do is to take the battle in your hands. If all the women in the north come out to vote, Tinubu cannot announce any result.
Also speaking, Hajiya Titi Atiku Abubakar, told the gathering that the time had come to work for the betterment of Nigeria, charging the women not to be intimidated.
She urged them to go out and convince their friends, neighbours and others to vote for the ADC.
“If you go to the market, you cannot buy anything, even medicine. Yesterday I sent them to buy medicine for me. Medicine that we used to buy for 400. It is now a thousand. I couldn’t believe my eyes. So where is the money? And we are in a cashless society, that even all the monies are being taken away.
“People work, the contractors work, they refuse to give them money. Because of ADC, because they don’t want people to support us. We, ADC, don’t have money. Let me tell you, we have to get it by force. We have to get it.
“Most of our children are not in schools because the cost of living is so expensive. So, women, I implore you. Women, I beg you. Don’t let them come and buy you food. And we have to go to all the corners of this Nigeria, especially to the people in the villages,” he said.
