Former Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress, Rotimi Amaechi, has vowed to transform Nigeria within four years if elected president in the 2027 general election.Amaechi made the declaration on Thursday shortly after submitting his nomination forms at the ADC national headquarters in Abuja.
The former Rivers State governor also criticised the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing it of worsening economic hardship across the country.Speaking to journalists after submitting his forms, Amaechi said Nigerians should focus on competence, experience, and proven performance when choosing the country’s next leader rather than ethnic or regional sentiments.
According to him, every presidential aspirant should be assessed based on their track record in public office.“What Nigerians should do is assess all of us who are running for office based on our records,” he said.“Nearly everybody who is running for the office of the president has served Nigeria in one way or another. Let this be a referendum.
If you have performed, whoever has outperformed the other, vote for the person.”Amaechi argued that his years in government had prepared him for the task of leading the country, pointing to his achievements as governor of Rivers State and later as Minister of Transportation under former President Muhammadu Buhari.“The next thing is, who is capable of delivering the votes? Who is capable of beating the incumbent? Who has the experience? I believe I am the most experienced,” he stated.“I am young, I am the most experienced, and I believe I have the capacity. Go back to Rivers State and see what I have done. Go back to the Ministry of Transportation and see what I have done, and assess it and see whether I can turn the country around. And I will, in four years, turn the country around.”Amaechi served as governor of Rivers State from 2007 to 2015 and later played a major role in the formation of the All Progressives Congress.
He also served as Director-General of Buhari’s 2015 presidential campaign.During his tenure as Minister of Transportation between 2015 and 2023, he supervised several major railway projects, including the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan rail lines, although some critics questioned the increasing debt profile tied to the infrastructure developments.On the current state of the economy, Amaechi said Nigerians were facing severe hardship as a result of policies introduced by the Tinubu administration.“Nigerians should vote for merit, not vote for those who say, ‘I’m from this place’ or ‘it is our turn,’” he said.“It is the ‘Emilokan’ mentality that brought us here.
It is our turn that brought us here. Now Nigerians are suffering.”He added that economic hardship cuts across religion, ethnicity, and regional differences.“There is no market for Christians, nor is there a market for Muslims, nor a market for northerners or southerners. The market has only one purpose — the naira. Nigerians are suffering.”Amaechi further questioned why President Tinubu intends to seek re-election in 2027, saying the ruling APC should allow other political parties the opportunity to govern the country.“The current president has put us in this suffering. I don’t know why he wants to run again. I don’t even know why the APC wants to participate. They should be ashamed and allow other Nigerians to participate and change the country,” he added.Speaking on the forthcoming ADC presidential primaries, Amaechi stated that he preferred a direct primary election but would accept a consensus arrangement if it favoured him.“I’m going for primary. If the consensus is me, fine. But if it’s not me, I’m going for primary,” he said.Amaechi’s declaration comes amid growing political realignments ahead of the 2027 elections, with opposition parties intensifying efforts to build stronger coalitions capable of challenging the ruling APC.
The ADC has recently attracted several notable politicians positioning themselves ahead of the next electoral cycle, as national debates over economic reforms, insecurity, and governance continue to shape the political landscape.
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