Former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido and former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi have stated that if they were still serving as governors, they would have questioned President Bola Tinubu about the current situation in the country.
The former governor of Rivers State stated this in Abuja on Tuesday at the public presentation of Lamido’s autobiography, ‘Being True to Myself’.
Former Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Amaechi stated their era was characterised by strong resistance and a commitment to holding the Federal Government accountable.
He said, “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.
“We would have confronted the government, confronted the president. That’s how radical you were. That’s how our Governors Forum operated. That’s how determined we were to change things.”
In addition, Amaechi considered his political relationship with Lamido, pointing out that they were allies during their time in government.
The former minister, however, said their paths diverged over strategy in opposing then-President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We were quite good friends in government. We had our bad times when we disagreed. 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.
“The last one before we broke ranks was when we all agreed to go against President Jonathan. We formed a committee of governors and others. At the end of the day, he went to find a new party, the SDP. We said, ‘If we go to the SDP, we will lose the election. Let’s hang on to this one called the APC.’ He disagreed and left us. That’s where we parted ways,” he said.
