I’m Most Experienced ADC Presidential Aspirant – Amaechi

Former Minister of Transportation and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has declared himself the most experienced aspirant seeking the presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), insisting that his track record in public office distinguishes him from other contenders.

Amaechi stated this while responding to questions on why Nigerians should support his presidential ambition ahead of the next general election. He spoke after submitting his presidential nomination forms ahead of the ADC primaries.

According to him, Nigerians should assess all aspirants based on competence, experience, performance in public office, and capacity to defeat the incumbent administration.

“I would say that what you are seeing currently is that nearly everybody who is running for the office of the president has served Nigeria in one way or another. Let this be a referendum,” he said.

“If you have performed, whoever has outperformed the other, vote for the person. The next thing is who is capable of delivering the votes? Who is capable of beating the incumbent? Who has the experience?”

The former governor maintained that he possesses the experience and capacity needed to lead the country, citing his tenure in Rivers State and his time as Minister of Transportation.

“I believe I am the most experienced. I am young, I am the most experienced, and I believe I have the capacity,” Amaechi said.

“Go back to Rivers State and see what I have done. Go back to 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 also urged Nigerians to reject ethnic, religious, and regional sentiments in choosing political leaders, arguing that competence and merit should be the overriding considerations.

“Nigerians should vote for merit but not vote for those who say ‘I’m from this place’, ‘I’m from that place’, ‘vote for me because my people have not voted for me before’, or ‘it’s our turn’,” he stated.

He blamed the current economic hardship in the country on the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying Nigerians were suffering under worsening economic conditions.

“It is the turn of Nigerians, because you see there is no market for Christians, neither is there a market for Muslims, or a market for northerners or southerners. The market has only just one purpose, the forex. And what is forex? Naira. And Nigerians are suffering,” he said.

“The current president has put us in this suffering. I don’t know why he wants to run. I don’t even know why APC wants to participate. They should be in shame and allow other Nigerians to participate and change the country.”

On the mode of selecting the party’s presidential candidate, Amaechi expressed preference for a direct primary, while leaving room for consensus if it favours him.

“I’m going for primary. If the consensus is me, fine. But if it’s not me, I’m going for primary,” he added.