Photo caption: Former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi
By Emeka Ugwuanyi
The former Transportation Minister and former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has taken a swipe at the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying his administration is more oppressive than that of military junta.
Amaechi stated that when he was called upon to deliver his goodwill message at the exaugural lecture and book launch of former Editor of The Punch, Dayo Oketola, held on Tuesday at Muson Centre, Onikan, in Lagos.
The former Minister started by saying he flew in from Abuja in the morning just to honour the former Editor of The Punch, Dayo Oketola, on his book launch and exaugural lecture, adding that usually politicians are not called upon to talk in such an event because they will spoil the occasion. He further said, ”I will spoil the occasion small.
He said: “In the past when you call journalists, they would say “we are in the trenches”, is that time worse than now,” he queried.
“We are in the trenches,” was a common statement used by journalists during the military governments when go into hiding for fear of being clamped down or tortured for a write up that didn’t sit well with the government.
In other words, Amaechi inferred that what Nigerians are going through today in terms human rights abuse and punishment of dissents, are worse than what obtained during the military era.
Rotimi Amaechi was the Governor of Rivers State for two tenures and a Federal Mi8nister for eight years. He is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He also contested in the primaries for the presidential ticket of the party but lost to the current President Bola Tinubu.
In attendance at the event were former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was the Special Guest Speaker, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, who represented the Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Founder of the Love of Christ Generation Church C&S (Worldwide), Revd. Esther Ajayi, and former Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Michael Ikpoti, who was the chairman of the occasion, among other prominent media personalities, corporate and government representatives.
