Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has dismissed claims that he and other opposition figures pressured the United States government to help defeat former President, Goodluck Jonathan, in the 2015 general elections.
Naijaonpoint reports that Amaechi made the clarification on Thursday while speaking at the National Conference of Editors in Abuja.
Responding to allegations that the opposition had urged American officials to intervene in Nigeria’s political process, Amaechi insisted the meeting was purely centred on the need for credible elections.
He said the claims that the delegation cited “Christian genocide” or pushed for international pressure to ensure Jonathan’s defeat were completely false.
The former governor, who later became a key figure in the Muhammadu Buhari administration, maintained that the delegation only demanded that Nigeria’s electoral process be protected from manipulation.
He said, “There have been talks about some clandestine meetings in America. No, there was no meeting in America like that. There was absolutely no meeting in America like that. There was just one meeting, and we were invited to the meeting and the discussion. The question was from the Americans, look, we don’t want violence in this election and we should have trust that there would be no violence.”
Amaechi also noted that contrary to the military era, Nigerian journalists who not fighting bad governance in the civilian dispensation enough.
He said, “I have friends who are editors. I said are these not the same people that fought with us when we were fighting? They say they are. I said so what has changed in journalism because they’re no longer fighting, and jokingly, I said that I think there was a difference between journalists under the military and journalists in a democracy.
“This thing should not continue. We played a major role before the military was chased out.
“The politicians came. Are you satisfied with the politicians? Are you okay? I have friends in the media. I told my friends the reason for their silence is that the pot is bigger. The pot under the military was smaller, and the military alone was enjoying it.
“The portions became smaller, and we needed to expand the pot. If not, compared to the military, are you better off now than that time?
“Please forgive me. I think another reasons, apart from the pot being large is ethnicity which has gone into politics and into what is called journalism.
“As journalists, nobody wants to write against their brother. Everybody’s enjoying, even if your brother is bad. I made a statement, I said Nigerians don’t hate bad government, is just that the bad president is from another part of the country.
“But if the bad president is from your area, he’s a wonderful man; he’s trying his best. We must, as a people, as Nigerians, agree to chase a government that is bad out of government through legitimate means of election.
“Nigeria should be a country where anybody who comes from any part of Nigeria can survive in any part of Nigeria that he goes to.
“That’s when we will become a country- when I can go to Lagos and survive in Lagos, when you can buy land in Port-Harcourt and survive in Port-Harcourt.
“Government is complaining about insecurity. You know the cause of insecurity. If you provide the people with poverty, if you don’t provide them with legitimate means of livelihood, they will provide for themselves an illegitimate means of livelihood.
“The reason why Nigeria is like this is that they have denied the ordinary citizens the right to survive. So, if you refuse to create a legitimate means of livelihood for the citizens, they will create for themselves an illegitimate means of livelihood. Pot being larger, ethnicity has gone into politics and into what is called journalism.
“As journalists, nobody wants to write against his brother. Everybody’s enjoying, even if your brother is bad. I made a statement, I said Nigerians don’t hate bad government, this is just that the bad president is from another part of the country. If the bad president is from your area, he’s a wonderful man he’s trying his best.
“It’s like these people who were collecting money in the last election, five thousand two thousand. After five thousand, you cook a pot of soup, election is over, there is no more money and you start crying.
“We must, as a people, as Nigerians, agree to chase a government that is bad out of government through legitimate means of election.
“Nigeria should be a country where anybody who come from any part of Nigeria can survive in any part of Nigeria that he goes to.
“That’s when we will become a country, when I can go to Lagos and survive in Lagos, when you can buy land in Port-Harcourt and survive in Port-Harcourt.
“Government is complaining about insecurity. You know the cause of insecurity, if you provide the people with poverty, if you don’t provide them with legitimate means of livelihood, they will provide for themselves illegitimate means of livelihood.
“The reason why Nigeria is like this is that they have denied the ordinary citizens the right to survive. So if you refuse to create legitimate means of livelihood for the citizens, they will create for themselves illegitimate means of livelihood.”
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