NPA Probe and Amaechi’s Romance with Atiku Towards 2023

Anwal Daud

Every waking day over the past four weeks or so, there must be something in the news about the Minister of Transportation, Hon Rotimi Ameachi and the suspension of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman. You could say that is not entirely surprising given the profile of the dramatis personae and the organisation that is in question and you wouldn’t be wrong.But while everyone is haggling and tearing themselves apart about whether some monies were remitted or not or whether Bala Usman subordinated herself to the Minister of Transportation or not, I see a well-planned out fight by a man whose end game many Nigerians still fail to see. What I can see is a methodical journey into the embrace of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the furtherance of a political ambition that Nigerians have speculated about Ameachi for a whole. If you are kind enough to indulge me with a bit of patience, I’ll explain.

That is not to say that insubordination, if it truly existed between the two couldn’t be enough to inspire the torpedo that the minister has caused in this prime parastatal. Not too long ago, Ameachi was asked on Arise News, an international television channel to respond to a comment made by incumbent Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike. Although one must concede that the altercation between these two former political allies could get on the most longsuffering nerve, the minister’s response was off-putting and disrespectful if not outrightly narcissistic. When he was asked to respond to Governor Wike’s claim that his projects are politically motivated, Amaechi blurted, “I don’t think I want to address the issue of the governor, I have made my point and I have moved on…He was my staff, I can’t bring myself low. I was a governor, I was also a speaker, I’m a minister. I was two-term chairman of governors’ forum. The same when I was a speaker.

Why should I be discussing him? Really? Now, you get that for someone who had been a governor, knowing the enormous responsibility and authority of that office to speak derogatorily about an incumbent reveals an inflammatory temper incapable of entertaining any jot of contestation especially if they were to come from a subordinate. Some of the questions that Wike continues to ask his predecessor, which seem unworthy of answers go to the very root of his integrity. Even just this last week, Wike accused Amaechi, of the embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars being proceeds from the sales of the state’s aircraft and power stations.

The governor said Amaechi claimed to have sold a Dash 8 aircraft purchased by former Governor, Dr Peter Odili administration to the government of Cross River at the cost of $6million, but allegedly failed to account for the proceeds of the transaction till date. He also disclosed that state government intelligence had traced a second aircraft belonging to the state government that was also purchased by the Odili’s administration to Germany, where Amaechi had clandestinely diverted it to in 2012. Wike said Amaechi’s reign in office as governor was characterised by financial malfeasance part of which was an alleged diversion of the $308 million paid by Sahara Energy to acquire the state independent power projects. Those weighty allegations are the type of this minister, who still hopes to serve Nigerians in higher capacities would refuse to answer simply because he things the person asking is beneath him! So, if Ameachi would say that about a governor, who was voted by the same people who once voted for him as governor, what would he not do when someone, whose appointment may have had his seal, refuses to do his bidding. And here we have two examples, first it was Dakuku Peterside and now, Hadiza Bala Usman. The question to however ask is what if the point of disagreement with the minister would serve Nigeria’s interest more as some have suggested in this instance? This is where more questions should be asked about the personality under focus.

Rotimi Ameachi, former Governor of River State and current Minister of Transportation, by far one of the most influential privileged ministers in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is referred to as the Lion by many of those who are close to him. Does anyone know why he is so called? It is a question that I have pondered on for a while since I know no one to ask. And I can say that I recently got a hint as to why he may be so addressed.

Where is Ameachi even coming from? How did he get here? Twenty-two years back, where was this man? Who are the people who facilitated his rise to the top and where are those people in his life today? And what happened to their relationships?The answers to these questions are, in my opinion in the public space, so I will not bother to provide an answer to them, as they would amount to wasting the reader’s precious time. What I want to draw out of this analogy is answered the question as to where cognomen, Lion came from?

Have you ever seen anyone stand in the way of the lion? After ruminating over this man’s antecedents, it occurred to me that he seems like a man who always gets wants he wants and cares little about crushing any opposition on his way. Take a few examples.

Former Governor Peter Odili is believed to the facilitator of Ameachi’s political career. After goading this career until Ameachi became two-terms speaker of the River States House of Assembly, the latter already grew wings mature enough to fly by himself. He wanted to be Governor; Odili didn’t want to be part of that. The battle was fought and lost, Ameachi crushed all possible opposition, and he became governor and sent his political godfather on early retirement.

Towards the end of his second tenure as governor, he fell out with former President Goodluck Jonathan and did all within his power to diminish the President and the faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Knowing the strategic import of being at the head of Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum, he fought his way through all opposition and got into that office in connivance with his immediate predecessor, former Senate President Bukola Saraki. He was one of those who proudly left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and would become so influential in the new party to become Director General of the Buhari/Osibanjo campaign towards the 2015 Presidential elections.

And whatever Ameachi did then, (we can all guess what a governor could do to become so important in an election but that would be mere conjecture wouldn’t it) it was sufficient to make him remain in the good books of the President till date that is after being named campaign DG for the second time in 2018. How come Ameachi is the only one of the big PDP catches of that remains in the APC today? The others: the Atikus, Sarakis, Kwankwasos, Tambulwas, Ahmeds and Bajares of this world were pilloried out of the APC, they are not likely to ever forget the initial misadventure. Ameachi has not only remained but stayed as a powerful, surefooted factors. Do you now see the point about why I think they call him the Lion, who is dogged about what he wants and can sacrifice anything for it, do you? If you do, then we can proceed.

Have you heard that Ameachi is gunning for the Presidency in 2023? He truly has not declared his intention, but all the signs are there. And if the APC zones the Presidency to the South and some interests in the party are advocating, the former governor will be in good stead for the ticket. For that he needs a lot of money, especially as he will most likely be competing with the strongman of Lagos politics amongst other people.

But Ameachi’s political trajectory would have shown you that he does not leave anything to chance. If anything happens in the APC, and he fails to get the ticket or the party itself gets crisis ridden (as is most likely) on the strength of the conflicting ambitions of stalwarts and the almost constantly aloof disposition of Buhari, who is the stabilising pillar of the party, Ameachi would be finding his way back to the PDP!

The truth is that he has more chances to get closer to the presidency in the PDP. Look at how people win elections in Nigeria and tell what political structure the former Rivers governor can bank on for his ambition if he gets the presidential ticket. But it is easier to get the vice presidency ticket to a more formidable candidate in the PDP and ride on to getting elected. Do you get it?
We now hear stories about Ameachi asking for the NPA to reverse all suspended or terminated all contracts belonging to Atiku’s INTELS. Court cases were also asked to be withdrawn and failure to do that is one of the reasons why the lady at the NPA is now being accused of insubordination and placed under suspension! Getting those multi-million-dollar businesses back will put significant money in the pockets of people who make it happens and more than that, it would prepare a wet the ground for an ambitious minister to step on when the time comes. Now, it doesn’t seem like anyone can stop the minister, he asked his eleven-man panel to investigate all contracts awarded by the NPA since 2016 till date and, the one involving INTELS, in particular. Singling out that contract by a man known not to shoot within an aim in sight, known to crush all opposition standing in the way of achievement is building an alternative plan, which may be the platform to the Eldorado of his ambition.

So, Nigerians, prepare for an Atiku/Ameachi ticket in 2023. It may not even be under the PDP where Atiku is also going to have a herculean if not impossible task of snatching the ticket, but on whatever platform it may be, I am willing to bet my last kobo for collaboration between the two in the next elections. This is where all the new love for INTELS, from a man who is almost always in bed with Chinese is coming from. That is why they call him the Lion!
––Dr Anwal Daud is a public commentator based in Abuja