By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s absence at the campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shetima in Rivers State on Wednesday has, expectedly, sparked mixed reactions in many quarters.
While some suspect that Amaechi’s absence at the event that was held at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium could be a demonstration of his alleged disapproval of Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, others fear it could be a sign of deepening enmity between t he two leaders.
This last school of thought believes that Amaechi has not forgiven Tinubu for not supporting his alleged ambition to be vice president, secretary to the government of the federation or chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, after convincing him to fund Buhari’s presidential bid, a project into which he was believed to have pumped billions of naira, being the incumbent governor then.
Although compensated with a ministerial position after, this school of thought believes he was not fully satisfied as he had expected a higher office in Buhari’s government.
Commenting on the former governor’s absence at the Tinubu Port Harcourt rally on Wednesday, a resident, Max Tamuno, said: “I’m not surprised that the former transport minister didn’t attend the rally today even though he’s the leader of APC in this state. Why am not surprised is because I know he and Tinubu are not having the best of relationship since they disappointed him by not giving him the position he requested for. Instead, Tinubu projected his own people to be vice and other key positions. For me that’s where their problem started.
“So, his absence at the Tinubu rally could mean that he is still not happy, especially with the way he lost the presidential primary to him again. Before that primary election, the rumour everywhere was that he is Buhari’s anointed candidate. Am sure he also thought so. But when Tinubu entered, everything changed. I even heard that Tinubu entered the race in order to stop Amaechi from becoming president and having the opportunity to punish him. Amaechi’s attitude since losing that primary to Tinubu and his absence today seem to be confirming all this.”
However, another resident, who said he is a member of APC, said: “I actually expected Leader (Amaechi) to be here today because it’s still our party and our governorship quest is at stake. Even if there are issues, the fact remains that Tinubu is our party’s presidential candidate.
“And since he came to our state today for our party’s presidential rally, leadership burden demands that the leader of our party in our state here should have been here to receive him. That’s why I expected our respected leader, the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi to be here. But all the same, we thank God for APC and for our incoming Governor, Tonye Cole.”
Since losing out on the party’s presidential ticket, Amaechi has been relatively silent on the political scene.
Before now, there had been speculations that Amaechi, who lost out in the APC presidential primary, is not supporting Tinubu’s ambition.
