In Nigeria’s hotly contested political frontiers, a former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, 60, is a power player who has not hidden his displeasure with the country’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress.
Formerly a member of the People’s Democratic Party, the party which he rode on in 2007 to become governor, Amaechi has almost seen it all when it comes to holding public office.
His big break in politics came in 1999 when he became the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and later on in 2007, he was elected as Governor, a position he juggled with his role as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum from 2011 to 2013.
In May 2013, Amaechi was reelected as the NGF Chairman. But he had been opposed by then-President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP who were rooting for a former Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang.
After the “stubborn” Amaechi won the election, he intensified political attacks on everything related to the PDP.
The former Rivers Governor also used his influence as NGF Chairman to slur Jonathan, and his criticisms reverberated through the polity.
Amaechi famously chided Jonathan for lack of accountability and transparency in his government.
He also accused the Jonathan-led presidency of not having any developmental plan for Rivers State, and subsequently defected to the APC in November 2013.
The outspoken former Rivers governor is still, on paper at least, a member of the APC but has an axe to grind about what he views as the questionable leadership capacity of the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu.
He has also intensified his criticisms of the APC, sending warning signals to the biggest political party in Africa that he has one foot already out of the door, and that he is an integral part of a new coalition being spearheaded by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Amaechi used to be a staunch member of the APC when he was a member of the administration of one of the founding fathers of the party, Muhammadu Buhari, whom he worked under for nearly eight years as Minister of Transportation.
At the time, Amaechi had a cordial relationship with Tinubu, or so Nigerians thought, until he ran against the former Lagos State Governor in a crowded 2022 APC presidential primary.
To catch the big elephant in the room off guard, the ambitious Amaechi, in all his majestic wryness, had thrown major shade at Tinubu, giving Nigerians the impression that his strongest political rival was not fit to hold the presidential office.
And to drive his point home, Amaechi tried to sell his own fitness to Nigerians.
So, in an unexpected physical activity that some political observers say provided comic relief, he ran round a packed Port Harcourt stadium during his official declaration as a presidential aspirant for the 2023 elections.
Amaechi believed that his image caught by television cameras homing in on him as he panted down the stadium tracks while running would be a litmus test for Nigerians, especially APC delegates to the party primary, on voter sentiment.
And when questioned about his action, Amaechi famously said that he ran round the stadium to check how fit he was to “carry the problems of the country.”
He said, “People have asked me why I ran around the stadium.
“I was checking to see how fit I am, so I had to run round the stadium to confirm to myself that I’m strong enough to carry the problems of the country, whether it is mentally or physically.”
Despite the political grandstanding, Amaechi lost to Tinubu in the primary and at that juncture, what was left of their faltering political romance had already taken a hit, ensuring that the former could not work in the latter’s government.
Thus, in 2023, after the sun had set on the Buhari administration, Amaechi retired to his hometown at Ubima Community in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, where he remained relatively quiet.
He did not overly give voice to political issues, until in October 2024 when he found his voice again.
Amaechi began to express his frustration with Nigerians for remaining passive despite the prevailing economic hardship in the country.
And in January 2025, at the National Conference on Strengthening Democracy in Nigeria, he urged Nigerians to be ready to die for power, as Tinubu would not give it up easily.
“The politician is there in Nigeria to steal, maim, and kill to remain in power. If you think Tinubu will give it to you, you are wasting your time,” he said.
Amaechi’s criticism of the government has continued unabated, and during an event organized on May 31 to mark his 60th birthday anniversary, he revved up the rhetoric.
He said that the state of the economy has made him “hungry” and he would not mind joining the coalition led by Atiku to show Tinubu the exit door in the 2027 polls.
Although Amaechi’s eternal rival, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, said that he was hungry for power and not food, analysts are gauging how much weight Amaechi, who said Wike was a child he did not want to join issues with, can throw behind the coalition.
“I don’t agree with anyone who says that Amaechi is a spent force. It will be dangerous to do so. The coalition should hold tight to him so that he can check the FCT minister, Wike, in Rivers State”
A political analyst, Muyiwa Bello, said, “I understand that former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai’s name readily comes to mind whenever a new coalition is taking centre stage.
“But in many of our commentaries, we forget the contribution Rotimi Amaechi has made.
“Amaechi has always been there. He was there in the APC when the party was newly formed in 2013, having defected from the PDP.
“But it seems that because he is from the South South region, a region that is not so big politically, a lot of Nigerians are ignoring him and even excusing him for being a so-called noisemaker.
“If he were from the North, Amaechi would have carried more political weight than is being measured now. He would have brought to the table for the coalition double what El-Rufai is bringing.”
Asked whether Amaechi is a spent political force, Bello said that the former Transportation minister can play spoiler for the coalition in the South South region.
“I don’t agree with anyone who says that Amaechi is a spent force. It will be dangerous to do so. The coalition should hold tight to him so that he can check the FCT minister, Wike, in Rivers State.
“Do you remember how Wike used his influence when he was Governor to turn the tide in Rivers State during the presidential election and Tinubu won there?
“Amaechi kept quiet at the time because he was still a disgruntled member of the APC and didn’t want to be seen working against those that were supporting Tinubu.
“If he goes to join the coalition, he will be their check-and-balance in the South South and could even play spoiler for them in the region.”
A current affairs analyst, Damion Ugorji, also told The Point, “It is still difficult now to say whether Amaechi will be useful to the coalition or not.
“He has said a lot recently, just like he did in 2015, but let’s continue to observe him till the end of this year.
“I saw the 60th birthday celebration he organized. I saw the guests that graced the occasion, but like they say in football, the current form of a player matters a lot.
“Amaechi didn’t draw those people to the venue based on his current form as a politician.
“I am in the school of thought that agrees that he brought all those people under one roof based solely on his past political form.
“It is because of what he achieved in the past as a Speaker, two-term governor, minister of Transportation and maybe as a past presidential aspirant.”
Asked to comment on what the president can do to bring Amaechi on his side, Ugorji said, “At this point, it will be difficult to say what the president can do to get Amaechi’s support.
“The president will not even want to do that.
“It will be impossible to have Wike and Amaechi on the same boat supporting the same president.
“The president should just focus on using Wike to win Rivers State again. If he tries to accommodate Amaechi in that arrangement, there would be an implosion.”