Former Minister of Transportation and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s political space, declaring that the opposition has the capacity to remove President Bola Tinubu from power if it chooses to act.
Amaechi made the bold statement during his 60th birthday celebration on Saturday in Abuja, where he addressed guests and political associates on the current state of the nation.
“We are all hungry. All of us are. If you are not hungry, I am,” Amaechi said pointedly. “So, for us in the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power (Tinubu), we can remove him from this power.”
The fiery comment comes at a time of growing economic hardship and public frustration across the country. Amaechi’s remarks have been interpreted by many as a call for the opposition to mobilize and reclaim power, echoing Nigeria’s turbulent democratic history.
Reflecting on his days as a student activist, the former Rivers governor recalled how youths once united beyond ethnic lines to stand against military regimes. He cited his involvement in nationwide protests against former military leaders Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari, organized in solidarity by students from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), and others.
“As students, we organized the Tai Solarin protest against Babangida and also protests against Buhari,” Amaechi said. “Back then, there was no North and South among us.”
He lamented that today’s youth are deeply divided and no longer capable of the kind of mass mobilization seen in past decades.
“You would see young, handsome Northerners and Southerners eating together, feeling free with one another,” he reminisced. “But today, we have poisoned the minds of our young men. They can’t even liberate themselves we were able to liberate ourselves.”