Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has said that former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, showed boldness when he refused to step aside for Bola Tinubu during the 2022 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary.
Soyinka, who spoke in Abuja on Saturday during Amaechi’s 60th birthday celebration, described Amaechi as a man with a strong will and fearless spirit. Amaechi, who governed Rivers State from 2007 to 2015, was one of the major contenders in the APC primary where Tinubu eventually emerged as the party’s flag bearer.
The renowned playwright noted that he watched the primaries live from Abu Dhabi and was deeply impressed by Amaechi’s decision not to withdraw from the race, even as pressure mounted on other aspirants to step down for Tinubu.
“The main reason why I had to be here today — it’s first of all that I admire Rotimi Amaechi’s fighting spirit,” he said.
“And it’s a very consistent one, but the most memorable for me, because I watched this event live on TV from Abu Dhabi.
“I wanted to see the drama of all the primaries going on during the election. I wasn’t here, but I said I wanted to watch this contest, and I’m glad I did.
“Because it gave me a great—most malicious pleasure, rascally if you like, pleasure-to-to — see the incumbent president being given a dose of his own medicine.”
Soyinka said Amaechi’s decision to stay in the race reminded him of Tinubu’s defiance during the Olusegun Obasanjo era.
“Let me explain this. For somebody, we knew as the last man standing when he fought to a standstill, a former president who was manoeuvring himself into a position of changing the constitution and obtaining a third term.
“He keeps denying it, but he and I know for a fact, and so do others. And towards that goal, he was sort of emasculating the powers of the constituent elements of the federation.
“And by the end, this president was the last man standing and resisted that effort. All the others had sort of cowed down because their statutory allocation had been stopped, contrary to the Constitution.
“But one man — he was the last man standing. Well, he obtained a dose of his own medicine from Rotimi Amaechi during the primaries. I enjoyed that very much.
“While everybody was, you know, falling over one another conceding, there was one individual who got on the podium and he said no, I’m not conceding.
“I didn’t come all the way here to commit ‘lúlẹ̀’. And that man was Rotimi Amaechi. And I said this is what democracy is all about.”
Tinubu polled 1,271 votes to defeat 13 other presidential hopefuls in the primary election.
Amaechi polled 316 votes to come second, with then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo receiving 235 votes.
