Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Adviser to the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, has taken a swipe at former Minister of Transportation and ex-Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, insisting that Amaechi has not recorded any political victory since his split from Wike.
This rebuttal comes after Amaechi’s recent remark dismissing Wike while implying that they are not on the same level, and that he won’t exchange words with “children.” Lere, in a fiery reaction during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, questioned the credibility of that claim, pointing out the political evolution of Wike from local government chairman to being the driving force behind Amaechi’s own rise to power.
He said, “Since Wike and Rotimi Amaechi parted ways, tell me one thing that Rotimi Amaechi has won politically. Give me one election that Rotimi Amaechi has won since Wike went his way and Amaechi went his own way. Amaechi has not won a single election since that time.”
He added, “This person that he called children, was the one in 2007 when Rotimi Amaechi ran to Ghana and was hiding under the wrapper of his wife, Wike was the one leading the charge to bring Rotimi Amaechi back as governor. When the Supreme Court gave judgment that Rotimi Amaechi should be the governor of Rivers State, Amaechi was in Ghana. Who went to Ghana to go and bring him? He could not face the fire here. He let Wike be here to face that fire.”
Highlighting Wike’s strategic role in Amaechi’s emergence as governor, Lere added, “These children that he said, was the Director General of his campaign in 2011, Wike was the one who led Rotimi Amaechi’s campaign to elect him in 2011.”
According to Lere, Wike defeated Amaechi in 2015, 2019, and again in 2023, consolidating his own power base while Amaechi struggled to remain politically relevant.
He said, “Then this same child, defeated him in 2015. This person defeated him in 2019. He defeated him in 2023.
Regarding concerns that political spats may distract the FCT minister from governance, Lere was quick to defend his principal’s performance. He announced that beginning June 10, seventeen projects executed under Wike’s leadership will be commissioned in Abuja — ten of which President Bola Tinubu will personally inaugurate.
“The President, from June 10th to July 3rd, 17 projects will be commissioned by the president of Nigeria. Those projects were done by this FCT administration led by Wike. 17 projects. We are starting June 10th. And it will go on for 17 days. 10 of those projects will be personally commissioned by the president. Politics, as you look at it, has not in any way affected the working, the job of the minister.”
Melissa Enoch
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