Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has revealed how he collaborated with former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido to challenge the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking at the public presentation of Lamido's autobiography titled "Being True to Myself" in Abuja, Amaechi disclosed that they formed a committee of governors specifically to oppose Jonathan's leadership.
"We were quite good friends in government. We had our bad times when we disagreed," Amaechi said of his relationship with Lamido. "I made the mistake of assuming he was as radical as I was. So, he was one of the governors I clung to when it came to radical decisions."
The former Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum further explained that their alliance eventually fractured over disagreements about political strategy. "The last one before we broke ranks was when we all agreed to go against President Jonathan. We formed a committee of governors and others," he stated.
According to Amaechi, the partnership dissolved when they couldn't agree on which political party to join after their opposition to Jonathan. "At the end of the day, he went to find a new party, the SDP. We said, 'If we go to the SDP, we will lose the election. Let's hang on to this one called the APC.' He disagreed and left us. That's where we parted ways," Amaechi explained.
The revelation provides insight into the political maneuvers that contributed to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which eventually defeated Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections.
Amaechi, who served as Rivers State Governor before becoming Transportation Minister, was a key figure in the coalition that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015.
