Ibim Semenitari, the acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Company has revealed why Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi worked against former president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general election. Speaking in an interview with The Interview magazine and monitored by Premium Times, Semenitari said Amaechi turned his back against Jonathan to “save Nigeria from the brink.”
She said: “Amaechi believed that Muhammadu Buhari had all it took to change the trajectory and envisioned that Nigeria was heading in a different direction. “For him (Amaechi) having Buhari there was great for the integrity of the country and also to pull back the country from the brink.”
Responding to a question about whether her own position and the double ministry assigned to Amaechi by Buhari were rewards for Amaechi’s electoral contribution, Semenitari said: “Amaechi had no thought of any personal reward for doing what he did.”
In November 2013, former governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, former governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, incumbent governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, former governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and former Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state joined the APC after staging a walk out on the PDP national convention in Abuja.
It was believed that the defeat of Jonathan in the March 28 presidential election was a result of sabotage worked out by some trusted ex-allies of the former president. Many believed that the defection of the 5 governors was a major factor determining the APC’s victory in the last general elections.
Amaechi, former member of the Peoples Democratic Party and chairman of the Governor’s Forum, was one of the governors who broke away from the former ruling party, leading a charge that proved fatal to Jonathan and the PDP’s electoral fortune in 2015.