Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi has come under fire for his statement that the South East could not convince anyone that it deserved the 2023 presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) having voted against the party and its presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2019 general election.
Amaechi had made the comment in an interview with Saturday Sun.
He said, “For people like us in the APC, if the Igbo had come and voted Buhari, they would boldly tell Mr President and the National Chairman of the party that presidency should go the Southeast since the South-south; South-west and North-west have produced president. What argument would the Southeast come up with now to convince anybody that they deserve the slot for 2023 president?”
Reacting, the senator representing Kaduna Central, Sen. Shehu Sani, said that the minister’s statement was provocative and posed a threat to national stability.
He added that the statement could embolden the likes of Nnamdi Kanu, who are pushing for a sovereign state of Biafra.
Sani, who did not mention Amaechi’s name, reacted to his statement in a tweet on Sunday.
He said, “To Justify the collective alienation and penalisation of the People of the South East on the ground of their political opinions or choices is an act of provocation and threat to national stability in a fragile nation. Such arguments will embolden anarchists and ultra nationalists.”
See tweet:
To Justify the collective alienation & penalization of the People of the South East on the ground of their political opinions or choices is an act of provocation and threat to national stability in a fragile nation.Such arguments will embolden anarchists and ultra nationalists.
— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) May 19, 2019
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