In a moment of candour, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has revealed how he was so broke during the struggle to reclaim his mandate as Governor of Rivers State that he could not pay his children’s school fees.
He disclosed this during a Special Thanksgiving Service to mark the 10th-year anniversary of the Supreme Court judgment that declared him governor in 2007. The service held at the Abundant Life Evangelical Mission (ALEM) in Port Harcourt.
He said, “The truth is that we believed God. Some who didn’t believe left us just as they are leaving now. God told me that what he will do in Rivers State will tingle the ears, and I believed. We were so broke, we could not pay legal fees or children’s school fees.
“My wife prayed every day and night. I was fasting and praying for 3 months. I told God ‘I have a friend who has money, please make him remember me.’ I called my friend and he told me he has been looking for me. I told him I was in Ghana and he asked for my account… He sent me two hundred million naira. This is just to tell you that I believed God and he answered me.”
Amaechi contested and won the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primary for Rivers State Governor in 2007.
His name was substituted by the party for Celestine Omehia, an action which he challenged in court.
The case eventually got to the Supreme Court.
He became governor on October 26, 2007, after the Supreme Court ruled that he was rightful candidate of the PDP and winner of the April 2007 Governorship election in Rivers State.
He went ahead to win re-election in 2011.