The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said insecurity fuelled by poverty has chased all “big men” from their respective states to Abuja, where they enjoy the protection offered by the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He stated this in a viral interview published by Daily Trust on Sunday.
The minister warned that they could all be chased away from Abuja if adequate steps were not taken to address the causative factors.
Amaechi said Nigeria was now witnessing the fulfilment of a warning he gave when he was Speaker and Governor in Rivers state that “we would wake up one day and the young boys we deprived would chase us out of town”.
The minister lamented that there were many “poor people” in the country because of unfriendly policies by successive governments.
Amaechi said critics blaming the Buhari administration for causing poverty in the land ought to know that poverty did not start under the incumbent.
According to him, the Buhari administration is developing infrastructure as a means of combating poverty and boosting the economy.
“What the president is saying is: let us create infrastructure. The president would ask how we feel when we get to Cape Town. You will be ashamed being a Nigerian because the political elites have burnt our resources and not able to put infrastructures on ground.
“The only thing you will hear of Nigeria is that you should come to Abuja; that it is a fine city. But Abuja does not feed anybody. If we are not careful, we will be chased out of Abuja.
“In the past, when I was the speaker and later, governor, I said we would wake up one day and the young boys we deprived would chase us out of town. How many big men are still living in their states? They have all run away. Everybody is here in Abuja, which is protected because the president is here. One day, the boys will be courageous and we will be on the run.
“If we don’t follow what the president is saying by not only diversifying the economy but also putting the necessary infrastructures in place, there will be no need to stay together as Nigerians,” Amaechi said.
The minister blamed heightened calls for secession on economic deprivation and injustice, noting that injustice did not start under the current administration.
“The North has people who are deprived, just as the South is also deprived, as well as the westerners and easterners. I pray to the Nigerian elite that are leading this crisis of insurrection to be careful because the day the poor people of these regions come together as a people, all of us will run. They can try as much as possible to divide the country, but the day the poor men come together, we will run,” Amaechi stated.