Merit, Experience Should Decide 2027 Presidential Election -Amaechi

A former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said Nigerians should elect their next president based on merit, competence and experience rather than ethnic or regional sentiments.

Amaechi, who is seeking the presidency ahead of the 2027 general election, spoke on Thursday in Abuja shortly after submitting his presidential nomination documents at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) national secretariat.

According to him, the coming election should serve as “a referendum” on the performance of aspirants who have previously held public office.

The former Rivers governor said most of those seeking the presidency have served the country in different capacities and should therefore be judged by their records.

“I would say that what you are seeing currently is that nearly everybody who is running for the office of the president has served Nigeria in one way or another. Let this be a referendum,” he said.

“If you have performed, whoever has outperformed the other, vote for the person. The next thing is who is capable of delivering the votes? Who is capable of beating the incumbent? Who has the experience?”

Amaechi described himself as the most experienced among the contenders and expressed confidence in his ability to turn the country around within four years if elected.

“I believe I am the most experienced. I am young, I am the most experienced, and I believe I have the capacity,” he stated.

“Go back to Rivers State and see what I have done. Go back to Ministry of Transportation and see what I have done, and assess it and see whether I can turn the country around. And I will, in four years, turn the country around.”

He also criticised identity-based politics, warning Nigerians against voting on the basis of ethnicity, religion or zoning arrangements.

“Nigerians should vote for merit but not vote for those who say ‘I’m from this place’, ‘I’m from that place’, ‘vote for me because my people have not been voted for before’, or ‘it’s our turn’,” he said.

“It is, what do you call it? — “Emilokan — that brought us here. It is our turn that brought us here.”

“It is the turn of Nigerians, because you see there is no market for Christians, neither is there a market for Muslims, or a market for northerners or southerners.”

Speaking on the nation’s economic challenges, Amaechi said the hardship currently being experienced by Nigerians was tied to the state of the economy and the value of the Naira.

“The market has only just one purpose, the forex. And what is forex? Naira. And Nigerians are suffering. They are suffering,” he said.

The former minister also took a swipe at President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) blaming the administration for the country’s current economic difficulties.

“The current president has put us in this suffering. I don’t know why he wants to run. I don’t even know why APC wants to participate. They should be in shame and allow other Nigerians to participate and change the country,” he added.

Speaking on the mode of selecting the party’s presidential candidate, Amaechi said he preferred a direct primary process, though he would accept a consensus arrangement if adopted by stakeholders.

“I am going for direct primary. If the consensus is me, fine. But if it’s not me, I’m going for primary,” he said.