APC-Led Government Will Not Blame PDP Again – Amaechi Assures Nigerians

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government will not spend the next four years blaming the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for failure its administration.

Speaking during a parley in Abuja to thank Nigerians for voting President Muhammadu Buhari during last weekend’s presidential election, Amaechi assured Nigerians that the administration would use the tenure to prove its competence and capacity to reposition the country. He said:

“Buhari has promised that he will not only run an all inclusive government but will also be guided by the fact that Nigerians have suffered enough. It is time to use the resources to develop the people.

“I have said, as a former chairman of governors forum, that the account of excess crude had N68 billion when (former president Olusegun) Obasanjo was going. If they left N68 billion in excess crude account, $8.7 billion dollars was the cost of Railway project from Lagos to Kano. So, we would have had one now.

“Lagos to Calabar is $11.1 billion. When I came I saw $11.9. We could have had the rail from Lagos to Calabar. None of you want to ask that question. That was the money Obasanjo left behind. Nobody. As far as you are ed, you are hungry; Buhari is the cause. Cause of what? By the time we came to power, they had taken away the money.

“We have stopped blaming PDP. But history is the study of past events and the present. If anybody tells you history is not about past events, tell the person he didn’t go to school. As a graduate of University of Port Harcourt, I read Literature. History is the study of past events.

“And part of it is that we must influence what happened in the present. So, they cast away all the money. Nobody can take you to court. The last money they left in the Excess Crude Account was about $2.5. How do you operate?

“The question ought to have been we are grateful to Nigerians, INEC. Let us work together as friends and in four years time we will come back for another election and encourage INEC to ensure election is free, fair and credible. That is what the president is emphasising.

“Let us leave the past. Whether PDP did well or not, let us have another four years to prove them wrong. Do you know that how to prove them wrong is by doing better? It is like coming back home and saying daddy, I was the fourth person in the class. What about the first person? Or the first three? Or James was fifth? What about the first three? You should be the first. So, there are no excuses.

“The president will ensure he runs a government that satisfies Nigerians and that is all we want. And, we plead with some of those who ask this question to please, as journalists, try and investigate properly, so that you can find out what is going on. Then, if you are not embarrassed, I am embarrassed that in Rivers State, being a candidate, the court will disqualify you.”