● When politicians are talking, “Sowore close your mouth”,Amaechi says; You build rail lines that led nowhere Sowore insists
Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who is the Vice Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has urged Omoleye Sowore, Presidential candidate of the AAC to close his mouth when politicians are talking.
Amaechi spoke against the backdrop of comments made by Sowore when both men invited to speak at the ongoing lawyers conference taking place in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt organised by the Nigerian Bar Association fired at one another.
“If there is any one who has been consistent about non-removal of fuel subsidy. It has been me. And it took Amaechi and his principal almost 10 years to catch up with me. They have now reversed their position on fuel subsidy. The question about subsidy is, who are you subsidizing? You are subsidizing the elites. You are subsidizing the governors,” Sowore stressed.
“Stop lying. Stop lying, Sowore. I said, judge us by our achievements,” Amaechi interjected.
Sowore turned on Amaechi, “When it comes to subsidy, right? Transportation policy is important. We have a former governor of Rivers State here, Amaechi, who built a rail line that went nowhere. If that rail line was working, subsidy would have been working for the people of Rivers State.”
“You will not win”, Amaechi who earlier protested Sowore’s attempt to twist his comment out of context said emphatically as the fireworks began.
Sowere had leveraged on the comments of the former Rivers Governor which suggested that the political class has not done well to urge lawyers and other Nigerians to reject the old political order.
“They have come here to deceive you”, Sowore noted in a fierce critique of the political class saying the alleged failure of politicians in solving Nigeria’s problems is one area that he and Amaechi readily agree.
But he pulled a raw nerve when in an attempt to discredit the legacy of Amaechi as Rivers Governor and Minister of Transportation, he said the two-time Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly had built rail lines that led nowhere under the Buhari administration.
Amaechi defended his speech, saying Sowore had put a spin on it. Defending his record in office, he said he built a rail line from Lagos to Ibadan that worked and built another from Abuja to Kaduna that also works.
“When I say I built this road as Governor, I built that road, I built this school, I built that hospital”, the ADC vice presidential candidate maintained, Sowore should rather take time to look around instead of demonstrating ignorance that comes from a lack of adequate information.
“Close your mouth when politicians are talking”, Amaechi implored Sowore, urging Rivers lawyers who are attending the conference to take the critic around town.
Observers say lawyers are apparently having full value for their time in Port Harcourt following the conversion of the ongoing conference into a politcal talkshop
But they say the atmosphere witnessed at the lawyers conference and the approach adopted by politicians who are guests has provided indications that the current political season leading to the conduct of the 2027 general elections would be quite explosive.
A politician told this publication on the sidelines of the NBA Conference, “We are rearing to go as we all can see. We are burning a lot of energy, ready to do a lot of talking and ready to do a lot to convince voters. This campaign promises to tight. It will be dicey and explosive.”
