Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that Nigeria’s opposition coalition has the potential to remove President Bola Tinubu from office, citing widespread hunger and public discontent as key motivators for political change.
Speaking at his 60th birthday celebration in Abuja, the former Governor of Rivers State shared his concerns about the country’s deteriorating economic conditions. Amaechi emphasized that he, along with a significant number of Nigerians, is facing hunger — a sentiment he believes could galvanize opposition forces against the current administration.
“We are all hungry. All of us are. If you are not hungry, I am. So, for us the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power (Tinubu), we can remove him from this power,” Amaechi said.
Reflecting on his days as a student activist, he recounted organizing protests against former military rulers Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari. He highlighted the unity that existed among students across ethnic lines during those movements.
“As students, we organized the Tai Solarin’s protest against Babangida and we organized protest against Buhari – there was no North and South among the students. The protest that shut down ABU, University of Nigeria in Nsukka, University of Lagos and other places, the meeting took place in Kano,” he recalled.
Amaechi described how swiftly the protests were coordinated, emphasizing that students returned to their campuses ready to mobilize after planning meetings.
“When we finished the meeting at night, everybody was told to go back to their school and mobilize. Once the NASS president addressed a press conference all of us were on the streets.”
He lamented what he described as the current division and loss of solidarity among Nigerian youths.
“You will see a young handsome Northerner and Southerner feel free and eat the same kind of food, but today we have poisoned the minds of our young men. They can’t even liberate themselves, we were able to liberate ourselves.”
