Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, has described former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi as a courageous politician due to his refusal to step down for President Bola Tinubu during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary contest in 2022.
Soyinka, speaking in Abuja on Saturday at the 60th birthday celebration of the former Governor of Rivers State, said he was moved by Amaechi’s defiance at the primary election.
“The main reason why I had to be here today — it’s first of all that I admire Rotimi Amaechi’s fighting spirit,” he said.
“And it’s a very consistent one, but the most memorable for me — because I watched this event live on TV all the way from Abu Dhabi.
“I wanted to see the drama of all the primaries going on during the election. I wasn’t really here but I said I want to watch this contest and I’m glad I did.
Soyinka said Amaechi’s decision to stay in the race was reminiscent of Tinubu’s defiance of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
“Let me explain this. For somebody we knew as the last man standing when he fought to a standstill, a former president who was manoeuvring himself into a position of changing the constitution and obtaining a third term,” he said.
“He keeps denying it but he and I know for a fact and so do others. And towards that goal, he was sort of emasculating the powers of the constituent elements of the federation.
“And by the end, this president was the last man standing, resisted that effort. All the others had sort of cowed down because their statutory allocation had been stopped — contrary to the constitution.
“But one man — he was the last man standing. Well, he obtained a dose of his own medicine from Rotimi Amaechi during the primaries. I enjoyed that very much.
“While everybody was, you know, falling over one another conceding, there was one individual who got on the podium and he said no, I’m not conceding.
“I didn’t come all the way here to commit ‘lúlẹ̀’. And that man was Rotimi Amaechi. And I said this is what democracy is all about.”
Tinubu defeated Amaechi and 12 other presidential aspirants in the primary election. While the former secured 1,271 votes, the latter came second with 316 votes.