Former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has dismissed claims by his political rival and successor, Nyesom Wike, that he made him governor, challenging journalists and the public to interrogate the origins of that assertion.
In a recent interview marking his 60th birthday, Amaechi said his emergence as governor in 2007 was the result of a judicial process and not political patronage. “Nobody made me governor but God, Dr. Peter Odili, and the Nigerian judiciary,” he declared. “Surprisingly, no journalist has ever asked that man that said he made me governor how he did it? Nobody has ever asked that question.”
Amaechi, who was elected governor after a landmark Supreme Court ruling reinstated his candidacy despite being substituted before the 2007 elections, emphasized that the judiciary played the decisive role in the outcome. “I went to court. Lateef Fagbemi was my lawyer. He’s now the Attorney General of the Federation. Maybe you should ask him.”
The former governor also pushed back against another widespread narrative – that he offered Wike the position of Commissioner for Finance in his administration. “It is not true that I offered him the position,” Amaechi said, adding that former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, had travelled to Port Harcourt to inform him of Wike’s interest in that portfolio. “And I said no, because he has to work under me. I wanted him as Chief of Staff so that I can supervise him,” Amaechi stated.
He dismissed suggestions that his decision was based on mistrust or rivalry. “It means the governor supervising his staff,” he said. “He made himself Chief of Staff, he made himself Governor, he made himself Minister, he made himself local government chairman. So end it there. Don’t go further.”
Amaechi, who was also a two-term Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and Minister of Transportation under President Muhammadu Buhari, used the interview to reflect on his career, political developments in Nigeria, and the state of Rivers under his successors. He expressed disappointment that many of the projects he executed had been abandoned, including model secondary schools, health centres, and the Greater Port Harcourt City project.
On why he no longer visits the state, Amaechi offered a terse explanation: “That’s why I don’t go to Rivers State, because it gives you mental disorder.”
Amaechi’s comments come amid ongoing political tension in Rivers State and growing speculation about his political future ahead of the 2027 elections.
