Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday, thanked head of states, President Muhammadu Buhari for not converting him to Islam and for disappointing those who thought he had an agenda to Islamise the country.
The Minister stated this at the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council. In Amaechi’s words,
“Let me begin by thanking God for the opportunity Mr President has availed me to serve.
Mr President, I met you first in 2007. I had never seen you before because when you were the head of state I was a student in University of Ibadan, a radical one at that, a Marxist, so we were among those who demonstrated against some of your policies.
You recalled when you came to my chambers in 2007, I wished you good luck and you turned to me and said, don’t wish me good luck, wish me the best of luck.
Recall I told you, you are the best material to be President of Nigeria, but unfortunately the elites will not allow you to be president and I was in PDP.
Mr President, let me thank you for not converting me to Islam. I say that specifically because in 2014, when I walked into Christ the King Catholic Church, I was literally chased out of the church as a governor because I was accused of supporting a man whose agenda was to Islamize Nigeria.
And in Rivers State they began to call me Alhaji Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. I thank you because they have dropped the Alhaji and back to Mr Chibuike Amaechi.
I was told in the cause of the campaign that you were autocratic and, therefore, you will not be democratic.
Most of us are not happy that you have moved from the autocratic nature of yours to an extreme democrat that everything is put to test of the people, to the extent that the people now feel that the only way things can go on in this country is by the rule of law.
We all know that the rule of law is the beginning and the end of this government. Talking about the financial impunity that we saw before, people were making money without having any productive capacity for that.”
