Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said his supporters operate under standing orders not to abuse political opponents on social media.
He said that his restraint stems from confidence in victory, not an inability to respond.
Amaechi made the remarks at an African Democratic Congress town hall meeting in Lagos on Friday.
“My supporters don’t engage in fights on social media. My people don’t fight. Have you seen any Amaechi person fighting on social media? It is between Atiku people and Obi people — and Obi people abusing me. We will never reply,” he said.
He said the decision not to engage was deliberate.
“It’s not because we don’t know English or we can’t reply. The reason why we don’t reply is that we always want peace,” he said.
Amaechi questioned whether the rival camps had the voter base to back their hardline positions.
He said, “The Obidients insist ‘Obi or nothing’, do they have the numbers? The Atiku people say ‘Atiku or nothing’, do they have the numbers?”
He said that kind of divisive posturing would ultimately harm the opposition’s chances of defeating President Bola Tinubu.
“If you cause this kind of friction, it will be difficult to come together to defeat Tinubu. Focus on defeating Tinubu,” he added.
The former Rivers State governor said his team was under permanent instructions not to attack anyone, including the President. “Don’t abuse the President. Show the facts,” he said.
Amaechi also invited Nigerians to compare his record with that of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“When I came out here, what did I tell you? I said, compare me to Peter Obi. We were governors at the same time. If he’s a better governor, please choose him,” he said.
He extended the same challenge to Atiku.
“Compare my role as governor, as minister, with the role he played as vice president. If he’s a better person, please choose him,” he addes.
He, however, expressed confidence in his own track record.
“But I think I’ve played more roles. I think I’ve discharged more responsibilities,” he said.
Amaechi cited his hands-on approach to supervising rail projects as evidence of his work ethic.
“As minister, from Ibadan, to make sure the job was completed on time, I wasn’t sitting in my office writing memos. I made sure that once or twice a month I was on that track.
“When we were building the Kaduna-Kano line, the same,” he added.
He described himself as a man of the people who remained accessible.
“I eat in the same restaurant as you eat. I don’t go to all these big men’s restaurants because they don’t give me the kind of food I ate when I was growing up,” he said.
Amaechi, however, warned that his ability to broker unity across opposition camps was conditional.
He said, “No matter how much of a presidential aspirant I am, I am also influenced by my supporters. If my supporters say, the way the Obidients abuse us, we will not work with them, that may happen.”
He urged all opposition supporters to channel their energy towards the primary and then unite behind whoever emerged.
“On the day of the primary, go and vote for your candidate. When your candidate wins, call a meeting and bring everybody together,” he said.
