Why Amaechi is Buhari’s best ministerial nominee

Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has been nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari to serve as a minister in his cabinet.

Amaechi’s nomination has been received with surprise, outrage and even anger by many around the country.

The major argument is that the former governor is not deserving of the position, I however disagree. Amaechi is Buhari’s most deserving ministerial nominee because he practically put his life on the line to ensure the president’s victory.

The former governor is almost synonymous with the change that Nigerians now look forward to because he spearheaded the rebellion that led to the fall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the rise of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I was so determined that there would be change because if there was no change, I would be finished. For me, it was a matter of life and death. The federal government sent a signal that if they won, nobody should allow me to leave Nigeria,” Amaechi said on Thursday, May 14, 2015, during the public presentation of the book, “Dynamics of Change: The Amaechi Years”

Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka also confirmed Amaechi’s contribution to Nigeria’s journey to changeduring the same event.

“The political atmosphere today, whatever you call it, change or hope or cautious hope and naked hope or careless hope, I recognise two personalities, in particular, who led the chant of change. One of them, I call him the architect of the process, the architect, in fact, that houses the essence of hope. That is Ahmed Bola Tinubu. The other person was unconsciously, perhaps, the arrow head of that charge that led to the change and that is the man that we gather here to celebrate,” Soyinka said.

“He (Amaechi) was the one who said no, we cannot turn the clock backwards. Nothing about the philosophy of the clock runs against what we were hoping for. It was a very unpopular and risky decision to take. I remember someone very close to me that said I hear you are close to Rotimi Amaechi, tell that young man that he is going to destroy himself…” he added.

Every Nigerian that voted for Buhari should be grateful to Amaechi for ensuring the start of a new dispensation; a dispensation of hope and a dispensation of change.

The former governor is not without his flaws but as Buhari said during his inaugural speech, ‘the past is prologue’ hence we must forgive him and press on as a country to the bright new future that awaits.