Buhari can’t address South-South demands under threat – Amaechi

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari cannot address the demands of the South-South zone under threat.

Amaechi said this in reaction to the statement credited to Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers state to the effect that the President might set the country on fire if he failed to address the demands of the South-South.

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Buhari had last week sent a Federal Government delegation led by the Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari to meet with South-South leaders and governors.

At the meeting, the leaders of the geopolitical zone demanded restructuring, true federalism, among other issues tabled before the Federal Government.

Amaechi who spoke on a Channels Television Sunday Politics show said while he believes the South-South has not been treated fairly, those demands can’t be met by threatening the President.

He said a more matured person would not have made the statement attributed to the Governor that the country would be set on fire if those demands were not addressed by the President.

Amaechi also asked why the South-South region often talked about restructuring when its kinsman is not in power.

He said the region had a President in person of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for six years, nobody talked about restructuring.

“It is only when we are not in power that we talk about restructuring. It is only when a President is not from our region that you begin to hear restructuring,” Amaechi reiterated.

On the statement credited to Wike, Amaechi said, “That’s not something that should come out from a Governor. Don’t forget that President Goodluck Jonathan ran under the auspices of South-South. The South-South was talking about resource control but he (Jonathan) was there for six years and the resources were not controlled.