”I DON’T REPLY OBI SUPPORTERS ONLINE, BECAUSE I WANT PEACE”- AMAECHI

Rotimi Amaechi, who used to be the governor of Rivers and a former transportation minister, said that people who support Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, have “abused” him. However, he did not reply to the accusations.
Amaechi made these comments on Friday during a town hall meeting in Lagos.
The event was organized by his supporters as part of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) progressive group.
He said he has warned his supporters to argue with facts instead of engaging in online abuse of party chieftains or political opponents.
“My people don’t fight. Have you seen any Amaechi person fighting on social media? It’s between Atiku people and the Obi people. And the Obi people are bullying me; we never respond,” he said, according to a video posted on X by CRA27 Advocacy, his campaign group.
“It’s not because we don’t know English or can’t reply.
The reason we don’t reply is that we always want peace,” he added.
He said his team avoids verbal fights to keep the opposition united before the elections.
“There are things you say when you want to win, because it becomes difficult to bring everybody together. Because we know we will win, we’re not abusing everybody, so we can bring everyone together. I’m careful what I say,” he said.
“My team is under permanent instruction: don’t abuse anybody in ADC. Even Mr President — don’t abuse the president, show the facts.”
At the Lagos event, Amaechi reiterated his ambition, urging Nigerians to assess his record against that of Obi and the former vice-president.
“Compare me to Peter Obi — we were governors at the same time. If he’s a better governor, please choose him. Although the former vice-president was not a governor, he was once a vice-president. 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 said.
He added that he played more roles in public service than the other ADC figures, citing his hands-on approach to infrastructure projects.
“When you are sleeping, I’m running on this track, coming back to Lagos by 2 a.m. As minister, from Ibadan, making sure this job was completed on time — I wasn’t sitting in my office writing or reading memos. I made sure that either once or twice a month, I’m on this track. When we were building Kaduna–Kano, the same thing,” he said.
Amaechi described himself as a “practical man” who understands realities on the ground.
“I’m young. I’m on the street. I know what the problems are. As a minister, as a former governor, I eat in the same restaurants people 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 small,” he said.
He urged supporters of Obi and Atiku to close ranks, warning that internal divisions could weaken the opposition.
“If you cause this kind of friction, it will be difficult to come together to defeat Tinubu. Focus on defeating Tinubu. On the day of the primary, go and vote for your own candidate, so that when your candidate wins, you’ll be able to bring everybody together,” he said.
