Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that only a determined citizen-led movement can stop President Bola Tinubu from winning re-election in 2027, warning that change cannot be achieved through passivity or wishful thinking.
Amaechi, a former Rivers State governor and one-time presidential aspirant under the All Progressives Congress (APC), made the statement on Thursday at the public presentation of the 2025 Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey Report by the Africa Polling Institute in Abuja.
“The only way you can stop Tinubu from being the president of Nigeria in 2027 is to run an election of Nigerians versus the bandits,” he declared. “If you think you will just sit down and do that, may God be with you.”
Amaechi lamented that while Nigerians continue to grumble in private, they remain largely inactive in confronting a system he described as being held hostage by a small elite class.
“The elites who are stealing Nigerian money are not up to 100,000, but you have 200 million Nigerians who can fight 100,000 men,” he said. “You sit down in your house and complain and grumble. What makes you think the elites would move their hands completely? Who told you the elites don’t know how you are feeling? They know. But you are helpless—not because the elites made you helpless—but because you made yourself helpless.”
Citing mass protests in countries like Bangladesh, Peru, and Chile that successfully ousted unpopular leaders, Amaechi criticised Nigerians’ reluctance to take collective action. He described Nigeria as “the most docile society” he had encountered.
“Please tell me, has there been any revolution without blood?” he asked rhetorically. “Any revolution without blood is a failure.”
The former minister revealed that he had contemplated leaving the country due to its dire situation but was persuaded by his wife to stay.
“I told my wife, I want to japa like you people do. They will give me official visa to come and stay in their country, any country. She said, no, we can’t leave Nigeria. Because Nigeria is lovable. It’s lovely,” he said.
Amaechi also decried the current weakness of once-powerful civic organisations such as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), which he said had lost their collective voice due to ethnic divisions.
“In the past, when there was a joint meeting between ASUU, NLC, and NANS, there was synergy. NANS would speak, ASUU would give the government one week, and NLC would threaten to join in after two weeks,” he recalled. “Now, NLC can’t even mobilise. Why? Ethnicity. I even told them, I will join you in the protest. They said they can’t.”
Amaechi didn’t spare the political class, saying elected leaders have done more damage to the country than the military ever did.
“We pushed away the military and brought in the politicians. The politicians have shown they are worse than the military,” he stated.
He explained how worsening economic conditions often manifest in rising crime rates, saying that during his tenure as governor, spikes in robbery and kidnapping were indicators of deeper financial distress.
“I was once a governor. The moment I saw robbery and kidnapping on the rise, I knew there was no money in circulation. So, the Commissioner for Finance would pay contractors and those owed by the government. That money would filter through to workers, suppliers, market women, tailors, and so on. The economy moves and crime drops,” he said.
Earlier, Executive Director of the Africa Polling Institute, Professor Bell Ihua, presented findings from the 2025 Social Cohesion Survey, showing widespread public disillusionment with key government institutions.
According to the report, 83 percent of Nigerians have little or no trust in the Tinubu-led administration, while 80 percent distrust the National Assembly, and 79 percent do not trust the judiciary.
“Citizens are united in a shared struggle based on harsh economic realities,” Prof. Ihua said. “The government needs to act on this scientific data to begin to rebuild public confidence.”
He urged policymakers to treat the findings as a wake-up call and an opportunity to reconnect with the people.
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