Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, says he will support President Muhammadu Buhari’s preferred candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
On April 9, Amaechi declared his intention to run for president on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.
According to a statement released by his media office on Saturday, Amaechi said if Buhari decides to back another candidate, he will fall in line.
The statement quoted the minister as speaking of his loyalty to the president during a consultative meeting at the Rivers APC secretariat on Friday.
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“Loyalty is not when you are not chosen, you become disloyal, loyalty means you follow the man that leads you, that you have surrendered to his leadership,” he was quoted as saying.
“If you don’t follow, it means you are not loyal, you are only benefitting from the man politically and economically. The day he’s not able to give you that economic reality, is the day you become disloyal.
“I am a very loyal person, and those who are disloyal, I wish them well, those who want to do whatever they want to do, I wish them well. The opportunity will be given to everybody, we will run this presidential election, we will run, and I am loyal to the president and I am loyal to the party.
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“If the party says it is me, thank God. If the party says it is not me, whoever the party chooses, I will support. If the party and president choose anybody, I will support the person, if the party chooses me, I will be glad and say thank God.”
Emeka Beke, chairman of the APC in Rivers, assured Amaechi of the party’s support and votes in the presidential primary.
“Sir, go home and sleep, Rivers delegates will vote for you, and I know my brothers who are statutory delegates will vote for you, because all of us seated here today from Rivers have benefitted from you, from your leadership and this is the time to pay you back. We will stand with you,” Beke said.