Rotimi Amaechi, the Transportation Minister, and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged older aspirants vying for the party’s presidential ticket in 2023 to “go home and rest,” IgbereTV reports
He made the remarks on Sunday in Kaduna, where he met with APC delegates ahead of the party’s presidential primaries, set to take place later this month.
The minister who referred to older aspirants in the competition as “elders”, claimed that he was the youngest person in the party gunning for the ticket.
Though he did not mention names, it is believed he was referring to the likes of former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who is presently 70 years old; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is over 65 years old and former Edo governor, Adams Oshiomhole (70 years) among others.
He advised them to “go home and rest,” referring to them as “elders.”
While hinting at his resignation from his post on Monday, the minister expressed his appreciation for the chance to serve his country.
President Buhari had ordered that all of his cabinet members seeking elective offices in the 2023 general election should quit.
Speaking further at the event, he claimed that he ruled a state that was ravaged by insecurity at the time, but that he was able to properly manage the situation, and that if elected President, he would do the same in Nigeria.
While presenting Amaechi to the delegates, Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who described Amaechi as his own friend and confidant of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd), said the Minister won Buhari’s heart in 2011 when he funded the defunct Congress for Progressive Change convention as a PDP Governor of Rivers State.
“Many people contesting elections usually say delegates will hardly make heaven, because they don’t follow their promises,” El-Rufai remarked, referring to the delegates’ backing of Tinubu. “But I always say Kaduna delegates are different
