An audio recording which has been circulating on social media, in which Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi is heard making disparaging statement about President Muhammadu Buhari was concocted by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to cause division and disaffection within the ranks of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), and to sabotage Amaechi, who is the APC campaign Director-General for the 2019 general elections.
The Integrity Group said on Tuesday that the audio that was purportedly released by one Frank Omokri, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, was designed to create disaffection between Amaechi and the President and brand Amaechi as an enemy of the North.
The Integrity Group’s President, Livingstone Wechie told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the blackmail was a sinister plot by Amaechi’s political enemies and called on well-meaning Nigerians, especially northerners to disregard the propaganda, saying that it was malicious and baseless.
“It is regrettable that this plot to subtly portray Rotimi Amaechi as a saboteur and undermine the South-South in the current dispensation is unhealthy for politics. The question now is what do the sponsors of the contrived audio seek to achieve? Is Rotimi Amaechi contesting any election? Wechie queried.
The Integrity Group leader called on politicians to eschew bitterness and campaigns of calumny against one another, saying it was wicked and divisive. Wechie, who decried the high level of political animosity in the country, ascribed the purported audio as handiwork of political jobbers who were envious of Amaechi’s fame. According to him, Amaechi is a patriotic Nigerian, a unifying factor among the South, especially the South-South and the North, hence the plot to discredit him.
He therefore, advised Nigerians to work in synergy with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for credible elections and not to be distracted by selfish ambitions of politicians.
