'That i have not paid workers for eight months is laughable' - Gov Amaechi

Rivers State Governor and Director General of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi spoke last week with journalists on the 2015 general election. 

What is your reaction to allegations that you funded Buhari’s campaign with Rivers State’s funds?

I did not. Buhari did not spend money for the primaries. Anybody who said they spent money should come forward with evidence. We have maintained consistently that Nigerians would fund us and that is why we have launched our campaign. We are hoping that people will contribute. It is there on our website; you will just look at the account and go and pay. And we are making sure that we convince General Buhari to be the sole signatory to that account. That is the way we would raise our money. We would not depend on rich men. You can’t fight the president on funds. See how much he raised from people, some of them collected the N2.3trillion on oil subsidy and they are yet to pay back. If he is not prosecuting them for oil subsidy, why shouldn’t they pay for his election? The president is trying to raise over N200 million for power and then those people he is helping to raise the money are giving him N500 million. We can’t fight the president with money, we will fight him with the people. We will fight the president by telling Nigerians that they have to vote for change and the symbol of change for us is the APC and General Buhari. I will like to reiterate again that General Buhari did not pay anybody to vote for him at the primaries and he won because Nigerians want change.
As director-general of the APC presidential campaign, how do you intend to combine your position with your duties as governor? 
We will try. That is why there is a deputy governor. I have a deputy who is efficient and I will also from time to time go back to the state. But we need to deliver and we are all making sacrifices to deliver this change. I don’t know how people feel; the president and the federal government have not denied the fact that N2.3trillion was taken for oil subsidy and that was six months in 2011. Oil subsidy before that time was N300billion, so how did it rise to N2.3trillion and the people are not afraid; the federal government and all its agents were not afraid that N2.3trillion was taken. So, basically, I don’t mind what I can do legally to make sure that there is a better Nigeria.
What about the controversy that you have not paid eight months salaries?
Anybody who says I have not paid him salaries should come forward. We have paid up till December; you can call Rivers State to confirm. I got a Blackberry message on Tuesday, saying; “Thank God, we are going home with our salary before Christmas.” What we agreed in the cabinet was that we should make sure that everybody goes home with his salary before Christmas because as a Christian, I know that December 23 and 24 are the two days that Christians like to shop. I do not owe salaries in Rivers State. I am proud to say that I will pay salaries until I leave office and I will continue to pursue development projects in the state. I was even surprised that the president’s spokesman even put it in one of his statements when he was responding to the accusation that the people who contributed to the N21billion are those plundering our economy and he said after all, Governor Amaechi funded the election of Buhari while he owes teachers eight months salaries. And I asked the question, for you to be a presidential spokesman, facts and statistics must be on your palm; you shouldn’t joke with that. But the man was just reacting to gossip.

What are Buhari’s programmes for Nigeria if he wins the 2015 election?
I believe that we would commence campaign early next year, we would try to go round the 36 states by God’s grace and we hope that Nigerians will hear the message. The message is simple. Buhari chased away Maitatsine while he was Head of State. Many Nigerians will remember that Maitatsine was like Boko Haram and they were killing people in Borno and Kano and Buhari chased them away because he is a strong leader. We need a strong leader now to chase away Boko Haram or it will chase us away. Buhari will deal with insurgency because he has done that before. Many Nigerians would remember that when Borno was attacked by Chadian rebels, Buhari as an officer of the Nigerian Army almost chased them into Jamina. He had crossed the Lake Chad when President Shehu Shagari called him back. If he didn’t do that, Borno would have been overrun by Chadian rebels and till today Chad has never crossed into Nigeria to fight us. It takes a strong leader to do that. We will deal with insurgency. The country may be broke now because of two factors. The first which is very critical is the diversion of funds at the NNPC. That is the greatest factor for me. The level of diversion in the NNPC has affected everybody including me. We will deal with power because if you don’t address it, you cannot tackle unemployment. The essential factor for industrialisation from elementary economics is power.

So, when you hear that people in the power sector contributed N500 million for the president’s re-election, where did they get it? First, you must pay your bill every month whether you like it or not; whether you have power or not. People are now being forced to pay N75 every month whether they use power or not. So, they are being punished for not having power. Buhari as a president will uplift agriculture because it will create employment for unskilled labour. He will deal with power to create employment for the skilled and partly unskilled labour force. 
There is a claim by the PDP secretary that Buhari is a semi-illiterate jackpot and the party is also saying a lot of things against the APC and its presidential candidate. How do you intend to engage them?
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/>Our campaign will be issuebased. The president has a P.hD in Zoology, how many farms do we have and how many people has he employed? If you say the president has a P.hD and Buhari does not have one, let him show us his thesis, you are bringing yourself to the level of those who are making those allegations. Don’t bring yourself to that level, remain focused on the issues and let the president meet you there.

With the state of insurgency in some parts of the north-east and declaration of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, election may not hold in the three states which are APC controlled. What is your take on this? 
The control of the military lies in the hands of the president and only him can give directive as the Commander-in-Chief, but most importantly only the president can fund the military in such a manner that they can fight Boko Haram.