By Enyinnaya Appolos
Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, former Governor of Bayelsa State, has criticised political power merchants, including Atiku Abubakar and Nasir El-Rufai, for their role in the weaponisation of poverty in Nigeria.
Dickson, representing Bayelsa West at the Senate, made the remarks during the 60th birthday celebration of Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation and APC presidential aspirant.
“There are a number of you who are expert conspirators, who know how to assemble coalitions and take over government as you did in 2015.
“Eleven years down the line, we thought that there would have been no weaponisation of poverty and that all the challenges of Nigeria would have been gone.
“But here we are, still talking about weaponisation of poverty, by the same people who conspired to take power in 2015 and held it for eight years. Their party is still in power. What an irony, ” Dickson said.
Amaechi responded to Dickson’s remarks, making claims about Nigerian leaders and the poor.
However, his comments were met with skepticism due to his past actions and policies.
Amaechi said, “Nigeria is where it is today because many Nigerians have been voting on a religious and ethnic basis.
“Let me tell you, no Nigerian leader cares for the poor because they know that Nigerians can do nothing to them once they are in power.
“When Nigerians protested, the President announced an increase in the price of fuel because they knew you could not do anything.”
Amaechi’s speech was filled with half-truths, self-exoneration, and calculated deceit.
“Is this not laughable, coming from a man who was in power uninterruptedly from 1999 to 2023?
“Amaechi’s entire political career is a testament to the very system he now pretends to criticise.
“He was, and remains, a high priest in the temple of Nigeria’s political deceit.”
Amaechi’s legacy as Minister of Transportation, when he deliberately excluded the South East from major rail infrastructure projects.
“How can you talk about alleviating poverty when you systematically deny an entire South East access to modern transportation, which would have facilitated trade and lifted thousands out of economic hardship?
“Is that not the highest form of weaponising poverty?”
Amaechi’s speech was not a reflection on his past actions but a projection of his ambition, desperation, and hypocrisy.
Nigerians must not forget the faces behind their current suffering, and Rotimi Amaechi is not a reformer but a returning salesman of broken promises.
“Let’s call it what it is: Amaechi’s speech was not a reflection. It was a projection. A projection of his ambition, desperation, and hypocrisy.
“Nigerians must never forget the faces behind their current suffering. Rotimi Amaechi is not a reformer.
”He is a returning salesman of broken promises. And this time, the people must not buy what he’s selling.”
