…say he ‘danced on graves of victims’ without remorse, didn’t visit victims
The National Youth Council of Nigeria, on Monday, gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, within which he should resign as a Minister in the Federal Executive Council or the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), should sack him.
The NYCN alleged that Amaechi danced on the graves of victims and celebrated the pains of the abducted and wounded for declaring his presidential ambition on a day he was to meet Nigerian youths on the implication of the March 28 attack on an Abuja-Kaduna train.
“Consequently, to demonstrate that there is a modicum of sanity in this country and the minutest respect for the lives of citizens, the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, should resign within the next 48 hours or President Muhammadu Buhari should sack him as a mark of respect for the dead, who he deliberately or unwittingly desecrated.
“We hereby pass a vote of confidence on the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces’ determination to rein in insecurity and in a similar vein frown at the attempts by the Minister of Transportation to discredit the President Muhammadu Buhari administration,” the NYCN said.
The President of NYCN, Solomon Adodo, issued the ultimatum in a communiqué issued after its emergency meeting held on Monday in Abuja.
The meeting was to lend its voice to the security situation in Nigeria and proffer some solutions and advice, particularly with respect to the recent bombing of the Abuja-Kaduna rail track.
According to Adodo, the meeting was to consider the dire implications of the March 28, 2022, train attack on the Abuja-Kaduna rail track by terrorists, and their wider implications to the safety of the ever mobile Nigerian youths and, indeed, all Nigerians.
He said, “These youth leaders had journeyed from far distances, and through very dangerous terrains, especially those who inevitably travelled by road and even those who did part of their journey through water, to come to lend their patriotic support to the most urgent national cause. It was, therefore, the rudest imaginable shock for them to see the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, in a total political jamboree, jumping around in the name of declaring for 2023 Presidency rather than being in a sober mood of seeking solutions to the pains of the grieving Nigerians and particularly the affected families.
“It is on the heels of this the we have decided to convene this wider consultation with leaders of frontline civil society organisations and take an assertive stand.
“While the NYCN has nothing against Rt. Hon. Amaechi’s aspiration, his actions are unconscionable, condemnable, reprehensible, irresponsible, distasteful and disgraceful in the face of our national reality and mood. It is tantamount to dancing on the graves of the victims of the train attack, and celebrating the pains of the abducted and the wounded.
“The National Executive Committee of the NYCN is equally saddened that Hon. Amaechi, who is supposed to take responsibility and lead the way in ameliorating the plight of the victims, has rather thrown caution to the winds and shown no strand of care. We are frustrated that, while we are spending our resources and risking the lives of the youth leaders in trying to seek solutions to our national challenges, politicians in the class of Hon. Amaechi, who have failed Nigeria in the first place, are working to force the country into a fatal amnesia by trivialising a matter as serious as the Abuja-Kaduna rail track bombing.”
Consequently, the NYCN resolved that Amaechi should apologise to Nigerians for what it called his indiscretion of elevating his personal ambition over a national tragedy and a national sad mood.
The communique continued, “It should be noted that even Minister Amaechi sought to blackmail the President and the Federal Executive Council when he claimed before global cameras that the FEC was responsible for allowing the attack to happen because they rejected his proposal, which was found to be lacking in integrity as far as procurement procedures are concerned.
“Due to Hon. Amaechi’s callousness and arrogance, he has not bothered to visit or interface with the families of the bereaved. He only went to the scene of the attack to announce himself as the ‘nice guy’ who was a Nostradamus that was not listened to.
“Even the issue of the actual number of passengers, and consequently the actual number of victims which should be of a grave concern to Amaechi is still shrouded in suffocating controversies. The discrepancy in records of the passengers on board the ill-fated train demonstrates that there is huge corruption ongoing in the Ministry of Transportation under Minister Amaechi’s watch.
“Millions of Naira that should accrue to the government on a daily basis is being diverted to private coffers. Minister Amaechi, for all his Mr nice guy posturing, has been supervising a railway contract without security components which should be compulsory, not just because of these kinds of terror attacks, but also things like perimeter fencing to ward off stray animals.”
The organisation promised to increase the tempo of cooperation and support for the various security agencies, particularly the military, in a bid to nip insecurity in the bud.
The NYCN said it was very disappointed that a leader of Amaechi’s standing and experience could be so insensitive to Nigerians, adding that it had always resisted the temptation to view him as a careless, arrogant and unfeeling leader, as many of his critics had argued.
Adodo said, “Sadly, however, the event of Saturday April 9, 2022, in Port Harcourt points unequivocally in that direction as far as his true character is concerned. Since the only important thing in this country to him is his aspiration for Presidency, he should, therefore, vacate the Ministry of Transportation before worse disasters hit us.
May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and save us from terrible leaders.”
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
