The All-Progressives Congress (APC) has launched a scathing attack on Rotimi Amaechi, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) vice-presidential candidate, describing him as a “loafer” who cannot survive outside public office, following his remarks about the death of his mother.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party offered condolences over the death of Dame Ezinne Mary Oduah Amaechi, praying that her soul rests in peace.
The party then turned its focus to her son, a former two-term Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, two-term governor, two-term Minister of Transportation and former presidential aspirant.
The APC noted that he had reportedly said he could not afford medications for his mother’s treatment before she died at the age of 89.
The APC said it hoped employers in Amaechi’s hometown of Ubima, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, would find him suitable for a job paying enough to feed him and his family and to buy medications for the rest of his retirement.
The party pointed to what it called Amaechi’s “uncanny confessions,” noting that he had earlier said he was so broke and hungry that his wife was feeding him, and had now said that his inability to afford drugs contributed to his mother’s death.
According to the APC, Amaechi spent four decades “freeloading” at the highest levels of public office, during which he was never hungry and could afford medications for himself and his family. It said that three years after leaving office, he had become destitute.
“If Amaechi is not struggling with some kind of Peter Pan syndrome, then he must be a loafer, aimless and irresponsible for his inability to be productive and earn a living outside the patronage of public office,” the statement said.
The APC also accused Amaechi of seeking the vice-presidency in 2027 in order to “continue leeching on the public treasury” and keep up what it described as a predatory lifestyle.
“The presidency is not a soup kitchen and will not be a soup kitchen for Rotimi Amaechi,” the party said, adding that no one could speak more to his unfitness for the office than he himself.
