Chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) Senator Magnus Abe has called on former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi to resign as the vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the January 16 poll.
Abe said the 2027 presidency should remain in the South in line with an unwritten power-rotation agreement between the North and South.
He also urged the ADC presidential candidate and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to respect the power-sharing understanding and wait for the North’s turn.
The former federal lawmaker also assured that the Rainbow Coalition in Rivers State would mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.
Abe in a statement by his Media aide Parry Benson recalled that Amaechi while serving as governor of Rivers State had argued against former President Goodluck Jonathan seeking a second term citing the need to respect the unwritten agreement that power should rotate between the North and South.
He said it was contradictory for Amaechi to now support a Northern presidential candidate when according to him it was the South’s turn.
The NUPRC chairman said: ‘Your Excellency I have two simple messages to deliver. The first is that somebody called me and told me ‘ Oh I’ve been listening to your leader. It’s like you people are with Tinubu.
‘I said no you have not been listening to the leader of the Rainbow Coalition; we are not just with Tinubu we are in Tinubu. We are by Tinubu. We are for Tinubu.
”We are Tinubu here in this coalition. That is the position of the Rainbow Coalition.
‘The second thing that I want to say is about Atiku Abubakar that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has gone to take the ticket as a vice-presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar in one political party.
‘I am not sure of the name of that party.
But I have a message from Rivers people to Chibuike Amaechi. When Goodluck Jonathan was the President of Nigeria from the South-South Amaechi was our leader.
‘And he told us here in Rivers State that Rivers State is committed to the unity of Nigeria and that the unwritten agreement in Nigeria is that power must go between the North and the South.
”That if we allow Goodluck to break that unwritten agreement it will destroy the chance of all other minorities in the future to aspire to the presidency.
‘Today the same man who led us to go against our son and our brother is now trying to lead us to go and support somebody from the North when it is the turn of the South.
‘On behalf of all of us here in Rivers State we want to call on Amaechi to immediately respect his own position and resign as the vice-presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar because it is the turn of the South and Rivers State is bound by the agreement between the North and the South.
‘Our votes will go to Ahmed Bola Tinubu a candidate of the South. Atiku Abubakar should wait and respect the agreement of North and South which enabled him to be vice president and enabled him to contest at other times. This is the turn of the South.
‘Amaechi our son should respect our position and resign immediately in keeping with the position that he stated.’