Hadiza Usman refutes Amaechi’s claims over abuse of office
Former Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority and current Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, has mocked her ex-boss and immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, as seeking political relevance after his failed presidential bid in 2022.
Apparently to Hadiza, the former Minister is seeking to crawl back to life after having been politically emasculated following his unsuccessful challenge to become Nigeria’s president through the All Progressives Congress primaries.
Reacting to Amaechi’s comments describing her book titled; ‘Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority” as “full of lies”, the former NPA Chief Executive claimed there is nothing more to add or be afraid of having responded to virtually all the allegations levelled against her.
Amaechi had accused Hadiza at the annual lecture organised by The Niche, an online publication, of documenting a false narrative chronicling her emergence and struggles while she served as NPA’s Managing Director
However, in responding to the former Rivers State Governor’s remarks, Hadiza said, “He made so much fuss about whether I gave him a birthday gift or not. While this is a trivial issue, the question he should answer is whether he complained to someone that I never gave him a birthday gift as Minister or not.”
“He referenced that I worked under him since 2013 and inferred that anyone working under him for that period would have given him birthday presents. I wonder why it should be automatic to give anyone birthday presents because you work for them. Such entitlement disposition is responsible for a lot of misbehaviours exhibited by people like Mr Amaechi when Nigeria bestows them with opportunities for public office. The truth is that no one owes you anything!
“In any case, I only worked with him between December 2014 to May 2015. So, how many birthdays would have gone past within that period that I would have given him “a lot of birthday presents,” as he claimed. If indeed I offered him a present while he was Minister and he turned down my gift, why then did he complain that amongst my “many crimes”, was the fact that I never gave him a birthday present?
The Presidential aide further said in a statement released to the media that; “The Minister should please stop ridiculing himself by fabricating these stories that do not add up. It is a good thing to see that the former Minister has finally recovered from his failed presidential bid and is crawling back into public life.
“However, he should not and cannot make Hadiza Bala Usman the subject of his attempt at a rebound. Mr Amaechi would definitely have his perspective of the events of the five years I served Nigeria as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority under his supervision. There is no problem with that, but when he shares his perspective,
“I suggest that he endeavours to stick to the facts and resist the apparently usually overwhelming urge to speak arbitrarily and spread falsehood”
Among those who sought the APC presidential ticket after resigning from the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, Former Minister Amaechi placed a distant second in the primaries won by President Bola Tinubu.
