Ibim Semenitari, a former aide to the Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, has reacted to the audio recording in which the minister
was heard expressing shocking pessimistic views about Nigeria and the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a press statement yesterday, she accepted the voice in the tape is
Amaechi’s but insisted that the minister’s comment had been twisted out
of context.
Amaechi, a key political ally of Buhari and is the Director-General
of the Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, was allegedly caught on
tape portraying President Buhari as a dismal failure who has been unable
to meet the expectations of various segments of the society.
However, the statement by Mrs Semenitari, a former Rivers State
commissioner for Information under Amaechi, reads: “Let me first make it
clear that I am not speaking for the Honourable Minister nor for his
media team. He has quite competent hands who can do so.
“However, I feel compelled as someone who had sat in at myriads of
interviews granted by the Honourable minister both when he was governor
and a little while after that to correct what I believe is deliberate
twisting of what he had said. First a bit of background to put things in
context.
“Anyone who has sat with Amaechi in private discussions or at a media
interview will agree that he has been consistent in expressing the
belief that most Nigerians do not hate corruption but simply hate the
fact that they are not the ones perpetuating the corruption. This has
been his view expressed at different times in press interviews. It is
for this reason that he has maintained that only a bloody revolution
somewhat like the Rawlings revolution in Ghana will change Nigeria.
“During the Jonathan era, he had made these comments at various media
discussions during which time he had also lamented about the former
President’s refusal to listen and take counsel. Media colleagues at
these events I am sure will remember. It is for this reason that I am
certain the first recording was from one of those parleys.
“It is possible that the Honourable Minister has also on some
occasions spoken about the frugality of the Buhari regime but he did so
not in the context of negativity but as a positive indication of a new
Nigeria where pain will ultimately translate to gain. Again I say this
with the privilege of knowing his governance worldview in this regards.
“The reason I have bothered to speak about this is because this is a
clear case of cut and paste. Different conversations taken out of
context and brought together to create a narrative that is far from the
truth.
“I am saddened by the fact that a purported conversation meant in the
first place to be not for reportage and in strict confidence is being
peddled. Though I wasn’t present at this so-called meeting but I gleaned
this from the supposed comments of the minister in the peddled tape
itself.
“Like I said, I do not hold brief for the minister not can speak for
his media team but I do owe my country, my profession and posterity the
truth that I know. Happy new year again and may Nigeria prosper.”
