Former Minister of Transportation and ex–Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has ruled out, in unequivocal terms, any possibility of serving as Vice President to anyone, laying out personal, political and structural reasons for his position.
Amaechi made the clarification on Sunday in Abuja during The Uncensored Hangout, hosted by the CLARM and RAPAG.Asked directly whether he would consider a vice-presidential slot, Amaechi refused to dodge the question.“My wife said I should dodge the question. I won’t dodge it,” he said.
“I will not be vice president to anybody. There are too many reasons why I won’t be vice president to anybody.
The first reason is that I’m too presidential to be vice.”For Amaechi, the problem with the office of Vice President is not ceremonial, it is structuralIn his view, the Nigerian vice presidency is designed to be subordinate, often powerless, and dependent entirely on the temperament of the president.
“We will quarrel,” he said, “instead of that, I would rather be a minister than be a vice president.”He explained that his rejection of the role is rooted in his own experience as a governor and how he ran government with his deputy.
According to Amaechi, power-sharing must be deliberate and institutional, not dependent on goodwill.“Unless I see a president that will do what I did to my deputy. We ran a joint office.
