Nobel Laureate and celebrated playwright, Professor Wole Soyinka, has lauded former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, for demonstrating what he described as exceptional courage and democratic integrity during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries in 2022.
Speaking in Abuja on Saturday at a colloquium held in honour of Amaechi’s 60th birthday, Soyinka reflected on the fierce intra-party contest that ultimately produced President Bola Tinubu as the party’s flagbearer. The renowned intellectual said he had followed the primaries live from Abu Dhabi, driven by a keen interest in the political drama unfolding in his homeland.
“I admire Rotimi Amaechi’s fighting spirit,” Soyinka said. “It’s a very consistent one. But what struck me the most was watching the APC primaries unfold, and seeing one individual stand firm in a contest where others seemed to be yielding to pressure.”
Tinubu secured a landslide victory with 1,271 votes. Amaechi came in second with 316 votes, while then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo garnered 235 votes.
Soyinka said Amaechi’s decision not to withdraw from the race — unlike many others who bowed out to support Tinubu — was a striking show of political bravery. “It gave me a great — most malicious pleasure, rascally if you like — to see the incumbent president being given a dose of his own medicine,” he said.
He drew a compelling historical parallel between Amaechi’s defiance and Tinubu’s own stance during the Olusegun Obasanjo era, when the latter was widely seen as a key opponent of Obasanjo’s alleged third-term agenda.
“For someone like Tinubu, who was once the last man standing in the face of Obasanjo’s unconstitutional ambitions — and who resisted efforts to emasculate state powers — it was ironic and gratifying to watch another figure, in this case Amaechi, take a similarly bold stand against him,” Soyinka noted.
He added: “While everybody was falling over themselves conceding, one individual got on the podium and said, ‘No, I’m not conceding. I didn’t come all the way here to commit lúlẹ̀ (collapse).' That man was Rotimi Amaechi. And I said, this is what democracy is all about.”
Amaechi, who served as Governor of Rivers State from 2007 to 2015, has remained a prominent figure in Nigerian politics. His 2022 presidential bid, while unsuccessful, underscored his influence and unwavering commitment to principle, according to Soyinka.
Soyinka’s remarks added a reflective and symbolic weight to the event, casting Amaechi not merely as a political figure, but as a symbol of democratic resilience in an era marked by power consolidation and political calculation.