Speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Tuesday, Amaechi stated that Wike was once his chief of staff and therefore ranks beneath him politically.
“I was once his boss. Whether he likes it or not. I hired him. I could have said no,” Amaechi said.
At his 60th birthday celebration last week, Amaechi had remarked that just like millions of Nigerians, he is “hungry”.
Wike had dismissed Amaechi’s comments as a ploy for political relevance. The FCT minister claimed that Amaechi is not hungry for food but “for political power”.
Recall that Wike had in 2021 said he made Amaechi governor.
“I was the one God used to make Amaechi governor. I will even give you a tape from what he said in church; that after God, I’m next. But he went on national television to say that I was his staff, his employee. It wasn’t funny, but I said no problem,” Wike said.
“We all sat to make him the governor and I was the one who championed it. How do you call someone who made you governor an employee?
“Even after he became governor, he sought my advice on how to run his government and offered me commissioner of finance but I rejected the offer because I wanted to be the chief of staff.”
However, in a riposte, Amaechi rejected the claim that Wike played a role in his election as governor.
“God, Peter Odili, the judiciary and the Rivers state people made me governor,” he said.
“Ask him how he made me governor. I’m saying this because I don’t want to join issues with children.”
Amaechi said he appointed Wike as chief of staff instead of commissioner for finance so he could monitor him closely.
“I wanted him as chief of staff so I could supervise him. I didn’t offer him commissioner for finance. You see, I’m saying this because I don’t want to join issues with children,” he added.
“You know, he made himself chief of staff. He made himself governor. He made himself minister. He made himself local government chairman.”
He also criticised Wike’s style of politics, accusing him of lacking maturity and besmirching his family name.
“There’s no more respect for family names. People just do and say anything,” Amaechi said.
He added that unlike Wike, he constructed multiple flyovers during his stint as governor without publicising them.
The ex-minister of transportation decried the state of projects he executed as governor, lamenting that many of them have been destroyed or abandoned.
“It distresses me when I see those projects vandalised,” he said.
Amaechi also took a swipe at Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), likening him to Maurice Iwu, a former head of the commission.
“The current chairman of INEC, if he was the chairman in 2015, we would not have won. That’s an important point,” he said.
“May God bless Jega. It’s a very interesting point. Because the ground rules were clear.
“The current chairman of INEC can only be compared to Iwu. When we were to register APC, Jega opened the door and we complied with the registration requirements. He got APC registered.
“The current man, if you comply with all these, he would not register you. Already INEC is biased.
“So, the only thing I can tell you now is that looking at the way Nigeria has run the election, even the option A4 led us forward. At least a lot of transparency.
“You were sure of what was going on. Then we came back to meet people like Iwu and others and the current one and things got worse.
“So, you don’t know whether to say we are progressing or we are regressing… there’s a state capture using the electoral institution as a machine.”
He described Jega as “a man of conscience” and said Yakubu had already made it clear he would not register new political parties.
“Already he (Yakubu) is stopping parties from being registered. Already, INEC has taken sides. INEC is no longer the umpire,” he said.
Amaechi also criticised the Bola Tinubu administration for “disobeying the constitution and stifling opposition parties”.
“One funny thing about the current government is that they don’t even obey laws. They don’t obey the constitution. They’re not allowing the opposition to register political parties,” he said.
“I was 34 when I became speaker. The process was a bit more transparent than you have now.”
He also faulted the suspension of Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, saying the constitution gives no such power to the president.
Amaechi further raised concerns about the use of funds saved from subsidy removal.
“The president removed the subsidy. Where is the money?” he asked.
“The president removed the subsidy on electricity. It got to a point where oil subsidies got to N8 trillion.
“If we deploy N8 trillion into this economy now, it will feel the impact. Let me also tell you, do we need the coastal road in the manner that it was awarded? Yes, the south-south needs the road.
“But fix the east-west road. I don’t know how many trillions. If we deploy that money to the economy, it will change our lives. Who is collecting that money? The president needs to tell us.”