A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Temitope Babs has accused Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi of purchasing low quality train coaches.
His statement is coming a few days after a deadly train attack carried out by Bandits in Kaduna. The attack led the death of several passengers.
He also criticised the minister for blaming the attack and failures of his ministry to secure the lives of Nigerians using the facility on the Nigerian Government.
The statement read in part; “The response of the Minister of Transport, Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to the sad occurrence at the Abuja- Kaduna rail line left a lot of Nigerians in shock.”
“To some who are very familiar with his usual antics and ineptitude, it was rather an expected reaction from a man who is known for his usual attempt to rather cringe from realities and resort to apportioning blames.
“In his statement on Tuesday, the minister had blamed the attack and the failures of his Ministry to secure the lives of Nigerians using the facility on his ‘colleagues’ and by extension the Federal Government.”
“While on an on-the-spot assessment of the scene, the minister showed no empathy at all to the victims of the attack, their families or Nigerians in general but he went on and on blaming every other person except himself.”
“Isn’t it high time the Rotimi gave up his wool-gathering approach to solving problem?”
“In spite of President Buhari’s commitment to the rail revolution, his Transport Minister has rubbed tar on the project. Recall that the minister had been fingered for procuring low quality and out of use locomotives coaches into the country. If the minister had opted for a digital train, the bandits won’t have gained unhindered access to the train from outside whilst in motion.”
“How far can arrogance and cluelessness take Amaechi in today’s Nigeria? To begin with, we must accept the fact that vast swathes of our country are increasingly becoming bandit territories. Authorities, at all levels and in all spheres (traditional, religious, civic), need to ask themselves what they can and must do to change this narrative. We must also understand that in the face of a national tragedy, divisive rhetoric and bigotry stemming from petty politics will only compound our problem.”
“In times like this, we must collectively commit to do all we can to take back our country from criminal gangs.”
