Rotimi Amaechi has accused Hadiza Bala Usman of lying against him

Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transportation, has accused Hadiza Bala Usman, a special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on policy coordination, of lying against him in her recent book, “Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority.”

Usman was the immediate Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), an agency directly under Amaechi’s supervision when he was the minister of transportation .

But Amaechi, at an annual lecture that The Niche organised with the theme: “Why we stride and slip: Leadership, Nationalism and the Nigerian condition,” an event held in Lagos, alleged that Usman omitted her offence, which was why she was removed.

That would be the first time that the former governor of Rivers State would respond to the book by the former NPA boss. Usman accused Amaechi of being behind her removal from office in February 2022 because she did not favoured the former minister.

In his response, Amaechi said she has been keeping mute on Usman’s book, adding that there were too many lies published with it. According Amaechi, NPA managing director has N2.5m approval limit, but Usman approved a contract of N2.4bn.

His statement reads in part: ““The lies were too many. For instance, she claimed she was not invited by the panel. I even came with the memo of the president, where the president endorsed her removal.”

Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transportation, has alleged that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, was nominated by a member of Bola Tinubu’s camp, the president-elect.

The minister alleged that “INEC is a total failure, adding that the voter apathy witnessed during the governorship and state house of assembly election was due to the voters’ intimidation experienced during the February 25 presidential election.