Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers governor and minister of transport, says he is ashamed that Nigeria is not making good progress, berating citizens for hanging around politicians just to steal.

Mr Amaechi, at a lecture organised to mark his 60th birthday, lamented the delay and embarrassment the Nigerian passport caused him in Germany.

“We don’t want to move the country forward. If you are not ashamed, I’m ashamed. My passport was seized in Germany. I did nothing. My offence was that I was carrying a green passport,” Mr Amaechi said.

He added, “They kept me for nearly 30 minutes. I was going for a medical checkup in Vienna. Show us your hotel this thing…, I showed. Show us your return ticket, I showed. Wait! Just because I’m carrying a green passport. So if you’re not ashamed, I am.”

Absolving Nigerian ruling elites, Mr Amaechi blamed citizens as the problem of the country because of their penchant for following politicians in power just to steal money.

“Nigerian leaders and elites are not the problem. The problem of Nigeria is the followership. When people say Nigeria is a capitalist country—there are no capitalists in Nigeria. Capitalists are those with the money to invest in production. Do we produce here? Everybody relies on oil.

“Once you become president, you will not know Christians from Muslims. They are all coming towards you to have a hand in the stealing. I look at Nigeria and ask myself, what are we actually doing here? Do we want to be a country?” Mr Amaechi said.

Mr Amaechi, a career politician, has been in the corridors of power for over two decades—from serving as an aide to former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili, to becoming the governor and later minister of transport for eight years.

His lamentation and frustration come barely two years after he left office as minister of transport.

An arrowhead of a coalition plot among opposition politicians, Mr Amaechi said he is joining forces with others to oust President Bola Tinubu from office because he is hungry.