Amaechi remains ADC vice-presidential candidate, says spokesman

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has dismissed concerns over the silence of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, following his announcement as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the 2027 election.

Speaking during an interview on Trust TV, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said there was no crisis within the ADC and insisted that Amaechi’s failure to publicly acknowledge the nomination should not be a source of concern.

“What do you want to hear? That he has accepted?” Mr Abdullahi asked.

“Did he have a duty to announce that he has accepted? You should expect that conversations took place before the party made that announcement.”

The ADC spokesman maintained that the process leading to Amaechi’s emergence as vice-presidential candidate was properly followed and that it was the responsibility of the party, not individual candidates, to make such announcements.

“What more do you expect from the candidate? For him to come out and say, ‘Oh, my party has nominated me as running mate, I hereby accept’? When is that ever done?” he said.

According to Mr Abdullahi, the absence of a public statement from Amaechi should not be interpreted as a sign of disagreement or uncertainty.

“The party has taken a position and the party has announced it. Did you hear anybody come out to say, ‘No, it is not true, I am not the running mate’? The party has announced that our running mate for 2027 is His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi,” he said.

“The party took a decision, and there was a process for arriving at that decision.”

He added that both Atiku and Amaechi would be formally unveiled to Nigerians at the appropriate time.

“At the appropriate date, we are going to unveil the two of them. We have ample time. The campaign has not even started, and we have not formally unveiled our candidates,” he stated.

Mr Abdullahi said the ADC was focused on building a political culture in which the party remains supreme over individual interests.

“We are trying to build a political party where the party is supreme,” he said.

He further claimed that the ADC remains the only political party to have conducted a nationwide internal election involving members across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“We are the only political party that actually conducted a nationwide election among our members. We are the only political party that did that,” he added.