Why no one from South-East was eligible to be Atiku’s running mate – Kenneth Okonkwo

Kenneth Okonkwo, the spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has refuted claims of opposing the selection of Rotimi Amaechi as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

He further clarified that no individual from the South-East was qualified to be chosen as Atiku’s vice presidential candidate as they were not registered members of the ADC prior to the primary election.

Okonkwo had rejected the Atiku-Amaechi ADC presidential ticket after the party made the announcement.

Okonkwo criticized the ADC’s decision to select the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, from the South-South as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate, asserting that the position should have been allocated to someone from the South-East.

Okonkwo also vowed not to campaign for Atiku if his running mate is not from the South-East.

However, speaking on Channels TV on Thursday, Okonkwo was asked if he still holds that view. He responded, “I do not know where you got that from.”

Asked if he supports Rotimi Amaechi as the vice presidential candidate of the ADC, he added, “First and foremost, he is the choice of the party and everybody that is a loyal party member.

“I said I expected that the Vice President should come from South-East. It was a geopolitical expression, not the person of anybody, and of course I understood the limitations within the Electoral Act 2026 Remember, for anybody to be eligible to contest, you must have been a member 21 days before the primary, so the people from the South-East that I would have preferred, strictly speaking, were not even registered members, so we are restricted.

“Rotimi Amaechi, Hayatu-deen, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, these were the people that were showing interest to contest the presidential election, and then when Peter Obi left, South-East was thrown into confusion, and you have to pick a vice president that has elicited interest that he wants to embark on the onerous duty of campaigning around the nation.

“Amaechi got up to 500 and something voters in the primary, you cannot alienate them. What I was agitating is that even if you have constraints, you ought to get the people of South-East and sit down with them and say, look, these are my constraints. Then they will know what they will present to their people.

“Atiku was not in Nigeria when the party made the announcement, he traveled, so when he came in, he did the needful. If you recall, and that is the beauty of this great democrat. When he came in, everything was halted. When he came in, he went into dialogue, called all the parties.”