Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice-President and ADC Presidential candidate, and other influential figures in the ADC and the leadership of ADC have decided on a potential Presidential ticket with Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State, as the preferred pairing for 2027 Presidential election following the conclusion of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primary.
Not long after the primary election, Atiku paid a visit to Amaechi to re-assure him that the party would continue to rely on him politically.
Other politicians who were earlier considered for the Vice Presidential role, were Chief Emeka Nwajuba, Senator Austin Akobundu, and former governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha.
According to someone in the know within the ADC, the party leaders are of the view that “picking a candidate from Amaechi’s home region of the South-South would boost the coalition’s prospects in the run-up to the election.”
The reason behind this, he explained, is that while Mr. Peter Obi hails from the South East of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress is from the South West. That leaves just the South-South without a Southern presidential contender.
It was part of the party’s strategy to choose Amaechi, according to the source, because people in each geopolitical zone tended to back candidates from their own areas.
In his opinion, “the real politicking will commence once Atiku returns from his trip abroad,” meaning that Amaechi will be unveiled.
According to the ADC chieftain, “the South South and other parts of the southern region” are likely to vote for ADC because Amaechi.
According to another source, Amaechi’s tenure as Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation before to his departure from the APC could be an asset in luring disgruntled APC members to the ADC.
Rumour has it that Atiku was thinking of making Governor Seyi Makinde his running partner after an opposition meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State. That plan, however, was abandoned when Makinde declared his intention to run for president on the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) ticket.
According to political analysts and permutations, Rotimi Amaechi is expected to lead the ADC to victory in the Southern section of Nigeria as the North rallies itself for a repeat of 2015 when a sitting Southern President was defeated by a Northern Presidential candidate.
