Former Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi, has rejected the results from the party's presidential primaries, describing the announced outcomes as “concocted” and inconsistent with democratic principles.
Amaechi made his position known in a statement posted on his X platform on Tuesday, May 26, following the conclusion of the ADC presidential primaries across the country. The ADC conducted a nationwide direct primary on Monday, May 25, to select its candidate for the 2027 presidential election. The main contenders included former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, former managing director of the defunct FSB International Bank, and Amaechi.
In the released statement, Amaechi alleged that the exercise was marred by widespread voter disenfranchisement, claiming that a large percentage of party members were denied the opportunity to participate in the process. “I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced,” Amaechi stated.
The former Rivers State governor recalled that he had earlier pledged to accept the outcome of the primaries only if the process was free, fair, and transparent, insisting that the conduct of the election failed to meet those standards. “I had initially stated that I will only accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free, fair, and transparent, and I stand by my word,” he said.
Amaechi argued that the exercise did not reflect the values the ADC claimed to represent as an opposition platform seeking to provide Nigerians with an alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). “There’s no way that about eighty percent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results.”
Amaechi further accused the party leadership of engaging in practices similar to those it had consistently criticized in the ruling APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “A party that criticizes the ruling APC and INEC for vote buying, rigging and writing of results, cannot be engaged in vote buying, writing of results, and other electoral malpractices that lead to the disenfranchisement of voters who are party members,” he concluded.
