The spokesperson for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Kenneth Okonkwo, has denied reports that he opposed the selection of former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi as the party’s vice-presidential candidate.
He also said Atiku recognised his value despite his past criticisms, while accusing his former principal and Nigeria Democratic Congress 2027 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of betraying him.
Speaking on Channels Television on Thursday, Okonkwo said his earlier comments regarding the vice-presidential slot were a geopolitical position rather than opposition to Amaechi personally.
“I do not know where you got that from,” Okonkwo said when asked if he still opposed Amaechi’s emergence as Atiku’s running mate.
Expressing support for the party’s decision, he added: “First and foremost, he is the choice of the party and everybody that is a loyal party member.”
Okonkwo explained that his position had been that the vice-presidential candidate should ideally come from the South-East, but noted that provisions of the Electoral Act limited the pool of eligible candidates.
Kenneth Okonkwo. Credit: Channels TV
“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,” he said.
According to him, the leading contenders within the party before the primary were Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, Hayatu-deen and Peter Obi.
“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,” he said.
Okonkwo also argued that Amaechi’s performance during the party’s primary made him a significant stakeholder whose supporters could not be ignored.
“Amaechi got up to 500 and something voters in the primary, you cannot alienate them,” he said.
He added that his concern was that party leaders should have engaged stakeholders from the South-East before making a final decision.
“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,” he said.
Okonkwo further disclosed that Atiku was outside the country when the vice-presidential announcement was initially made and subsequently initiated consultations upon his return.
“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,” he said.
The PUNCH