Former Transportation Minister and ADC vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, has claimed that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari promised him the 2022 APC presidential ticket in writing, but failed to honour it. He said listening to Buhari was his biggest mistake in the primary that Bola Tinubu eventually won.
Amaechi made the claims on Friday while speaking on The Situation Room, a programme on Mainland 98.3 FM in Lagos.
“The first mistake that I made at that primary was that I listened to President Buhari,” he said. According to him, Buhari told him not to campaign and assured him he would be announced as the preferred candidate.
Amaechi said the assurance was put in writing, but he did not show the document or say when it was issued. “He put it in writing. When I write my book, I’ll put it out,” he said.
He said he relied on that promise and so stopped lobbying delegates and refused to offer governors and party figures positions such as the vice-presidency or Secretary to the Government of the Federation. “Because I didn’t do deals, Tinubu had the chance to do deals,” he said.
The former Rivers State governor also alleged that Tinubu’s camp used religious appeals to win delegates, particularly in the North. He cited a viral video of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who he said had moved from supporting him to backing Tinubu. He said he would never play religious politics himself. These remain his claims, and he offered no evidence.
Tinubu won the June 2022 APC primary at Eagle Square, Abuja, with 1,271 votes. Amaechi came second with 316 votes, while then Vice President Yemi Osinbajo placed third. Buhari was succeeded by Tinubu in May 2023.
Amaechi, who was Buhari’s campaign director-general in 2015 and 2019, is now running mate to Atiku Abubakar on the ADC platform ahead of the 2027 elections. There has been no response yet from the Presidency or the APC to his claims.
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