The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has said that the former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, remains its vice presidential candidate.
It was reported that the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this known in an interview on Trust TV.
He played down worries over the continued silence of Amaechi, arguing that the former governor does not have to publicly accept the nomination.
Abdullahi was replying to questions on increasing speculation and disquiet among some party supporters over Amaechi’s failure to personally confirm acceptance of the vice-presidential slot since the party made the announcement.
What do you want to hear? He agreed?
“Does he have a duty to announce that he has accepted? Because you should expect that there was a conversation that led to that announcement by the party,” he asked.
The ADC spokesman said the decision was formally announced by the political parties and not by the candidates, and affirmed that the process that led to the emergence of Amaechi has been followed as it should.
“What more do you want from the candidate? For him to come out and say, ‘Oh, my party has nominated me as running mate, I accept’? When is it ever finished?” he said.
He said the silence from Amaechi should not be mistaken for him not being on the same page or not knowing what to do.
“The party has announced a position. Did you hear anybody say, ‘No, it’s not true, I’m not the running mate’? “His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi is our running mate in 2027, the party has announced,” he said.
Abdullahi refused to give details of internal consultations when asked if Amaechi had given his personal consent before the announcement was made, but said due process was followed.
“The party made a decision and there was a process to reach that decision,” he said.
He stated that Atiku and Amaechi would be formally presented to Nigerians at the appropriate time.
“At the right time, we will reveal the two of them. We have a lot of time. The campaign hasn’t even begun yet. We have not even formally unveiled our candidates,” he said.
Abdullahi also took the opportunity to depict the ADC as a party guided by institutional procedures rather than individual personalities.
“We are trying to build a political party where the party is supreme,” he said, adding that the ADC was proud to conduct what he termed the only internal election nation-wide involving members across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“We are the only political party that has actually conducted a nationwide election among our members. “That’s the only political party that did that,” he added.