The former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has defeated the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in Bayelsa State, in the ongoing presidential primary election of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The state results showed Amaechi polling 44,404 votes to defeat Atiku who scored 6,570 votes it was reported.
Another contestant in the race, Mohammed Hayatudeen, bagged 939 votes in the state.
The outcome put Amaechi in the lead in Bayelsa as the party continued to gather results from the various states in the country.
Atiku, however, did well in Imo State where he defeated Amaechi by a large margin.
In the state’s result, Atiku scored 52,200 votes, Amaechi polled 7,659 votes.
Hayatudeen came a distant third with 1,121 votes.
The result from Imo gave Atiku a major boost in the contest even as results from other states were still being expected at the time of filing this report.
The ADC presidential primary is being closely watched as the party gears up to produce its flagbearer for the 2027 presidential election.
The aspirants remain in contest as the results pour in from other states.
The two leading aspirants had a mixed performance in the two states as Amaechi secured a major win in Bayelsa, while Atiku won convincingly in Imo.
Meanwhile, Amaechi had earlier promised to reject the outcome of the presidential primary if the process was not free and fair.
Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State, stated this after he cast his vote at his ward in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
But he said he would accept the result and work with whoever emerges as the party’s presidential candidate if the process is credible.
Amaechi said after voting that the turnout in his ward was impressive and peaceful.
He said the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were present during the exercise before he cast his vote.
“It was a huge turnout, Amaechi said. First there was celebration and dancing, then we got the INEC people involved and I cast my vote and left the place.”
The former minister said he had been following the conduct of the primary across the country from the Rivers State.
Amaechi said his decision to accept the outcome of the primary would depend on whether the process across the country was as transparent as the one he witnessed in his community.
“I was monitoring the country state-by-state where I was, I hope the system would be transparent as it was in my village, if it’s transparent I would accept the result but if it’s not free and fair a lot of us would react,” he said.
The ex-governor said the ADC must make sure that the process reflects the wishes of party members.
