The African Democratic Congress vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, has blamed his defeat in the 2022 All Progressives Congress presidential primary on his decision to follow the advice of the late President Muhammadu Buhari not to campaign ahead of the contest.
Amaechi said Buhari had assured him in writing that he would announce him as his preferred candidate, prompting him to refrain from lobbying delegates and negotiating political alliances ahead of the primary.
He disclosed this during an interview on Mainland 98.3FM’s The Situation Room programme in Lagos on Friday, while reflecting on how President Bola Tinubu defeated him to clinch the APC presidential ticket in 2022.
According to Amaechi, he considered Buhari’s position credible because the former president was his boss and believed his endorsement would give him an advantage over other aspirants.
He said, “The first mistake that I made at that primary was that I listened to President Buhari. He said to me, ‘Don’t campaign. Don’t do anything. I will announce you as my candidate.’
“He told me that. He put it in writing. When I write my book, I’ll put it out.”
The former Minister of Transportation said his decision not to negotiate political positions with governors and other influential party members also worked against his ambition, giving Tinubu an opportunity to build alliances ahead of the primary.
Amaechi explained that he could have secured the support of governors by promising them political appointments, including the positions of vice-president and Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“Now, I didn’t do deals. So I would have promised you vice-president, promised you SGF, and then would have gone for this primary, I would have possibly won. I would have had governors on my side.
“Because I didn’t do deals, Tinubu had the chance to do deals,” he said.
Amaechi, who was also a presidential aspirant in the 2022 APC primary, further accused Tinubu of exploiting religious sentiments to secure support from delegates, particularly in the North.
He, however, said he would not deploy religion as a political tool to win elections, describing his position as a reflection of his nationalist convictions.
The ADC chieftain alleged that a delegation of Southern Yoruba Muslims had approached governors in the North-West and appealed to them to support Tinubu on religious grounds.
He also cited the position of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, whom he said had supported his presidential ambition before eventually backing Tinubu.
“El-Rufai was my supporter. El-Rufai, in a viral video, said this is done for the faith,” Amaechi said.
He argued that appealing to religious identity for political support could deepen divisions in the country, adding that he would not encourage such an approach even if it offered him an electoral advantage.
“I wouldn’t want to run that kind of federation. Catholics are 35 million in Nigeria. I wouldn’t want to go to the Catholic Church and say, please announce me. Tell them that all Catholics must go out and vote Amaechi.
“It will cause confusion. It will cause problems in the country. That makes me a nationalist,” he said.
Amaechi questioned the perception of Tinubu as an exceptionally strategic politician, asking why he had not become president earlier if his political success was based on an extraordinary ability to manoeuvre.
Tinubu defeated Amaechi and other aspirants at the APC presidential primary held at Eagle Square, Abuja, in June 2022, polling 1,271 votes against Amaechi’s 316.
The contest paved the way for Tinubu to emerge as the APC candidate in the 2023 presidential election, which he won.
Amaechi, who served as Minister of Transportation under Buhari, had previously been a close political ally of the former president and directed his successful 2015 presidential campaign.
He is now the running mate to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on the ADC ticket for the 2027 presidential election.
(Punch)
