Senator Adams Oshiomhole has dismissed former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as a politician not worth discussing, reopening old wounds from the African Democratic Congress presidential primary less than three months before the 2027 election. The former All Progressives Congress National Chairman, who represents Edo North in the Senate, was reacting on TVC to Amaechi’s claim that President Bola Tinubu faces more challengers because his main rivals are from the South, while Atiku Abubakar faces fewer opponents as a northerner. “If you know Amaechi, you won’t waste airtime talking about him,” Oshiomhole said.
Oshiomhole built his attack around Amaechi’s consistency. He recalled that Amaechi, now Atiku’s running mate, had described the primary that produced the former Vice President as fraudulent and gone to court to challenge it. “This is not social media, there are court documents,” he said, adding that Atiku later went back to Amaechi to share what he called a stolen mandate.
The court records tell part of that story. The ADC held its presidential primary on May 25, 2026, with Atiku polling 1,846,370 votes, Amaechi 504,117 and economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen 177,120. Amaechi then filed suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026 at the Federal High Court, Abuja, claiming he was the rightful winner. He alleged the party used no membership register and asked the court to stop INEC from recognising Atiku and to order a fresh primary.
The political ground shifted in June when Atiku picked Amaechi as his running mate. In July, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik struck out the suit after Amaechi’s counsel, Jibrin Okutepa SAN, told the court that the parties had settled their differences and filed for discontinuance. The court made no ruling on whether the primary was flawed, so the “stolen mandate” description remains Oshiomhole’s own characterisation.
Oshiomhole also questioned how Amaechi rose to office. He said Amaechi became governor through the Supreme Court without appearing on the ballot, and became a minister in 2015 because former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him, not because voters chose him. The apex court did rule in October 2007 that Amaechi, not Celestine Omehia, was the Peoples Democratic Party’s valid candidate in that year’s governorship election, which brought him into office. He went on to win a second term at the polls in 2011, and later served as Minister of Transportation until 2022, when he resigned to contest the APC presidential primary and came second with 316 votes to Tinubu’s 1,271.
The senator further faulted Amaechi for describing other politicians as ethnic champions. “He referred to Atiku as an ethnic champion. He referred to every other person as an ethnic champion,” Oshiomhole said. He argued that anyone who dismisses others in that way should not be taken seriously on leadership in a country as diverse as Nigeria.
Beyond the personal exchange, Amaechi’s argument rests on numbers that are on record. INEC has fixed Saturday, January 16, 2027, for the presidential election. When party primaries closed in June, at least 15 candidates had emerged to challenge Tinubu, 13 of them from the South and only two from the North, Atiku of the ADC and Aliyu Abbas of the Action Democratic Party. The southern field includes Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party and Donald Duke of the People’s Redemption Party.
The 2023 results show why the regional spread matters to the parties. Tinubu won with about 8.79 million votes, or 36.6 per cent, ahead of Atiku with 6.98 million (29.1 per cent), Obi with 6.10 million (25.4 per cent) and Rabiu Kwankwaso with 1.49 million (6.4 per cent). The opposition polled a combined 60.9 per cent but split it three ways. Under the Constitution, a winner needs the highest number of votes and at least 25 per cent in two-thirds of the states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The ruling party has rejected the idea that a crowded southern field threatens the President. APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka has said the number of southern candidates does not weaken Tinubu’s capacity to win the region. Amaechi also faces pressure at home, with Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike and former Senator Magnus Abe urging him to step down as Atiku’s running mate because, in their view, power should remain in the South until 2031.
Amaechi has kept his campaign focused on the cost of living. On October 2, he said he would withdraw from Atiku’s ticket and campaign for Tinubu if the price of petrol fell to ₦600 per litre.