How Buhari’s promise Cost Me APC Presidential Ticket – Amaechi
By Trek Africa Newspaper
Former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has said late President Muhammadu Buhari assured him of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in 2022 and was advised not to campaign ahead of the party’s primary election.
In an interview with Mainland 98.3FM’s The Situation Room in Lagos on Friday, Amaechi revealed he made a huge mistake by relying on Buharis assurances which led to him losing to President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, Buhari promised to announce him as his preferred candidate and communicated the assurance in writing.
“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,” he said.
According to him, negotiating political appointments with party stakeholders could have secured their support during the primary, but his decision to rely on Buhari’s backing left room for Tinubu to consolidate his political alliances.
He said, “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 added.
The former minister further alleged that religious considerations influenced the primary’s outcome, claiming that some Yoruba Muslims appealed to governors in the North-West to support Tinubu on religious grounds.
However, Amaechi claimed that he would not have used religion as a factor to garner political support and that he is a nationalist.
Amaechi, who served as Buhari’s Minister of Transportation and led his successful 2015 presidential campaign, is now Atiku Abubakar’s running mate on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ticket ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
