The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, says the choice of Rotimi Amaechi, as vice presidential candidate will hinder Atiku Abubakar’s chances in the 2027 general elections.

Wike said this in a live radio interview in Port Harcourt on Saturday, stressing that Amaechi does not have the political capital necessary to secure victory in Rivers State and the South‑South region in next year’s elections.

According to him, it would be difficult for Amaechi to sell Abubakar to voters in the state and region, especially given Amaechi’s role in events leading to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat in the 2015 presidential election.

“Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi running as vice‑presidential candidate is not a plus for Atiku Abubakar.

“First of all, he was governor; he couldn’t produce a successor. Remember, he was a Director-General; he couldn’t give Buhari 25%. Remember, he was a minister and became a Director-General; Mr President couldn’t get 25% in the 2019 election.

“So there are so many reasons why he cannot win Rivers for ADC. For example, before the birth of ADC, he came out on national television and said he was one of those who kicked out Jonathan.

“He didn’t want a South‑South person to complete his tenure as president. So what we will take is vice president,” Wike said.

By Omeiza Ajayi & Luminous Jannamike

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has rejected former President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential nomination submitted by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Turaki’s camp had insisted earlier on Friday that it had manually delivered Jonathan’s candidacy and the names of its other 2027 general election candidates to the commission, deepening the party’s raging leadership crisis.

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INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, told Saturday Vanguard that the commission does not accept nominations outside its designated electronic channel.

“Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines please,” she said.

But the Turaki camp’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, told journalists the committee opted for manual submission after INEC declined to release access codes needed for electronic filing, arguing the codes were merely an administrative convenience rather than a legal requirement.

“Notwithstanding INEC’s refusal to provide us with the necessary access codes… we have successfully submitted, manually and in full compliance with the Electoral Act 2026, the list of candidates sponsored by the authentic Peoples Democratic Party,” Ememobong said.

He said the submission, covering Jonathan’s presidential nomination alongside all governorship, National Assembly and state assembly candidates fielded by the committee, had been acknowledged by INEC despite the standoff over recognition.

Ememobong cautioned the commission against publishing any list at variance with what his committee submitted, vowing to explore every available legal option to protect the party’s structure. 

He said; “hould the Commission publish names other than those lawfully submitted by us… we are exhausting every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to ensure that our Party is not hijacked or annexed to the ruling party”.

Tracing the roots of the crisis, he said the party’s Board of Trustees BoT and a requisitioned National Executive Committee NEC meeting constituted the Interim National Working Committee NWC after a Supreme Court judgment left the PDP without a legally recognised national leadership.

According to him, INEC’s refusal to acknowledge the interim leadership, despite formal notification, pushed the party to seek judicial intervention.

He also faulted a subsequent Federal High Court judgment on the matter, describing it as an attempt to relitigate settled questions of law. “The judgment… reads more like an appeal on the judgment of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. It is clearly inconsistent with the extant decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal that form the foundation of our case,” he said, disclosing that the party had appealed the judgment and would separately challenge alleged discrepancies between the ruling delivered in court and its Certified True Copy CTC.

Ememobong accused INEC of abandoning its constitutional neutrality in handling the dispute. “The Commission’s actions have regrettably reinforced the growing public perception that it is no longer acting with the impartiality expected of the nation’s electoral umpire,” he said.

He alleged that the commission withheld material facts during court proceedings involving the party and disregarded congresses it had monitored.

Alleging that the PDP’s troubles were part of a wider design to cripple opposition parties and entrench one-party dominance in the country, he said; “We were the pioneer target for opposition dismantling and capture… but it has now spread to almost all the opposition parties”.

Ememobong called on Nigerians to rise in defence of multi-party democracy, cautioning that unchecked electoral authoritarianism would stall the country’s democratic consolidation, while expressing confidence that his committee would ultimately prevail.

“We were the pioneer target for opposition dismantling and capture… but it has now spread to almost all the opposition parties,” he said, warning that the trend threatened the survival of genuine political competition in the country.

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, insisting that his latest attack is rooted in lingering bitterness over the collapse of his third-term agenda years ago, and recalling how he helped the ex-president when he was still his lowest.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said he watched Obasanjo’s recent interview with sadness rather than anger, describing it as another attempt by the former president to rewrite history and cloud the truth with personal resentment.

Recalling his personal history with the former President, Atiku said he stood by Obasanjo during his years in prison and supported his family, and went further to clothe and care for him after his release before helping to build the political alliances that eventually produced his presidency.

“History records that while Chief Obasanjo was in prison, I stood firmly by him. I supported his family, worked tirelessly with other patriots for his release and never wavered in my belief that he deserved his freedom.

“When he eventually regained his freedom, he had little to his name. I received him, clothed him, ensured he was properly cared for and extended every support necessary to help him regain his footing”, he said.

Obasanjo had recently declared that his greatest regret in life was making Atiku his vice.

But speaking further, Atiku said; “I am proud that I stood against the third-term agenda. I am proud that I stood by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have no apology whatsoever for frustrating every attempt to subvert our democracy for personal ambition,” Atiku said.

He maintained that if Obasanjo’s hostility stemmed from his refusal to back an unconstitutional third term, he would wear that resentment as “a badge of honour,” stressing that the Constitution remains supreme and that no individual is bigger than the country.

Atiku argued that the fight against the third-term agenda was never a personal contest between him and Obasanjo but a defence of Nigeria’s democracy, adding that history had already delivered its verdict in favour of the Constitution.

He also pointed to recent remarks by the Director-General of the World Trade Organization WTO, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who he said described the economic management team he led as among the best the country has had, questioning the timing of Obasanjo’s attack against that backdrop.

“Whether or not the timing is merely coincidental is for Nigerians to judge. What is beyond dispute, however, is that while distinguished Nigerians who served at the highest levels continue to acknowledge my contributions to one of Nigeria’s most successful periods of economic management, Chief Obasanjo appears determined to diminish them,” he said.

He said he harboured no regrets over those sacrifices, describing acts of kindness as matters of conscience rather than transactions requiring repayment, but warned that gratitude should not be replaced with revisionism.

“Do I regret helping Chief Obasanjo? Absolutely not. When God gives you the opportunity to lift another human being, you do so without expecting repayment. Acts of kindness are matters of conscience, not commercial transactions,” he said.

Atiku expressed disappointment that a former President would devote energy to recycling old grudges at a time when Nigeria is grappling with economic hardship, unemployment and insecurity, insisting that the 2027 election should focus on rebuilding the country rather than reopening old wounds.

He said his years of restraint towards Obasanjo were out of respect for the office the former President once occupied, but stressed that such restraint had limits.

“There comes a point when silence in the face of repeated distortions of history ceases to be a virtue. While I have no desire to engage in a public quarrel with a man I once stood beside in his most difficult moments, neither will I permit falsehoods, half-truths and calculated attempts to rewrite history to go unanswered.

“Chief Obasanjo is entitled to his opinions. He is entitled to his personal grievances. What he is not entitled to are his own facts. History is stubborn. It cannot be rewritten by bitterness, nor erased by repeated falsehoods. In the end, history will render its verdict—and so will the Nigerian people”, he stated.