Kenneth Okonkwo, the spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has refuted claims of opposing the selection of Rotimi Amaechi as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

He further clarified that no individual from the South-East was qualified to be chosen as Atiku’s vice presidential candidate as they were not registered members of the ADC prior to the primary election.

Okonkwo had rejected the Atiku-Amaechi ADC presidential ticket after the party made the announcement.

Okonkwo criticized the ADC’s decision to select the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, from the South-South as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate, asserting that the position should have been allocated to someone from the South-East.

Okonkwo also vowed not to campaign for Atiku if his running mate is not from the South-East.

However, speaking on Channels TV on Thursday, Okonkwo was asked if he still holds that view. He responded, “I do not know where you got that from.”

Asked if he supports Rotimi Amaechi as the vice presidential candidate of the ADC, he added, “First and foremost, he is the choice of the party and everybody that is a loyal party member.

“I said I expected that the Vice President should come from South-East. It was a geopolitical expression, not the person of anybody, and of course I understood the limitations within the Electoral Act 2026 Remember, for anybody to be eligible to contest, you must have been a member 21 days before the primary, so the people from the South-East that I would have preferred, strictly speaking, were not even registered members, so we are restricted.

“Rotimi Amaechi, Hayatu-deen, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, these were the people that were showing interest to contest the presidential election, and then when Peter Obi left, South-East was thrown into confusion, and you have to pick a vice president that has elicited interest that he wants to embark on the onerous duty of campaigning around the nation.

“Amaechi got up to 500 and something voters in the primary, you cannot alienate them. What I was agitating is that even if you have constraints, you ought to get the people of South-East and sit down with them and say, look, these are my constraints. Then they will know what they will present to their people.

“Atiku was not in Nigeria when the party made the announcement, he traveled, so when he came in, he did the needful. If you recall, and that is the beauty of this great democrat. When he came in, everything was halted. When he came in, he went into dialogue, called all the parties.”

A Kaduna-based legal practitioner, Al-zubayr Abubakar, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu has cornered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the security agencies and the judiciary.

Abubakar made the claim in an interview with JKD TV, a Kaduna-based television.

According to him, no leader, even during the era of military dictatorship and repression has ever governed the way Tinubu is currently governing, alleging that court judges, who are supposed to stand for justice, have all been brought under his influence.

The lawyer further lamented that all of Nigeria’s security agencies work for Tinubu rather than for the country.

He added that the President has crippled INEC and has it firmly under his control, stressing that it is the reason opposition parties are constantly being plunged into one problem after another.

The lawyers said, “Today, all of Nigeria’s security agencies work for Tinubu rather than for Nigeria. If I were to insult Tinubu here right now, you would immediately see the DSS and the police. They wouldn’t even stop to question you,they would simply say you had insulted the nation. Is Tinubu the nation?

“To make matters worse, the judges, who are supposed to stand for justice, have all been brought under his influence. So if you have a legal case, would you truly have the confidence to take it to court? How can the police treat opposition parties fairly?

“How can INEC be expected to act impartially? Look at what happened to the PDP. The Supreme Court delivered a judgment against the Wike faction, yet INEC continues to recognize and work with that faction. Under such circumstances, how can Nigerians have confidence that INEC will conduct a free and fair election?”

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ayekooto Akindele has called for an in-depth investigation into the controversy surrounding the formation of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC.

DAILY POST reports that following an allegation of bribe leveled against President Bola Tinubu’s chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila by the self-acclaimed Director General of PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the presidency had disowned the agency and the accuser.

However, Adeyemi in an interview with Channels TV on Thursday night, insisted that his appointment was legit, alleging that the Chief of Staff was privy to all his operations.

Reacting, Ayekooto in a statement on his official X handle on Friday, expressed certainty that Adeniyi must have collaborators in and outside the government.

“One thing is clear Prince Adeniyi has collaborators within and outside the government”, he wrote.

He called on authorities to investigate top offices, including the office of the Director General of Budget for allegedly allocating money to the fake agency, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN for creating account for for the PFIPC and the Inspector General of Police, IGP for providing police protection for Adeyemi.

He wrote, “Now, we know one MIMI ABU who is a Director in Head of Service of the Federation office signed an approval letter on behalf of head of service to employ staff for a non existent government agency.

“By now, the DG Budget who prepared the 2026 National budget should tell us why he allocated money to a non existent presidential council, CBN Governor, Accountant General of the Federation should tell us the documents they relied on to open accounts for Mr Mathew Adeniyi.

“How come Nigeria Police gave Mr Matthew Adeyemi orderly and police protection throughout his scam activities.

“Civil Servants in SGF and Head of Service offices who gave him office keys in the Federal Secretariat must tell us on whose instruction they acted”.