The African Democratic Congress, ADC, vice presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, has fired back at the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who said Atiku Abubakar picked him as running mate because of money.

Featuring in an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television on Tuesday, Amaechi said he does not respond to his subordinate.

Wike during a media parley with selected journalists on Tuesday had said that Amaechi does not have political value in Rivers state.

Reacting, Amaechi said, “I don’t respond to my subordinate. Wike never hired me. By the time I finish mourning and go into campaign, anybody that insults me, I will insult him back.”

It will be recalled that Amaechi was a presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, but lost out to Atiku Abubakar in the party’s primaries.

Atiku later approached Amaechi after the exercise and later, the ADC announced Amaechi as his running mate ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The vice presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Rotimi Amaechi, says they are ready to do anything president Bola Tinubu wants them to do at the field

Amaechi made this statement on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He said: “Let the president continue to tell the public that he would win the election at all cost until we get to the field.

“Whatever the president wants us to do at the field, we will do it. I’m not worried about what he wants to do. We will meet at the field.

“Nigeria has to be rescued. What the president and his men are doing is insulting my faith.”

“Recall that Amaechi contested the All Progressives Congress, APC, primary election with Tinubu in 2022 and lost.

He later defected to the ADC ahead of the 2027 polls and is paired with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as his running mate to fly the party’s flag.

Former Minister of Transportation, and vice presidential candidate of the African Democratic Party, (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi, has defended Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, insisting that the cleric has no political affiliation and does not support any politician.

Amaechi made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday while reacting to claims by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that the Catholic cleric was not impartial during the 2023 general election.

The former Rivers State governor said he had to suspend the traditional mourning of his late mother to appear on the programme because he considered it necessary to defend his Christian faith amid the controversy surrounding the cardinal.

Responding to Wike’s allegation that Onaiyekan had a political leaning, Amaechi dismissed the claim, describing the cleric as politically neutral.

“He supports nobody. I see Cardinal Onaiyekan regularly, I worship at his chapel. He has no political leaning, the Catholic Church has no political leaning. Cardinal Onaiyekan himself supports nobody,” Amaechi said.

He added that his interactions with the cardinal over the years had convinced him that the cleric’s concerns were centred on the country’s worsening socio-economic conditions rather than partisan politics.

“I’ve had several conversations with him, the only thing that pains him is the level of indiscretion and poverty in the country,” he added.

Earlier, Wike had questioned Onaiyekan’s neutrality while reacting to the controversy that followed the cardinal’s remarks after a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.

Speaking during a media parley on Tuesday, Wike argued that the cleric’s repeated criticism of the government made it difficult to regard him as impartial.

“If a religious leader is perceived or seen to be taking a side, which is very clear, it is very difficult for people to begin to see those comments as being helpful,” Wike said.

The FCT minister further claimed: “I am aware of the position of Cardinal Onaiyekan; all of us know, it’s not hidden, whom he supports; everybody knows that.”