June 12: Former VP alleges deliberate, coordinated moves to weaken, fragment opposition
* Chief Eze Chuiwuemeka Eze defends Amaechi’s nomination
By Olawale Lamina
Former Vice President Atiku Abubarka and the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has picked Nigeria’s former minister of transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as his running mate ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amaechi’s nomination comes following series of negotiations and culsutations Coming after weeks of rigorous among the party stakeholders. Pundits have suggested that the choice of Amaechi may have opened the door for the North-East/South-South political balance on the party’s presidential ballot.
Recall that before now, Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers state had shortly after filling and returning his N90 million presidential nomination form, said he was not in the race to settle for the Vice President slot of the party. Also, after Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso left ADC coalition for the NDC, Amaechi, on May 20, had equally ruled out the possibility of a consensus rather than a direct primary for the party.
Defending Amaechi’s earlier position that he was in the race to run for the president position, his close associate, Chief Eze Chuiwuemeka Eze, a chieftain of the ADC, argued that Amaechi’s previous comments after the ADC presidential primaries had only indicated that no one had approached him regarding a VP slot.
On how exactly Amaechi gave in to pressures to accept the VP nomination, reports say some influential political leaders from the North-West and South-South stated that former VP Atiku had promised to accord the VP nominee freedom to play extensive roles both in the campaigns ahead of elections and also in the running of the government if elected by Nigerians.
Atiku’s comments on June 12 Celebration
Former Vice President Atiku Abubarka in a statement signed by him and released to commemorate the 2026 Democracy Day on June 12, called on Nigerians to resist bad governance and stand up to the politics of intimidation, and other forms of democratic setbacks.
According to him, over the past three years of the APC-led government, the citizens had witnessed a deliberate and coordinated effort to weaken, fragment and neutralise opposition political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. He also decried a situation where he alleged that every credible opposition came under sustained attacks, while the Judiciary and security agencies had become instruments of partisan warfare used to harass, intimidate, and force opposition into submission or defection.
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