How Buhari’s promise cost me presidential ticket – Amaechi

By Abubakar Yunusa

The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Rotimi Amaechi, has blamed former President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention for his defeat by President Bola Tinubu in the All Progressives Congress presidential primary in 2022.

Amaechi said he lost the contest because he relied on Buhari’s assurance that he would be announced as the party’s preferred candidate.

The former Minister of Transportation disclosed this during an interview on Mainland FM in Lagos.

According to him, Buhari specifically advised him against campaigning, promising to endorse him for the presidential ticket.

Amaechi described his decision to trust the former President as a mistake, insisting that Tinubu’s victory was not necessarily because he was stronger politically.

“The reason Tinubu won the APC presidential primary in 2022 was that I made a mistake by listening to late President Buhari,” he said.

He added, “Buhari told me not to campaign and that he was going to announce me as his candidate. He told me that and put it in writing.”

Amaechi’s revelation offers a fresh account of the political manoeuvring that preceded the APC’s 2022 presidential primary, in which Tinubu defeated several contenders to emerge as the party’s flag bearer.

The former Rivers State governor came second in the contest, while Tinubu subsequently contested and won the 2023 presidential election.

Amaechi is now a leading figure in the ADC and its vice-presidential candidate, following his political realignment ahead of the 2027 general elections.