By Augustine Akhilomen

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has selected the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, as his running mate for the upcoming election.

The development was confirmed on Saturday.

The immediate past Chairman of the ADC in Rivers State, Leader Sampson, confirmed the development on Saturday.

When asked directly whether Amaechi had accepted the nomination to serve as vice-presidential candidate, Sampson simply replied, “Yes,” according to a Daily Post report.

The selection follows the recent ADC presidential primary election, a direct primary involving over 2.5 million votes cast from the party’s 3.1 million registered members. In that contest, Atiku emerged as the standard-bearer after securing a landslide victory with 1,855,787 votes, defeating Amaechi, who polled 509,397 votes, and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, who garnered 180,903 votes.

Prior to the primary election, Amaechi had publicly stated that he did not purchase the ADC presidential expression of interest and nomination forms with the intention of becoming a vice-presidential candidate.

Following the conclusion of the voting process, Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen challenged the transparency of the exercise, alleging that the internal process had been manipulated in favour of Atiku.

However, a political breakthrough reportedly crystallized following a recent reconciliation visit by Atiku to Amaechi’s residence shortly after the primaries.

During the meeting at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, Atiku allegedly appealed for party unity and explicitly urged Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen to join him in building a formidable front to save Nigeria’s democracy, emphasizing that the primary was a collective effort rather than a battle of winners and losers. Nigerian travel guide

With Amaechi’s reported acceptance of the position, the ADC leadership is expected to make an official joint announcement to the public soon.

The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has said it is focused on taking over Aso Rock in 2027.


The party made the assertion in a statement posted on its verified X handle on Friday.

The statement insisted that there is no crisis in the party as widely reported.


This is coming after the national leader of the party, Seriake Dickson, on Friday held a closed-door meeting with the presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

“There are no issues in the NDC.
We are focused on taking Aso Rock,” the statement said.


Speaking on the meeting with Obi, Dickson said they reviewed activities of party and discussed recent issues that have been a source of concern to all sides.

He said all the issues were amicably resolved.

According to him, the party’s members would continue to consult and engage with one another to address and resolve all concerns and strengthen their unity

The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has declared the readiness of the Commission for the Ekiti State governorship election.

He assured voters, political parties and other stakeholders that all necessary arrangements have been concluded to ensure a peaceful, transparent and credible exercise.

Amupitan gave the assurance on Friday in Ado-Ekiti during an interactive session with media executives, held eight days ahead of the governorship poll.

The INEC chairman, who had earlier led a high-powered delegation comprising National Commissioners, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), and other and senior officials of the Commission on an inspection of the ongoing mock accreditation exercise across selected polling units in the state, said the exercise confirmed the the agency’s preparedness for the election.

According to him, the mock accreditation was designed as a quality assurance mechanism to test the Commission’s technological infrastructure and operational capacity under real field conditions before the election day.

Amupitan disclosed that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) performed efficiently during the exercise, with fingerprint and facial authentication taking an average of between five and seven seconds per voter.

He added that INEC had deployed additional backup BVAS devices and technical support personnel across all registration areas to ensure that any equipment malfunction is promptly addressed.

“We did not want to speak from an air-conditioned boardroom in Abuja or rely solely on paperwork. We went to the theatre of operations to see for ourselves how our systems are performing.

“The mock accreditation is essentially to test our facilities, especially our technology, and ensure that everything required for the election is functioning optimally.

“What we observed today confirms that our technological defence against identity theft and result manipulation is robust and fully operational. We have provided upgraded backup BVAS devices and deployed technical engineers across the state. Any malfunctioning device can be replaced within minutes,” he said.

“Our goal remains the simultaneous opening of polls in all 2,445 polling units at exactly 8:30 a.m. on election day. We have directed electoral officers to ensure that polling units are activated on time and that logistics are fully in place before election day.

“The greatest threat we face is not technical failure but misinformation and disinformation. Fake news, manufactured election-day panic and unauthorized declaration of results are direct assaults on public peace and democratic stability,” Amupitan added.