Former Rivers State Governor and prospective Vice-Presidential nominee, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, is to head the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign organization of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The move comes amid growing belief within the party that the opposition lost the 2023 presidential election due to divisions among key figures in the major opposition parties.
Following that, a united front was formed within the ADC. However, the fatal blow to that unity occurred when Peter Obi left the opposition fold to pitch his tent with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a move that effectively fractured what should have been a united coalition aimed at unseating the ruling party.
To counter this division and ensure the ADC maximizes its chances, the party, it is understood, is going strategic in getting the most out of the upcoming election by restructuring its leadership framework and establishing an integrated campaign command under Amaechi.
The decision to appoint the former presidential aspirant as Director General of the ADC Presidential Campaign Organisation is part of Atiku’s plans to deliver a reformed Presidency if elected President in the 2027 presidential poll.
Recall that in the primary election in April, Atiku secured victory over Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, emerging as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election. The final results announced by the party’s returning officer, Tunde Ogbeha, showed that Atiku polled 1,846,370 votes, while Amaechi garnered 504,117 votes and Hayatu-Deen received 177,120 votes.
According to a reliable source, Amaechi was considered for the job of steering Atiku’s campaigns in the absence of any state governor in the ADC, as well as his experience in a similar position when he delivered the late Muhammadu Buhari in the historic defeat of an incumbent, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in the 2015 poll.
Part of the propositions pushed on the table during discussions to convince the former Transportation Minister to accept the VP role in the anticipated Atiku Abubakar Presidency was the offer of a free hand to play wide-ranging roles during the electioneering and in the reformed Presidency being designed by the former Vice President.
The source, according to The Guardian Newspaper, a former ranking Senator and Ambassador, disclosed that having observed the tenuous relationships between various presidents and their deputies after leaving office in 2007, Atiku believes that Nigeria’s Presidency is due for urgent reforms.
He said: ”From (President Umaru) Yar’Adua through (Dr Good luck) Jonathan and Buhari, the last three years under Bola Tinubu have exposed the imperfections of the Nigeria Presidency.
“Atiku believes that while the US Presidency assigns clear constitutional roles to the VP, the Nigerian counterpart is made to serve according to the whims of the President. So, in absence of such constitutional stipulations that assign direct responsibilities to the VP, Atiku wants to forge a partnership Presidency with Amaechi taking charge of key functions.”
He explained that the former VP is thinking of the planned changes based on his experience during President Obasanjo’s second term where both had a sour relationship.
“Atiku wants to turn that sad and sour experience into the benefit of his running mate to ensure that fears and suspicions that give rise to adversarial relationship between the President and vice do not arise.
“He wants to be that president that acknowledges that the office is one big room with two big doors. This is why he said he wants to show by example how that the VP should not be either a spare tire or a tea-server.”
It is understood that former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, would have been chosen as Amaechi’s running mate had he won the primary election. Following Atiku’s emergence as the party’s presidential candidate, Tambuwal is expected to serve as the Deputy Director General of the Atiku/Amaechi Presidential Campaign Organisation.
”When the VP is officially named this coming week and by the time the campaign organisation would be constituted, Nigerians will see how prepared the former Vice President is to rescue the country and strengthen the foundation for true Presidential system,” the source hinted.
A member of the ADC Policy Committee, Dr. Salihu Lukman, also disclosed that the party plans a collegiate system of administration to avoid a winner-takes-all tendency that has been the bane of successive Presidencies.
Lukman had pointed out that some of the policy reviews envisaged by the ADC would ensure that party leadership stands strong as a guide to the executive and legislature.