‘What do you want to hear?’ ADC fires back over Amaechi’s silence 

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has dismissed concerns over the silence of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, after he was named as running mate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The party said Amaechi remains its vice-presidential candidate, insisting that there is no crisis over his failure to publicly confirm acceptance of the nomination.

ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this while speaking on Trust TV’s Daily Politics.

Abdullahi said those raising questions over Amaechi’s silence were creating unnecessary controversy, arguing that the party would not have announced him as running mate if proper consultations had not taken place.

“What do you want to hear? That he has accepted?” Abdullahi asked.

“Did he have a duty to announce that he has accepted? Because you should expect that conversation took place that led to that announcement by the party.”

The ADC spokesman said it was the responsibility of the party to announce its candidates, not for every nominee to personally issue a public statement of acceptance.

“What more do you expect from the candidate? For him to come out and say, ‘Oh, my party has nominated me as running mate, I hereby accept’? When is it ever done?” he said.

There had been speculation among some party supporters over Amaechi’s silence since the ADC announced him as Atiku’s running mate.

But Abdullahi said the absence of a public statement from the former governor should not be interpreted as rejection, uncertainty or disagreement within the party.

“The party has taken a position, the party has announced. Did you hear anybody come out to say, ‘No, it’s not true, I’m not the running mate’? The party has announced that our running mate in 2027 is His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi,” he said.

Pressed on whether Amaechi personally gave his consent before the announcement was made, Abdullahi declined to disclose details of the internal discussions.

He, however, maintained that the party followed due process before arriving at the decision.

“The party took a decision and there was a process for arriving at that decision,” he said.

Abdullahi added that Atiku and Amaechi would be formally presented to Nigerians at the appropriate time, saying the campaign period had not yet started.

“At the appropriate date, we are going to unveil the two of them. We have ample time. The campaign has not even started. We have not even formally unveiled our candidates,” he said.

The ADC spokesman also said the party was working to build an institution where party supremacy, rather than individual ambition, drives political decisions.

“We are trying to build a political party where the party is supreme,” he said.

He added that the ADC remained proud of what he described as a nationwide internal election involving members across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“We are the only political party that actually conducted a nationwide election among our members. We are the only political party that did that,” Abdullahi said.