Former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, is facing a storm of political backlash after boldly declaring he could defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election if he clinches the ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
One of the harshest put-downs came from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) House of Representatives member for Yagba East/Yagba West/Mopamuro Federal Constituency, Leke Abejide, who dismissed Amaechi as irrelevant and incapable of winning even his own state.
Speaking on Mic On, Abejide insisted Amaechi is “not a factor” in 2027, adding that only Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi command the nationwide following needed for a serious challenge. “Amaechi is out of the calculation. He’s not a politician now; he was just a politician before,” Abejide said.
The Lagos State APC was even blunter, branding Amaechi’s statement “the desperate outburst of a political has-been seeking relevance.” In a statement, the party said the notion of unseating a sitting president “on the platform of a fringe party like ADC” was absurd, citing Amaechi’s alleged political inconsistency, failure to secure his own polling unit in the last election, and resentment towards Tinubu over a rocky career.
“While President Tinubu has built leaders, strengthened institutions, and delivered performance, Amaechi’s path has been marked by internal wrangling, disloyalty, and self-serving ambitions,” it declared.
Amaechi, in his weekend comments, claimed he knows Tinubu’s strengths and weaknesses and would “defeat him for sure” if given the ADC ticket. He denied ever being involved in election rigging, challenged anyone to prove otherwise, and alleged that Labour Party candidate Peter Obi actually won Rivers State in 2023 despite the official results.
He accused governors and government agencies of diverting public funds to bankroll electoral malpractice, vowing never to take part in rigging and pledging to expose such practices if he wins the ADC primaries. “If I become president, I will change the constitution from indigeneship to citizenship,” Amaechi said, adding that he would end corruption within one month or resign. He promised not to reverse fuel subsidy removal but to channel the proceeds directly to ordinary Nigerians.
The former Rivers governor also dared FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to “walk the streets of Port Harcourt” to prove his popularity and labeled INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu “the worst in Nigeria’s history.” He further alleged that influential figures regularly raid the Central Bank of Nigeria for personal gain, saying such funds should be used to fix the economy and improve security.