Tight Race for Obi as Southern ADC Leaders Endorse Amaechi

Some leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the South-South have thrown their weight behind former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, tightening the contest for the party’s 2027 presidential ticket and posing a fresh challenge for a leading southern contender like Peter Obi.

A chieftain of the party and former national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, disclosed this on Friday at the ADC South-South leaders’ consultative meeting held in Benin City, capital of Edo State.

Odigie-Oyegun said Amaechi used the meeting to formally inform leaders of the region of his intention to contest the presidency, adding that the response from South-South stakeholders was unanimous.

“We are glad that our son, Rotimi Amaechi, took advantage of this meeting to brief us formally of his intention to run for the presidency of our great nation.”

“We were very pleased. We thanked him for the respect he has for the leaders of the zone for not letting loose in this zone, for setting up his own personal structures, for ensuring like every good son that he tells his people what he has in mind before he embarks on it.

“We are pleased and I cannot report that a unanimous decision was taken to give him all the support that he needs in pursuit of his ambition.

“Lastly, we are going to meet regularly. This group of leaders are going to meet regularly to learn from each other’s experience. So that as usual, the South-South zone will become an example to be emulated by other zone in the nation.”

Amaechi had, in July 2025, declared his willingness to serve a single term if he secures the ADC presidential ticket and goes on to win the 2027 election.

He has also consistently argued that the party should present a Southern candidate in line with the principle of power rotation.

He maintained that the South should be allowed to complete an eight-year tenure before power returns to the North, warning that fielding a northern candidate at a time many Southerners believe power should remain in the South could weaken the ADC’s appeal across the region.

Amaechi had lost Presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to President Bola Tinubu in 2022. While many of the aspirants in that race withdrew for Tinubu, he went ahead with the process and came second.

The South-South endorsement is expected to intensify negotiations and realignments within the ADC as the party moves closer to its presidential primaries ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked parties to hold primaries for the next general election between April 23 and May 30, 2026, but the ADC rejected this and accused INEC of  conferring undue advantage on the ruling party.

According to Bolaji Abdullahi, the election timetable creates an “almost impossible hurdle” that could prevent opposition parties from fielding candidates.

He noted that Section 77(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 provides that any party that fails to submit its membership register within the stipulated period “shall not be eligible to field a candidate,” a provision it described as exclusionary rather than administrative.