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Former Minister of Transportation and presidential hopeful of the African Democratic Congress, Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday pushed a strong citizenship-based national identity, dismissing ethnic and regional politics while defending his credentials after appearing before the party’s presidential screening committee.
Amaechi, who emerged from the exercise confident of scaling through the process, declared that leadership in Nigeria should no longer be reduced to sectional calculations, insisting that competence and past records should define political choices ahead of the 2027 elections.
The former Rivers State governor also backed any consensus arrangement that may eventually emerge within the party, provided all aspirants are carried along in a transparent process.
“I’ve just been screened, I’m waiting for the outcome. I assume it was successful. That’s my assumption, because I’ve been a governor before, so I don’t know what I would have done to make them disqualify me,” he said.
Pressed further on the nature of questions raised by the committee, Amaechi downplayed the exercise, maintaining that his political background already speaks for itself.
“Actually, I’ve been a governor before. The requirement for governorship is almost nearly the same requirement for presidency. So when they say I should give you an inkling what questions, then you need to go and ask them,” he stated.
On the possibility of the party adopting consensus to produce its presidential candidate, the former minister pledged loyalty to the decision of the ADC if the process enjoys collective participation.
“I’m a member of the party now. I’m a member of the party. So if that’s the party’s decision, then once it’s a process that all of us participate in, I’ll abide by it,” he said.
Amaechi also dismissed insinuations surrounding the longer period he spent with members of the screening panel compared to other aspirants, attributing the development to informal conversations with committee members.
“Liyel has been my friend, he’s my colleague. The other lot of them there are people I know. We’re just gisting. Nothing more than just we’re telling stories,” he explained.
Shifting attention to governance and social inequality, the former governor lamented what he described as the widening gap between the rich and the poor in Nigeria, particularly within the education sector.
According to him, the country has gradually institutionalised inequality through a two-tier educational system that favours the wealthy while leaving ordinary citizens behind.
“Look at education. Nigeria has effectively broken education into two, for the rich and for the poor. The rich go to private schools, the poor go to public schools,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to assess all presidential aspirants based on their stewardship in previous public offices rather than ethnicity, religion or regional affiliations.
“I always say please make this a referendum. All of us have held one position or the other. Let’s go back to the positions we served. And assess us by that. I was governor of River State. So assess us by what we have done and reach a conclusion,” Amaechi stated.
In a direct challenge to divisive politics, the ADC aspirant insisted that his identity remains Nigerian above every other consideration.
“I’m hearing I’m from north, I’m from south, I’m from east. I’m not from south or east or west. I’m a Nigerian.
“If I become a president, that would not be indigeneous. That would be citizenship. We are first and foremost citizens of Nigeria,” he declared.
Amaechi also questioned the continued relevance of the federal character principle, arguing that the policy exists largely because of systemic imbalance and injustice.
“There will be no federal character. Every Nigerian will be a member of the federation. Federal character is because the system is unfair. So one way to manage the system is to say, give shares to areas of reason,” he stated.
Drawing a link between unemployment and rising insecurity, the former minister argued that economic hardship has continued to fuel violent crimes across the country.
“Let me give you an example. If everybody’s employed, we don’t have government. I used to say this in Port Harcourt, I said, if all of us were working in the shed, we wouldn’t have time to run.
“Because 6 a.m. you’re at work, 6 p.m. you have clothes. You are too tired to wake up to carry guns. The reason why you’re seeing people carry guns, kidnap people, is because the system is bad,” he added.
When confronted with reports suggesting he once claimed not to have political backing for the presidency, Amaechi dismissed the issue and insisted his politics transcends ethnic considerations.
“I don’t have any advice. It’s simple. I didn’t speak Igbo or Ikwede or Hausa,” he said.
Earlier, chairman of the ADC presidential screening committee and former Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, said the panel would submit its findings to the party leadership before any official pronouncement is made.
According to Imoke, the committee strictly carried out its constitutional responsibilities by reviewing documents and verifying compliance with party guidelines.
“Let me start by saying that it’s a committee appointed by the party and we have to report back our findings to the party. So our findings will be reported back to the party before they are made public,” he said.
“We are not at liberty to say this and that about any of the aspirants but all we can say is that the process went very well.
“The three aspirants were in attendance and we received their documents and screened them and we’ll be reporting back to the party accordingly,” he added.
Imoke rejected suggestions that the exercise was merely ceremonial, insisting that due diligence remained central to the process.
“No, it’s a screening exercise. So there are certain constitutional requirements that must be met. There are also party requirements that must be met. So an exercise like that is hardly a take a bow and go because it’s important that their documentation be verified and all the other necessary requirements of the party are fulfilled,” he explained.
The former governor also clarified why Amaechi appeared to spend more time before the committee than other aspirants.
“He was having lunch with us. He came at lunchtime so we ate and after lunch we continued with the process. So nobody took extra time,” Imoke said.
Asked when the outcome of the exercise would be made public, the committee chairman simply responded: “We’ll report to the party. We are appointed by the party, sir.”
