Former Rivers State Governor and vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Rotimi Amaechi, has urged Nigerians to withhold their votes from the party in the 2027 election if its candidates fail to demonstrate the capacity to deliver.
Amaechi made the remarks on Monday during a panel session at the Nigerian Bar Association 2026 Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The former minister urged voters to prioritise competence, experience and proven performance over ethnic, regional or personal affiliations when deciding who to elect in 2027.
“ADC provides a different kind of leadership completely. If we can’t perform, don’t vote for us,” Amaechi said.
He called on Nigerians to scrutinise the records of political candidates and assess their achievements in previous public offices rather than supporting them solely because of their ethnic background.
“A coalition should be based on performance,” he said.
“Assess us by our last performance and choose; not just vote because you are from Ikwerre or Omoku and choose your candidate,” he added.
Amaechi also acknowledged the challenges confronting efforts by opposition parties to forge a united political platform against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
According to him, one of the major difficulties is the reluctance of political actors to set aside their personal ambitions in pursuit of a common objective.
“Coalition as it is today is difficult to achieve. If it is possible, I am sure that Vice President Atiku Abubakar would be willing to participate. But the difficulty in it is that everybody has ambition; nobody wants to give up,” he said.
He noted that competing political interests had made it difficult for opposition leaders to agree on a consensus candidate, despite previous efforts to present a united challenger to the APC.
“There are very few politicians who are in love with Nigeria. What the politicians are doing is to just come in and milk the country dry,” Amaechi alleged.
Amaechi, who represented ADC presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar at the conference, also defended his record as governor, pointing to projects executed during his tenure as evidence of his performance in office.
