Former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi has disclosed that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari deliberately misled him into forfeiting political lobbying and delegate outreach ahead of the 2022 All Progressives Congress presidential primary.
Speaking on Mainland 98.3FM’s The Situation Room programme on Friday, Amaechi revealed that Buhari gave him an explicit, written commitment guaranteeing that he would be unveiled as the presidency’s consensus choice, a move he described as a calculated misdirection that dismantled his campaign machinery.
The disclosure lays bare internal party friction and back-channel maneouvres that paved the way for President Bola Tinubu’s decisive primary victory at Eagle Square, where Tinubu secured 1,271 votes against Amaechi’s 316.
Amaechi explained that relying on Buhari’s written assurance restrained him from forming strategic coalitions or making executive concessions to state governors, including potential pledges for the offices of Vice-President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“The first mistake that I made at that primary was that I listened to President Buhari. He said to me, ‘Don’t campaign. Don’t do anything. I will announce you as my candidate,’” Amaechi stated.
“He told me that. He put it in writing. When I write my book, I’ll put it out,” the former Rivers State governor added.
Amaechi maintained that his refusal to broker transactional arrangements left an open lane for his opponents to mobilize decisive state blocs.
“Because I didn’t do deals, Tinubu had the chance to do deals,” he stated, adding that committing key federal positions in advance would have tilted influential governors in his favor.
Amaechi also alleged that southern political actors coordinated with northern power brokers to deploy faith-based appeals across the North-West, a tactic he said compromised his initial support base, including that of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
The former campaign chief, who directed Buhari’s successful 2015 run, is running alongside former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar under the banner of the African Democratic Congress ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
