By Osaretin Osadebamwen, Abuja
The Unsettling quiet over the nomination of the former River state governor as African Democratic Congress (ADC) vice presidential candidate Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has been shared by the Spokesman for the ADC presidential candidate, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo.
Kenneth Okonkwo on Thursday said sections of the party are not fully aligned with the choice of Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, which sparked an internal upset and the party is going about it internally to sort the issues.
Kenneth Okonkwo who is the spokesman for the ADC Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, shared this with national television while fielding questions from the anchors on Thursday.
He said there are sections of the party that are uncomfortable with the choice of former Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and the party has evolved an internal resolution mechanism to manage the issue
According to him: “The ADC has announced Rotimi Amaechi as the vice presidential candidate of ADC. And in our own nature, the way we do things and whenever such issues arise and there are sections in our party that are saying things or registering some reservations, we always go internally to negotiate, to dialogue democratically so that we can reach a compromise and come back together as one to move on.
“So what is happening now is that negotiations are going on, dialogue is going on to soothe all the nerves, to calm all the nerves, to sort out grievances, to sort out reservations that anybody may have and then we will move on together as one.
“Rotimi Amaechi is the vice presidential candidate to His Excellency Atiku Abubakar.”
Kenneth Okonkwo
The ADC Presidential Candidate spokesman denied that he was at any time against the choice of Rotimi Amaechi but only expressed concern over the sidelining of the south-east while picking a south south candidate.
He pointed out that the earlier belief was that the NDC presidential candidate was a shining political light from the east and arguably fits into being the running mate to the ADC Presidential candidate, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.
Okonkwo argued that Mr. Amaechi is an igbo man, explaining that he from the same igbo-ethnic group as the extant President Ohaneze Ndigbo, Senator John Azuta-Mbata but of the south south, extraction while the understanding before Peter Obi left the ADC was to have a south east man in the presidency.
“There is no place that I said that I am against his choice as a person. I said I would have favorably been disposed of by the choice to have come from Southeast, not South-South, because Southeast has not produced the president or vice from 1999. The name Amaechi is Igbo, so I couldn’t have been saying Ndi Igbo because his name is also Igbo and culturally is from an ethnic nationality that even the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo comes from his own nationality in Nigeria of today.
“ So it has nothing to do with Igbo or not Igbo. I was talking about geopolitical balancing but you know we had some peculiarities before the election where people indicated their interest to contest for the presidency and the person that represented the Southeast in that calculation left unceremoniously before the conclusion of the process. That left Southeast disadvantaged and confused.
The ADC Presidential candidate spokesman said with the exit of Obi leaving the southeast interest confused and the party was forced to make a quick alternative which fell on Amaechi
“It was as if that position that would have been given to Southeast was vacant and so within the limitation that we had of the electoral act that forbids you from picking anybody outside the political party who was not a member 21 days to the primary, some beautiful names were dropped off.
We talked about Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe, we talked about Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, we talked about some nice names but those names were no longer members of ADC. So the Southeast was now disadvantaged and thrown into confusion and there was a lacuna.
“That was why the excellency still went to the nearest person that is closest to the Southeast. In other words, for you to know that he has nothing against the Igbo people and then when that choice was made, efforts were also made to explain out the reasons why such a choice would be made and when I was convinced from all the available data and information, it was a nice thing.
“The spokesperson I was willing to give up for the interest of Igbo but when everything was now stated very well and the interest of Igbo and Southeast was now recognized and guaranteed, then it was a good go for me and we are now one big happy family.
“ADC is going to form the next government of Nigeria and I think Atiku will be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the grace of God, Okonkwo said.
