Former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi has warned that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) could find it hard to sell a northern presidential hopeful to southern voters, urging the party to think carefully about zoning before the next general election.
Speaking in Kano, Amaechi—who has declared interest in the ADC ticket—said he would back whoever wins the primary, but added that the party must pick a candidate with real national reach.
“I’ll support whoever emerges,” he said. “But I also advise the ADC to look around and choose the best material that can convince Nigerians things will change.”
He listed three boxes the next flag-bearer must tick: capacity, age, and respect for the country’s informal power-rotation deal.
“First is capacity. Second is age. Third—and last—is to respect the unwritten law that power is now in the South,” Amaechi said. Recognising that reality, he argued, would make it easier for southern politicians and voters to back the party.
“They should conclude that and then transfer power to the North. It makes it easier for those of us from the South to say we’ll compete, because the North has said, ‘finish all this.’”
Running a northerner now, when many southerners believe it’s still their turn, could hurt the ADC in the region, he added.
“If you elect somebody from the North—I’m not saying we won’t campaign—but it’ll be tough to convince the South to let go of power. They’ll ask the North, ‘Why is it that only when power reaches the South does a problem arise?’”
Still, Amaechi repeated he would back any primary winner, “whether it’s a southerner or a northerner.”
The ex-Rivers governor has already pledged to serve only one four-year term so power can return northward after President Bola Tinubu completes the agreed eight-year southern slot (2023-31). Peter Obi—who joined the ADC after the 2023 Labour Party race—has made the same one-term promise.
