Okonkwo: No South-east candidate eligible for Atiku's running mate

Kenneth Okonkwo, the spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has clarified the eligibility criteria for the party's vice presidential running mate, stating that no individual from Nigeria's South-east region met the requirements.

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I do not know where you got that from.

Okonkwo explained that the Electoral Act mandates that any aspirant must be a registered member of the party at least 21 days before the primary election. He asserted that the preferred candidates from the South-east were not registered members within this timeframe, thus rendering them ineligible for the vice presidential position.

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First and foremost, he is the choice of the party and everybody is a loyal party member.

This statement addresses Okonkwo's previous public stance, where he had expressed disappointment and vowed not to campaign for the ADC presidential ticket if the running mate was not from the South-east. He had criticized the selection of Rotimi Amaechi, who hails from the South-south geopolitical zone, as Atiku Abubakar's running mate.

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I said I expected that the Vice President should come from South-east. It was a geopolitical expression, not the person of anybody, and of course I understood the limitations within the Electoral Act 2026. Remember, for anybody to be eligible to contest, you must have been a member 21 days before the primary, so the people from the South-east that I would have preferred, strictly speaking, were not even registered members, so we are restricted.

However, Okonkwo now refutes claims of opposing Amaechi's candidacy. He emphasized that his advocacy for a South-east vice president was a matter of geopolitical representation rather than a personal objection to any specific individual. He acknowledged the limitations imposed by the Electoral Act and stated that the party leadership engaged in dialogue with all stakeholders after Atiku Abubakar's return to Nigeria, ensuring all parties were heard.

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Amaechi got up to 500 and something voters in the primary, you cannot alienate them. What I was agitating is that even if you have constraints, you ought to get the people of South-east and sit down with them and say, ‘look, these are my constraints’. Then they will know what they will present to their people.