Inside last-minute intrigues that handed Amaechi VP slot after Atiku almost picked Okonjo Iweala

A web of last-minute political intrigues — including a covert approach to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disguised as a birthday visit and serious consideration of Cross River’s Liyel Imoke — preceded the African Democratic Congress’s eventual selection of former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi as Atiku Abubakar’s 2027 running mate.

It looked clean and straightforward from the outside. Behind closed doors, it was anything but.

The African Democratic Congress may have formally announced former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi as running mate to presidential candidate and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar — but insiders say the path to that decision was anything but smooth, involving secret delegations, birthday cover stories and a WTO Director-General who wouldn’t take the bait.

According to Sunday Tribune sources privy to the party’s internal deliberations, the first battleground was geography. Key Atiku allies argued loudly that the VP slot must go to a South-East candidate — with names like Senator Ben Obi, former Governor Emeka Ihedioha and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala thrown into the mix.

The Okonjo-Iweala approach was the most audacious move. A delegation — led by a former top PDP figure who later flirted with the APC — visited the WTO chief during her recent birthday celebration, using the occasion as cover for a serious political pitch.

It didn’t land.

“A top political face from the North-East led a delegation to visit the former Minister, who is the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, to brief her on the development. We understood that the woman did not give categorical answers, but she was said to have advised that the team should search widely and consult well across the regions of South-East and South-South ahead of the election,” a source told Sunday Tribune.

When Okonjo-Iweala demurred, attention pivoted to Senator Liyel Imoke of Cross River — a trusted Atiku ally seen as capable of delivering South-South votes. That too stalled.

Finally, party elders intervened decisively.

“Elders of the party came together in a last-minute move and advised against toying with anything that could cause further division. It was at that point the party resolved that Amaechi be picked as Atiku’s running mate,” the source revealed.

Through it all, Atiku reportedly kept a quiet, steady line open to Amaechi.

When the smoke cleared, the man who came second in the primary was standing first.