Rotimi Amaechi has said former President Muhammadu Buhari promised him the All Progressives Congress presidential ticket ahead of the 2022 primary, and that he now regrets taking the assurance seriously. TheCable reported the remarks on Saturday, 7 November 2026.
According to TheCable, Amaechi also said Buhari told him not to run a campaign, and he points to that advice as the reason he lost the party's presidential primary to Bola Tinubu. Daily Post Nigeria and Vanguard carried the same account, describing Amaechi as blaming Buhari's counsel for his defeat in the contest.
The former transport minister was among the aspirants who sought the APC's 2022 presidential nomination, which Tinubu won before going on to secure the presidency in the general election. Amaechi's comments, as reported, place the dispute over how the primary was handled back in public view, with a sitting party figure directly questioning the conduct of a former president who was then the party's leader.
The reports do not include further details of when or where Amaechi made the statement, and Buhari has not responded in the material available.
What to watch next: whether Buhari or the APC responds to the claim, and whether other aspirants from the 2022 race add their own accounts of how the primary was decided.