Rotimi Amaechi, the vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for 2027, says former President Muhammadu Buhari promised to back him as his preferred candidate at the 2022 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary.

What he said

Speaking in a radio interview in Lagos on Friday, 6 November 2026, Amaechi said Buhari had given him the assurance in writing. Because of it, he said, he held back from campaigning, lobbying delegates or making political deals before the primary, which he now considers his biggest mistake. He said his refusal to promise positions such as the vice-presidency and the post of Secretary to the Government of the Federation to governors cost him support.

Claims about religion

Amaechi also accused President Bola Tinubu's camp of appealing to religious identity to win Northern delegates, alleging that a delegation of Muslim politicians from the South-West urged governors in the North-West to back Tinubu on religious grounds. He said he would never use religion to win an election. Tinubu's camp had not responded to the claims at the time of writing.

Background

Tinubu won the June 2022 APC primary at Eagle Square in Abuja with 1,271 votes to Amaechi's 316, and went on to win the 2023 presidential election. Amaechi, a former Rivers governor, directed Buhari's successful 2015 campaign and served as his Minister of Transportation. Buhari, who died in 2025, did not publicly endorse any aspirant at the primary. Amaechi is now Atiku Abubakar's running mate, though a recent court judgment voided Atiku's nomination, a ruling the ADC has appealed.

President Bola Tinubu has defended his removal of the fuel subsidy, saying the naira would have become worthless if his government had kept it.

What he said

Speaking at a state reception in his honour in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Friday, 6 November 2026, after an APC rally at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Tinubu said 27 of the 36 state governors could not pay salaries when he took office, let alone pensions and gratuities. He argued that his reforms had moved the country away from the risk of bankruptcy, and said that without them Nigerians would by now need wheelbarrows to carry their money. He put the exchange rate at about ₦1,300 to the US dollar and said Nigeria would never go back to the subsidy.

The visit

The reception followed a day in which the President inaugurated several projects in Akwa Ibom, including a new terminal at Victor Attah International Airport, and approved a request by Governor Umo Eno for the Ibom Deep Seaport. Vice-President Kashim Shettima used the same visit to criticise NDC candidate Peter Obi.

Background

Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy in his inauguration speech in May 2023, and his government also unified the exchange rate. The reforms led to sharp rises in fuel and food prices. Opposition candidates, including Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, have criticised the way the reforms were carried out, while the government says they were needed to save the economy and has introduced relief measures such as the ₦50,000 monthly grant to selected households.

Why it matters

The cost of living is expected to be one of the main issues in the January 2027 election.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken about how he survived imprisonment under the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

What he said

Speaking in Yoruba at a book event at the University of Ibadan, in a video shared on Saturday, 7 November 2026, Obasanjo said Abacha had decided to kill him along with the late General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua and Chief MKO Abiola, the acknowledged winner of the annulled 12 June 1993 presidential election. He said Abacha had confided the plan to the late Ibadan philanthropist Chief Alao Arisekola.

Foreign intervention

Obasanjo said former US President Jimmy Carter travelled to Nigeria and spoke to Abacha on his behalf, while former British prime minister James Callaghan went further, warning Abacha that he would face death himself if he went ahead. Obasanjo also said prayer played a central role in his survival, describing himself as a committed prayer warrior in detention.

Background

Obasanjo, a former military head of state, was jailed in 1995 over an alleged coup plot, which he always denied. Yar'Adua died in detention in 1997, and Abiola died in custody in July 1998, a month after Abacha's own death. Obasanjo was released after Abacha died and was elected president in 1999, serving two terms. At the same event, he also warned against sending children into armed conflict, drawing on his experience in the civil war.

What was meant to be a moment of political mobilisation for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reportedly took an unexpected turn at the Item Okpi cultural festival in Aba, Abia State, when members of the crowd began chanting the name of Peter Obi.

"Obi! Obi! Obi!"

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, was addressing a large gathering at the cultural event when he turned to national politics and began appealing to the people to support President Tinubu.

The response from sections of the audience was not what he appeared to be hoping for. As Kalu spoke in support of the President, loud chants of "Obi! Obi! Obi!" reportedly rose from the crowd.

Even when the Deputy Speaker repeated the familiar declaration, "On your mandate we shall stand," the chants continued, creating an unusual scene in which the politician's message and the crowd's response seemed to be moving in opposite directions.

Why it matters

The moment has drawn attention because of Abia State's political significance and the continuing debate about the popularity of Nigeria's major political figures ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Peter Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election under the Labour Party and is now the NDC presidential candidate, continues to command a strong following in sections of the electorate, particularly in the South-East.

For Kalu, an influential APC politician from Abia State, the incident highlights the challenge of promoting the ruling party's candidate in a region where political loyalties remain divided.

A cultural festival turned political

Chants from a crowd at a cultural gathering are not a scientific measure of how a state or region will vote. But public reactions like this can still offer a glimpse into the political conversations happening among ordinary Nigerians.

What makes this incident stand out is the setting. The gathering was mainly a cultural celebration, yet it became a scene of competing political expressions once the Deputy Speaker raised the subject of presidential support.

Over to you

Were the chants simply a spontaneous reaction from enthusiastic Obi supporters, or a sign of wider political sentiment in the area? One thing is clear: Ben Kalu was talking about Tinubu, but some voices in the crowd wanted to talk about Obi.