2027 ELECTION: I’LL WITHDRAW FROM ATIKU, CAMPAIGN FOR TINUBU IF PETROL DROPS TO ₦600 — AMAECHI

2027 ELECTION: I’LL WITHDRAW FROM ATIKU, CAMPAIGN FOR TINUBU IF PETROL DROPS TO ₦600 — AMAECHI

Vice-Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the state of the Nigerian economy, declaring that he would withdraw from former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s ticket and campaign for Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election if petrol sells for ₦600 per litre.

Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transportation, made the declaration during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, October 2, 2026.

He was reacting to President Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day address, in which the President said Nigeria was moving from a period of economic reforms towards an “age of prosperity.”

Questioning whether Nigerians were already experiencing the economic improvements highlighted by the President, Amaechi pointed to the cost of transportation, petrol and other essential commodities.

“Has any price come down, has anything changed?” he asked.

Amaechi subsequently used the price of petrol as a test of the administration’s economic claims, saying he was prepared to personally visit a filling station to verify the pump price.

«“I will go tomorrow morning to the petrol station to buy fuel, I will go myself, if fuel has come down to 600, I will campaign for President Tinubu,” Amaechi said.»

He further challenged those who doubted his declaration to accompany him with a camera, insisting that he would take the political step if petrol had fallen to the stated price.

«“If you doubt me, come with your camera to my house, and I will go to the filling station and buy fuel, and I, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi will withdraw as a vice presidential candidate of Atiku and campaign for President Tinubu, if it has come down,” he said.»

Amaechi’s comments come amid intensified political activities ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with the cost of living, petrol prices and the impact of the Federal Government’s economic reforms remaining prominent issues in political debate.

The ADC candidate has repeatedly criticised the economic hardship associated with the removal of the petrol subsidy, while the Tinubu administration has maintained that its reforms are designed to stabilise the economy and ultimately deliver greater prosperity.

The President, in his Independence Day address, said the country was moving beyond the reform phase and towards prosperity, assuring Nigerians that the government’s economic measures would produce better outcomes.