INEC helping APC to hijack upcoming election – Amaechi raises alarm

Former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is working in cahoots with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to tilt the upcoming elections in favour of the ruling party. Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State, made the allegation on the sidelines of the unveiling of the interim executives of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) by the opposition coalition in Abuja on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. The coalition, formed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has adopted the ADC as its vehicle for the upcoming elections. It appointed a former Senate President, David Mark, as the pro tempore National Chairman, and a former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, as the National Secretary. Speaking during an interview after the event, Amaechi said the President Bola Tinubu-led APC has destroyed Nigeria, adding that the country requires a complete change. ALSO READ: You joined the wrong ADC – Kachikwu fires coalition members as trouble brews According to him, things have become so dire that Nigerians can no longer afford to eat due to a lack of money to buy food, noting that inflation remains a major challenge. Amaechi claims INEC is colluding with APC The former Governor also disclosed that he had resigned from the APC on Tuesday night, expressing surprise that the party had not expelled him after he had warned them not to send him invitations for meetings. Asked why he distanced himself from the Tinubu government and chose instead to join a coalition to oust the President, Amaechi said, “No, it’s not about changing the government, if it is about changing the government, there is no need to change the government, it’s about changing Nigeria. “Nigeria is destroyed. People can’t eat. People can’t buy food. There’s no money to buy food. Everything is gone. Inflation is at its peak. And the federal government is busy going around trying to hijack the election. INEC is helping them to hijack the election. “No, no, no. What must happen here is that we must start not just a party, but a movement, it must be a movement that brings in Nigerians to, on their own take over government, not us.” ALSO READ: ‘Count me out’ – Alex Otti says he’s not joining anti-Tinubu coalition Amaechi says Tinubu lacks the competence to lead Nigeria The former Minister, when reminded that he had spent two years in the APC under President Tinubu, revealed that he tendered his resignation from the party on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. “I left APC last night. I never attended one meeting. Last time they invited me, I warned them. I said, if you invite me to any meeting anymore… In fact, I was surprised that I wasn’t even expelled because I warned them in writing, and they didn’t even invite me to any meeting. You can’t be in a club where the majority of people are stealing and you don’t say anything,” he stated. Amaechi doubled down on Tinubu’s criticism, saying he had known from the start that the former Lagos State Governor was not competent to govern Nigeria. “I have never believed that Tinubu is a material to govern the country, I have never, because now, people want (Muhammadu) Buhari to come back. What happens in Nigeria is that when a new government takes over, it becomes worse than the previous government, which makes people say, ‘Let the previous government come back.’ “People are asking for Buhari because things were better during Buhari’s administration. Dollar was I think ₦460 or five hundred and something, now a dollar is one thousand five hundred and eighty, that is more than one hundred per cent.” When his attention was called to the fact that the exchange rate was a deliberate government policy, the former Minister said, “Whether it’s a deliberate government policy or not, any government that does not take into consideration the people you are governing is not a policy. President Tinubu said he is not here to make Nigerians happy.” ALSO READ: Obi open to one-term presidency under coalition pact Asked if he was not being over ambitious, he simply said, “I have the right to be ambitious, I am not over ambitious.”