2027 Election: Amaechi Charges ADC Women to Lead Grassroots Mobilisation

ABUJA — Rotimi Amaechi, the Vice-Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has tasked women in the party with taking the lead in its grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general election.

Amaechi, who spoke at the ADC National Women League Conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said women would be critical to the party’s campaign against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He recalled the role women played in the campaign that brought the APC to power, urging ADC supporters to reproduce that grassroots mobilisation model across wards and polling units.

“The struggle to take away these (alleged) thieves from government is 90% dependent on our women,” Amaechi said.

The conference, held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, was attended by Hajiya Titi Atiku-Abubakar, wife of ADC presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, and Senator Austin Akobundu, Director-General and Campaign Manager of the Presidential Campaign Management Committee.

Amaechi said women were placed at the forefront of the APC’s campaign when it was seeking to defeat the then ruling party.

“When we were in APC and we wanted to remove your government, you saw what we did. We brought out the women, in every state we went to, women were in front. We spoke to them, we met with them at night, and we made sure that we told them that if they did not come out to vote, we would not win. And they came out. We fought the war, and we won,” he said.

He said the ADC’s mobilisation campaign should be driven by concerns over economic hardship, including food prices, school fees, unemployment and the rising number of children out of school.

Amaechi claimed that out-of-school children had increased from between 10 million and 12 million when he left government to approximately 20 million, while he said the number of illiterate Nigerians had reached 92 million.

He called on northern women in particular to take the 2027 election seriously, alleging that the region has a large share of the country’s out-of-school and illiterate population.

“If you’re a northern and you’re sitting here, you shouldn’t even be singing at all. Reason Tinubu is taking you more every day into poverty. It means that before you meet up with the South, Jesus Christ for us Christians would have come,” Amaechi said.

The former Rivers governor also challenged ADC women to increase their voter mobilisation targets at ward level.

“This one to 10 is small. You should bring 2000 votes per ward. Just win your ward. Just bring 2000 votes per ward. You are bringing 17 million votes and we have won the election,” he said.

He added that the ADC would campaign for its governorship candidates across the country because, in his view, a president would need governors to effectively implement an administration’s agenda.

“The presidential candidate cannot govern without the governor,” he said.

Amaechi also criticised the removal of fuel subsidy, saying it had contributed to higher transportation and production costs, which had affected food and other commodity prices.

He said the ADC’s proposed subsidy policy would be directed at production, with government assistance for local refineries aimed at reducing petroleum costs.

“It affects the price of rice. It affects the man who is a barber. It affects even you who goes to buy ADC clothes, you know that ADC clothes you are wearing, the price has changed terribly,” he said.

Amaechi urged the party to present its economic argument directly to voters.

“Once you tell the people that this man is the man who has impoverished you, and you see one bad thing about subsidy is that the benefit of subsidy is in their pocket, not even the pocket of Nigerians,” he said.

Titi Atiku-Abubakar, who spoke earlier, also called on women to mobilise voters, especially in rural communities, and reject attempts to influence their votes through temporary distribution of food or cash.

She pointed to rising prices of medicines, petrol and other essentials as pressures affecting households.

“Women, this time around we have to get it right,” she said.

Titi alleged that some voters were being encouraged to surrender their voter cards in return for money or food, questioning how long such assistance could address their economic challenges.

“This rice they are giving, how long is it going to last? Even if they give you 50,000. How long is this 50,000 going to last?” she asked.

She urged women to mobilise voters to polling units and defend their right to make their choices during the election.

“Go there and fight for your children. Go there and fight for generation yet unborn,” she said.

Akobundu said the ADC had established women and youth leagues as key components of its grassroots mobilisation strategy.

“We created two vibrant leagues: the women and the youth,” he said.

He urged supporters to return to their local governments, wards and polling units to build the party’s structures and translate its national campaign into grassroots mobilisation.

“Abuja will be empty. Abuja will be zero. Everybody will go down to his local government, to his ward, to his polling unit to bring about the multiplier effect of bringing voters,” Akobundu said.

He assured the women and youths of the support of the presidential campaign structure as the ADC prepares for the 2027 campaign.

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