Vice presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was in his element the other day at a townhall in Benin City, capital city of Edo State, where he labelled the Nigerian voters as “thieves and mad people” for their resolve to vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.
Amaechi, a former Rivers State Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, abandoned the niceties of issue-based ADC’s “vision for Edo State and Nigeria” ahead of the General Election, and engaged in a diatribe against supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“They (APC’s supporters) are going about saying, ‘vote Tinubu, vote Tinubu.’ Only thieves will vote for Tinubu,” Amaechi said. “In fact, I read in one of the social media that it is in 2027 that we will know how many mad men we have in Nigeria because it is only mad men that can vote for Tinubu.”
For a deeper cut and maximum effect on Tinubu he fears has the wherewithal to repeat his 2023 defeat of the ADC presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Amaechi threw decency, decorum and caution to the wind, and directly attacked Edo people, who intend to vote for Tinubu on January 16, 2027.
“If Edo people vote for Tinubu, that means Edo people are mad. If you are not mad, Tinubu should not win here” (in Edo State), Amaechi added – a hint at Tinubu possibly winning the state he lost in 2023 to ex-Anambra Governor and then-candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, who’s the 2027 flagbearer of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Surprisingly as Amaechi poured invectives on Edo people at the townhall in Benin City, prominent indigenes, such as former Edo Governor and ex-National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, were taken in and sat comfortably without a whimper of rebuke and calling Amaechi to order.
Odigie-Oyegun, the acclaimed leader of the ADC in Edo State, added his own broadsides, saying Nigerians made “terrible mistakes three years ago and are now paying for them” – a reference to the 2023 poll in which Nigerians voted President Tinubu, on whose watch they’re experiencing severe economic and social hardship.
Expressing concern over alleged “political intimidation” in Edo State, Odigie-Oyegun said he had closely observed Amaechi during his tenure as Rivers governor (2007-2015), arguing that “Nigeria needs courageous leadership and experience (like Amaechi’s) to address its current challenges.”
Amaechi miscalculated if he thought he’d get a free pass – such as opposition politicians get from a taciturn Tinubu, whom they use as a foil in the lead-up to the poll – as he received blowback from the president’s supporters.
Both the APC Diaspora Media Group and the Edo chapter of the party swiftly sent a “return to sender” to Amaechi for his unprovoked and unguarded classification of Nigerians as “thieves and mad men” for their inalienable right to choose to re-elect Tinubu in 2027.
The media support group, asking Amaechi to apologise to Edo people over the “mad men” remark, said “he’s exposed himself as a self-centred politician whose greed for power has beclouded (his) sense of reasoning.”
Coordinator of the group and a member of the APC New Media Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Monday Eghosa Ohuimumwen, in a statement in Benin City, said Amaechi’s comment “has further depreciated the chances of the ADC in Edo State and other states in the country,” The Nation repoted on October 12, 2026.
Mr Ohuimumwen urged Edo people to disregard the ADC as “being the saviour political party for the country,” even as he declared that, “It is only a mad man that knows what another mad man can do. Rotimi Amaechi was in Edo to spew nonsense instead of telling the people what the ADC will do differently.”
“Edo electorates are happy with the APC as led by Governor Monday Okpebholo in Edo State, as well as President Tinubu. Okpebholo has demonstrated practical governance and made good use of the resources provided by Tinubu,” he said.
“We are cautioning the ADC to campaign on issues and tell the people what they will do instead of spewing insults. Tinubu will win Edo State with a large margin. Edo people have agreed to re-elect Tinubu,” he added.
Similarly, the Edo APC Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, declared: “Edo people are not mad. It is the ADC people, selectively, who are mad because their sight has been affected by their level of political knowledge that is going on. They are no longer in tune with what is going on in Edo. Check the people who are their leaders. They are spent forces within the political arena,” Vanguard reported on October 9, 2026.
“Edo people will massively vote for Tinubu and we have promised him 2.5 million votes in Edo, and it is realisable. The people are happy that Okpebholo is developing Edo, and the only way they can say ‘thank you’ is to vote for Tinubu because they know that the resources that we are using in Edo are coming from the federal government,” he said.
Comparing ADC and APC, Uwadiae-Igbinigie excoriated Amaechi and his party as “spent forces” who have nothing to offer anymore. “ADC is a party that is made up of the chaff. We (APC) are a very seasoned set of people. Edo people have come to like the APC as a party and the people that make up APC. We are made up of people of proven integrity, men who have tasted power, who have used power to change the lives of people in the country,” he said.
Former Rivers Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, an unapologetic supporter and campaigner of Tinubu’s re-election, accused Amaechi of “hypocrisy, mismanaging public funds and looting Rivers treasury,” urging him to challenge him (Wike) “if what I’m saying is not correct.”
Wike, who succeeded Amaechi as governor in 2015, has thrown the gauntlet. Will Amaechi pick up the challenge instead of looking for President Tinubu he knows won’t hit back at him (and his principal, Atiku) in his multi-pronged attack against Tinubu’s person, his office and his party?
On the campaign trail, Amaechi’s consistently railed against Tinubu, attributing Nigeria’s economic hardship to his presidency based on alleged ethnic/regional sentiment, rather than competence, experience and performance – factors he’s urged voters to consider as they cast ballots in 2027.
“What Nigerians should do is assess all of us who are running for office based on our records,” Amaechi said on May 14, 2026, after submitting his nomination forms at the national headquarters of the ADC in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, as PUNCH reported, quoting him as pledging to “transform Nigeria within four years if elected in the 2027.”
“Nearly everybody who is running for the office of the president has served Nigeria in one way or another. Let this be a referendum. If you have performed, whoever has outperformed the other, vote for the person,” Amaechi said.
“Nigerians should vote for merit, not vote for those who say, ‘I’m from this place’ or ‘it’s our turn.’ It is the ‘Emilokan’ mentality that brought us here. It is ‘our turn’ that brought us here. Now Nigerians are suffering,” Amaechi said, referring to Tinubu’s claim in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital city, pre-2023 primary, saying it’s his turn “to be President of Nigeria.”
“The current president has put us in this suffering. I don’t know why he wants to run again. I don’t even know why the APC wants to participate. They should be ashamed and allow other Nigerians to participate and change the country;” Amaechi added.
Amaechi may’ve met his match in supporters of President Tinubu, who’ve turned his “thieves and mad people” rhetoric into memes, vowing they’re “madly in love with Tinubu” and “will vote for his re-election in 2027.”
This is certainly a case of “Be careful what you wish for, as you might just get it” (or “it might turn round to haunt you”) – a classic warning about unintended consequences!
As Google notes, “When used in the context of wishing harm or downfall upon someone else, people often find that envy or malice boomerangs, creating guilt, public fallout, or self-inflicted damage.” That’s what Amaechi and the ADC could reap on January 16, 2027, for labelling Tinubu’s voters in Edo and across Nigeria as “thieves and mad people!”
Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357