Veteran journalist and former presidential aide, Reuben Abati, has lambasted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over recent promises to protect the interests of the Yoruba race if elected President in 2027.
Abati lamented that it was unfortunate for Atiku to try and play the ethnic card when Nigeria need a leader who can provide solutions to problems such as insecurity, economic challenges and others.
Naijaonpoint recalls that Atiku had, in a statement on Wednesday, promised to make the interests of the Yoruba race a priority in governance and policy if elected as President of Nigeria in 2027.
The former Vice President, who described the Yoruba people as his extended family, vowed that there would be no Hausa/Fulani domination over Yoruba or other ethnic groups if he emerges as the President of Nigeria.
He highlighted that marrying a wife, Titi Atiku Abubakar, whom he described as a jewel of inestimable value from Ijesa in Osun State, is a testament that the Yoruba nation occupies a special place in his heart.
However, speaking on Thursday during Arise Television’s Morning Show, Abati criticized Atiku’s position.
The journalist urged Atiku to focus on national issues, adding that Yorubas don’t need anybody to defend them, and tribalization of politics should be avoided.
The former presidential aide categorically stated that the ethnic card would not work for the 2027 elections.
He said: “Now, let me start with what former Vice President purportedly said about what he intends to do if he’s lucky enough to become president in 2027. Namely, that Yoruba people do not need to have any fears that he will be, you know, more interested in Fulani interest, and that, after all, he has a wife who is from the Ijesha stock, who has four children with him, and these children, they call him “Babariri”, and all of that.
“Look, this again, is very unfortunate, because it’s about the tribalization, the ethnicization of Nigerian politics, and a man like Atiku Abubakar, who has been the Vice President in this country should know better than to play the ethnic card.
“To start with, that ethnic card should not work. It must not work. It is unacceptable to the extent that there are more serious issues on the basis of which Atiku can engage with Nigerians.
“One what Nigerians expect is not a president that will talk about where he comes from, where he married from. That’s not the interest. The interest should be what does he intend to do for Nigeria.
“There are many issues. One of the issues you have talked about this morning is oil theft. Does he have answers to that? Questions have been raised about NNPC limited. Does he have any concrete ideas about what he wants to do in that regard? In the front page of the papers today, there is a report that, you know, the Osun state government is protesting that there is an attempt to by the Ministry of Finance to seek the president’s approval to pay money belonging to the people of Osun state, that have been held, contrary to the rulings of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, to pay to politicians, APC politicians. Does he have an idea about that?
“So there are more, you know, important things: insurgency, terrorism that you Waziri Adamawa can talk about. But to say, my wife is from Yoruba land, and my son speaks Yoruba, nobody is interested in that.
“In any case, he says he will defend Yoruba interest. Yorubas have had President Obasanjo, they’ve had President Tinubu. They are well represented in Nigerian politics at this time.”
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