The Senator representing Edo north and former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar lacks the competence to lead Nigeria.
He argued that Atiku’s inability to stabilise the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disqualifies him from claiming he can fix the country while also describing both Atiku and Rotimi Amaechi as serially frustrated politicians.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Oshiomhole said Atiku’s track record does not support his repeated attempts to return to power insisting that Atiku’s role in the PDP, particularly in the period leading to the last general election, showed poor crisis management and disorganisation.
“Atiku presided over the PDP and could not stabilise it. If he cannot organise his own political party, how can he organise a country? If he cannot resolve the problems in his party, how will he resolve Nigeria’s problems?” he asked.
THE WHISTLER reports that his comments came hours after Atiku in a post on his X handle, officially confirmed joining the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the coalition-backed party he is expected to work with ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking, Oshiomhole criticised Atiku’s frequent movement across political parties, saying the former vice president’s constant defection reflects an absence of ideological consistency.
He said that Nigerians should be wary of leaders who “treat political parties like vehicles to be boarded and abandoned whenever it suits them.”
Beyond Atiku, Oshiomhole took a swipe at the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, whom he labelled “the most terrible,” accusing him of abusing power during his time as Rivers State governor.
“Look at his choice of language. A guy who shut down the Rivers Judiciary because he wanted to appoint his own personal favourite as Chief Judge of Rivers State. Once he couldn’t have his way, the Rivers State judiciary was shut down for almost two years,” he said.
He described the judiciary shutdown as a dangerous abuse of democratic structures saying that “no Nigerian” would support a party associated with Amaechi and if Amaechi has federal power, he will shut down the Supreme Court.
Turning to Amaechi’s tenure as Minister of Transportation, Oshiomhole criticised what he described as misplaced priorities and poor performance.
“Look at the crisis in the railway system that he superintended over eight unbroken years. He was unable to get the priorities right, playing to the gallery. Now he rather constructed a rail, not to Kano, not to Port Harcourt where he came from, but to Niger Republic.
“Which goods are we sending to Niger Republic? He was a minister. And if you were a minister under Buhari, you will be fair to him, life or death, that Buhari gave anyone he appointed free hand to do the job he assigned to you. That is what Buhari was,” he said.
Oshiomhole further said Amaechi’s rise to the governorship position was purely the creation of the Supreme Court, accusing him of turning against the same institution that elevated him.
Furthermore, he addressed concerns about the country’s economic situation and the mounting public frustration over cost-of-living pressures, maintaining that the APC administration is confronting long-standing structural issues that cannot be fixed overnight.
He dismissed claims that the APC has underperformed, insisting that the party is “doing the hard work required” and taking decisions previous administrations avoided.
He also added that some of the criticisms, particularly from opposition figures, are politically motivated and fail to acknowledge the challenges inherited by the government.
According to him, the reforms being implemented by the Tinubu administration are necessary to restore stability and create a sustainable economic foundation, even though they are currently painful for citizens.