Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has vowed to contest for Nigeria’s number one political seat in the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku, a former chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to ridicule and play down the current momentum in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Atiku stated that the ADC coalition will shock the world in the 2027 presidential election.
While dismissing insinuation that he might not contest the presidential poll in 2027, Atiku said that he will run for the nation’s top job in the next election cycle.
This was made known by one of his spokespersons during the 2023 presidential election, Tunde Olusunle.
Speaking to ThisDay on Sunday night, Olusunle quoted his ex-principal as maintaining that Nigeria needs to be decisively rescued from the ‘intensive care’ unit it has been consigned to under the Bola Tinubu government.
Atiku decried what he described as the unprecedented ‘thievery’ in the current administration, highlighting the need to ‘rescue’ the country from its current leaders.
“The accompanying deceit, the loss of values, the mega-scale, unimpeded thievery and the absolute lack of accountability must disturb every concerned patriot. I will be offering myself to lead the reclamation and reconstruction of our traumatised homeland,” Olusunle quoted Atiku as having said, after conferring with him.
Atiku explained that the coalition which he is leading under the ADC is to galvanise popular support for the liberation of Nigeria
“ADC is leading a potent mass movement which will shock the world. We will upstage the status quo in a way which will leave doubters dumbstruck,” he maintained.
Contrary to recent reports to the effect that he may opt out of the 2027 presidential contest, Atiku restated that he will run for the nation’s top job.
Naijaonpoint reports that Atiku was quoted to have said at the weekend that his commitment to the evolution of a better Nigeria far outweighed his quest to be President. Prof Ola Olateju of the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo state, who represented him at the defection of several top political figures to ADC in Lagos, suggested that Atiku was not enamoured about occupying Aso Rock at all costs.
“Atiku Abubakar’s plan is to build a better Nigeria, it’s not about being President. It’s about establishing a government that works for Nigerians. That’s why some of us are with him, not because Atiku must be President at all costs,” Olateju was widely reported to have said at the event he stood in for Atiku.
However, Olusunle stated that after reading the report from his holiday home in the United Arab Emirates, (UAE), Atiku disowned the statement, insisting that the message conveyed during the event was not sanctioned by him.
“I did not issue that statement,” he said. “When people stand in for me at events, we preview my thoughts on the instant subject and what my contribution or intervention will be, so we are on the same page. In this particular instance, there was no engagement with me to distill my thoughts. Prof Olateju was not speaking for me,” he stated.
Atiku added: “I will run in 2027. Nigeria needs to be decisively rescued from the intensive care unit it has been consigned. The degeneration in our country, the level of poverty and pain, the anguish, is unacceptable.”
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