Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says he will run for president in the 2027 general election.
On Saturday, Ola Olateju, a professor at the Achievers University in Ondo, said Abubakar was not desperate to become Nigeria’s president in 2027.
Olateju represented Abubakar at a ceremony to welcome defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) into the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos.
“Atiku Abubakar’s plan is to build a better Nigeria. It’s not about him being president. It’s about having a good government that can deliver for Nigerians. It’s not a personal thing for him, and that’s why some of us are with him. It’s not about Atiku having to be president at all costs,” he said.
But Olateju’s remarks rubbed Abubakar the wrong way.
In a telephone interview with Tunde Olusunle, who was special adviser on media and publicity to Abubakar during the 2023 presidential election, the ex-vice president, who is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), disowned Olateju’s comments.
“I did not issue that statement. 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,” he said.
“In this particular instance, there was no engagement with me to distill my thoughts. Prof Olateju was not speaking for me.
“I will run in 2027. Nigeria needs to be decisively rescued from the intensive care unit it has been consigned [to]. The degeneration in our country, the level of poverty and pain, the anguish, is unacceptable.
“The accompanying deceit, the loss of values, the mega-scale, unimpeded thievery, 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.”
Abubakar said the ADC coalition, of which he is a member, will cause an upset in the 2027 elections.
“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 said.
In May 2024, Abubakar said he will “keep contesting” for the Nigerian presidency as long as he is hale and hearty.
Abubakar, who is 78 years old, was the standard-bearer of the PDP in the 2023 election.
The politician will be 81 by the time the next presidential election comes around in 2027.
Abubakar has run for the number one office six times, but has been on the ballot as a presidential candidate on three occasions — 2007, 2019, and 2023.