Former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has said President Bola Tinubu’s greatest political obstacle ahead of the 2027 general election is the performance of his own administration rather than the opposition.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku was reacting to Tinubu’s remarks that his political opponents were “crying wolf” over alleged favouritism ahead of the next general election because they were “afraid of their own shadows.”
President Tinubu made the comments on Tuesday while receiving the leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by the Archbishop of Kaduna, Matthew Ndagoso, at the State House in Abuja.
During the meeting, the president assured the bishops that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would remain impartial and that all political parties would be given equal opportunities during the 2027 elections.
Responding to the remarks, Atiku described the president’s comments as “the lamentation of a drowning man” and accused him of choosing “bravado over statesmanship” instead of addressing Nigeria’s pressing challenges.
The former vice-president said it was disappointing that Tinubu made the remarks in response to the Catholic bishops’ appeal for credible, transparent and peaceful elections.
According to Atiku, rather than reassuring Nigerians of his commitment to electoral credibility, the president resorted to confrontational rhetoric.
He urged Tinubu to focus on addressing inflation, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, exchange rate volatility and declining investor confidence.
“The president should wrestle with the millions of Nigerians who now skip meals because food has become a luxury,” he said.
“He should wrestle with the insecurity that has turned farming communities into graveyards and highways into hunting grounds for criminals.
“He should wrestle with the unemployment that has robbed an entire generation of hope. He should wrestle with an economy suffocating under policy inconsistency, reckless borrowing and dwindling investor confidence.”
Atiku argued that political rhetoric could not erase the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
“A government that has little to celebrate inevitably seeks refuge in chest-thumping. But Nigerians are no longer interested in political performances. They are interested in performance in government,” he said.
“Empty slogans cannot fill empty stomachs. Boastful declarations cannot lower food prices. Threats against political opponents cannot restore the value of the naira.”
“His greatest opponent is his own record. Every unpaid worker, every struggling business, every unemployed graduate, every victim of insecurity and every hungry family is a living testimony to the consequences of his administration’s choices. That is the contest he has consistently failed to win.”
Atiku added that democracy is “a marketplace of ideas and accountability” and urged the president to devote the remainder of his tenure to solving the nation’s problems rather than “manufacturing imaginary political battles.”
“The Nigerian people are not looking for a wrestler. They are looking for a leader. History will not remember who shouted the loudest. It will remember who governed the best,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the African Democratic Congress also criticised the president’s remarks, urging him to prioritise tackling terrorism, banditry and kidnapping instead of engaging in political exchanges with the opposition.
In a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC maintained that Tinubu’s real opponents were insecurity and the country’s governance challenges, arguing that elections are won through performance rather than political rhetoric.