Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says President Bola Tinubu’s biggest political challenge ahead of the 2027 election is not the opposition but the record of his administration.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, his
senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku was responding 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.”
The president spoke on Tuesday while receiving the
leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by
Matthew Ndagoso, archbishop of Kaduna, at the State House in Abuja.
Tinubu assured the bishops that the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) would remain neutral and that all political parties
would have equal opportunities in the 2027 elections.
Reacting, Atiku described the president’s remarks as “the
lamentation of a drowning man” and accused him of choosing “bravado over
statesmanship” instead of addressing the country’s challenges.
The former vice-president said it is disturbing that Tinubu
made the remarks in response to the Catholic bishops’ appeal for credible,
transparent and peaceful elections.
He argued that rather than reassuring Nigerians of his
commitment to electoral integrity, the president resorted to combative
rhetoric.
Atiku said Tinubu should instead focus on tackling
inflation, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, exchange rate instability 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.”
According to Atiku, political rhetoric cannot erase the
economic hardship confronting 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 spend the remainder of his tenure
addressing the country’s challenges 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 (ADC)
also faulted the president’s remarks, urging him to concentrate on tackling
terrorism, banditry and kidnapping instead of engaging the opposition.
In a statement signed by Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s
national publicity secretary, the ADC said Tinubu’s real opponents are
insecurity and other governance challenges, not opposition parties, arguing
that elections are won by performance rather than political rhetoric.
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