Atiku hints at running amid talks on coalition’s Presidential ticket

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has hinted at taking another shot at the Presidency. Atiku, who ran against ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, and challenged President Bola Tinubu in 2023, gave the indication when he received a delegation led by former Minister Idris Abdullahi. He had said stealing and any form of corrupt practice will have […]

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has hinted at taking another shot at the Presidency.

Atiku, who ran against ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, and challenged President Bola Tinubu in 2023, gave the indication when he received a delegation led by former Minister Idris Abdullahi.

He had said stealing and any form of corrupt practice will have no place in the government he leads.

In a video he shared on his X handle, Atiku said “enough is enough”.

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He said, “We will decisively deal with anyone who says he will steal or engage in any corrupt practice. We will fight him, I swear. Enough is enough! Every nation is progressing but Nigeria’s growth is hindered by a few elements.”

“That was why we ensured that our interim leadership structure is a composition of people with proven integrity and honesty. And it is from this that you can tell what will be the style of our leadership.”

In a post accompanying the video, Atiku stressed that Nigerians cannot continue to suffer because of bad governance.

“Nigerians cannot continue to suffer amidst an abundance of resources owing to bad governance,” stressing that the coalition of opposition leaders under the umbrella of African Democratic Congress (ADC) would work hard to transform the lives of Nigerians.

Daily Trust had reported how Atiku and some opposition politicians had unveiled ADC as the platform to use in unseating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.

There have been different talks about the presidential ticket of the coalition.

Commenting on this on ARISE TV earlier in the week, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, Vice Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, said presidential ticket is ADC’s biggest test.

While comparing the ADC coalition to the alliance of political parties that formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, he added that that unlike the current coalition, the APC alliance perceived former President Muhammadu Buhari as the “anointed” presidential candidate long before the primary election.

“There are structural misgivings in the coalition as it is today. Buhari was the distant anointed from ab initio (referring to APC in 2015). The convener (Tinubu) supported him. He understands that when Buhari leaves, he will become president.

“This opposition does not have a distant anointed (candidate). There will be a very close gap and tight struggle for it (presidential candidate). Possibly, not so clean primary and struggle for it. The question is what will be the aftermath,” he had said.

Baba-Ahmed further said  Obi should not be a deputy to anyone for the 2027 election.

“The position of VP is very big. Anyway, I wanted to be, and I was rigged out. But I think Peter Obi should not be a VP, having gotten a disputed 10 million votes,” he had said.

But taunting the opposition, Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, described the coalition as “Atiku’s show”, saying Obi would never get the presidential ticket.

“No matter how you look at it, this is just Atiku’s faction of PDP in desperate search for the 2027 Presidential ticket – nothing more, nothing less… The person whom the old, cunning guards want to take for a ride in all of this is Peter Obi. They want his votes, but don’t want to give him their Presidential ticket, because this is Atiku’s show simpliciter. That is why David Mark is the interim Chairman. Those who know politics know what I am saying. But if you do not give Peter Obi the Presidential ticket, you lose his supporters. It is as simple as that. And how can you make someone who won two regions in the last election (South-East and South-South) a running mate to the person who won only one region (North-East)?” Keyamo wrote on Twitter.