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The Presidency on Thursday downplayed the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 elections, and insisted that the opposition coalition behind him did not pose a serious threat to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Aides to the president and leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress describe the opposition alliance as a collection of disgruntled politicians united more by personal ambitions and grievances than ideology or national development plans.
Atiku emerged winner of the ADC presidential primaries held in Abuja after polling 1,846,370 votes to defeat former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who polled 504,117 votes, and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, who polled 177,120 votes.
But the primaries ended amid controversy after Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen objected to the process, alleging widespread irregularities during the nationwide exercise conducted in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The two candidates then walked away from the final examination and declaration ceremony.
However, responding to Atiku’s emergence, the Presidency stated that the candidacy of the former Vice President was nothing new in the Nigerian political landscape and would not change the political calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said Atiku’s repeated presidential ambitions had been a common pattern in Nigerian politics for the past three decades.
“Atiku is welcome. This is familiar terrain for him. He is a perennial contestant in our presidential elections. He has been pursuing this presidential ambition since 1992.
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“He has been a candidate in three elections for the AC in 2007, PDP in 2019 and 2023, and was a candidate in 2015, 2011 and 1992. He has been a candidate three times and has been a candidate three times based on available records.
“We can thus say that he is a veteran in presidential elections. But he does not pose any threat to the election of President Tinubu.”
The presidential aide argued that the coalition supporting ADC candidates lacked an ideological direction and was instead driven by frustration among politicians who had lost influence in government circles.
According to him, the opposition alliance was formed based on personal ambition and not national development goals.
“They want to build a big platform around all the main opposition figures, especially those who are dissatisfied with the PDP, and some elements in the APC. So, they hope to build a coalition around aggrieved politicians, those who left the government years ago and still want to remain in the limelight.
“Their coalition was not built on a higher goal, a national development manifesto, but on the egos of aggrieved individuals who felt that they should be at the center of any government.
“They have nothing against Tinubu in terms of ideas, philosophy or development vision. It’s about: ‘Oh, I should be a minister or ambassador but I can’t, so Tinubu has to go,'” Ajayi said.
The presidency also cited the withdrawal of key political figures from the coalition project as evidence that the alliance was weakening internally.
Ajayi specifically referred to the absence of Labor Party figurehead Peter Obi and former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso from the ADC setup, arguing that the coalition lacked the unity that propelled the opposition to victory in 2015.
He said, “Buhari won the election on a unified opposition platform, where everyone brought their personal ambitions, structures and interests into the collective. But that is not the case here.
“He doesn’t even command a Buhari support base in the North that could push him. Atiku and Buhari are not the same. There is no index that can compare the two.”
The presidential spokesperson also questioned the stability of the ADC following the party’s defeat in the primaries.
“With Obi and Kwankwaso gone, Amaechi feels sad because he said he rejected the results of the primaries that produced Atiku, who is still there? And Atiku hoped to be the candidate from the north. Nigerians are looking for a President of Nigeria, not a President of a region.”
Ajayi further slammed Peter Obi, arguing that the former governor of Anambra State does not have the political structure to survive competitive party primaries.
“That one (Obi) has never won the party (promary), but has always been a candidate or been given a ticket. So, Obi cannot face intra-party contestation because he does not have the capacity to win the party primaries.
“He ran for governor under the PDP but did not get the ticket and went to APGA, where APGA was handed to him based on Ojukwu’s popularity in Anambra State,” Ajayi said.
Meanwhile, Atiku has intensified efforts to stabilize the opposition coalition after the controversial primaries by reaching out to Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen.
In his acceptance speech on Wednesday evening, the former Vice President called for unity within the ADC and urged his fellow contestants to join him in what he described as a mission to save Nigeria.
“In particular, I invite Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu-Deen to join me in the fight to save democracy and our country,” Atiku said.
Recent political exchanges have further deepened the conversation surrounding the 2027 presidential election, particularly regarding the issues of opposition unity, zoning, and the relevance of long-standing political figures in Nigeria’s evolving electoral landscape.
