Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says he will run for president in 2027.
This followed reports that he will back any candidate that emerges as a candidate under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which the coalition he led has adopted as its political party ahead of the 2027 elections.
Atiku contested the presidential election in 1993 under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999, 2003, 2011 and 2023 respectively.
He also contested under the Action Congress in 2007 and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015.
Atiku alongside other PDP leaders had left for the ADC but had been quiet on his presidential ambition.
His representative, Ola Olateju, a professor at the Achievers University in Ondo, had disclosed that Atiku was not desperate to become Nigeria’s president in 2027 at a ceremony to welcome defectors from the PDP and Labour Party into the ADC in Lagos.
He said of Atiku, “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 had said on Saturday.
Atiku however distanced himself from Olateju’s comments, stating from his holiday home in the UAE that the remarks were unauthorised.
“When people stand in for me at events, we preview my thoughts on the instant subject. In this particular instance, there was no engagement with me to distil my thoughts. Prof. Olateju was not speaking for me,” Atiku was quoted as saying.
“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,” he said
Atiku also calmed the frayed nerves of teeming supporters, assuring that the coalition will shock the world in the 2027 presidential election despite efforts by the ruling APC)to ridicule it.
He criticised what he referred to as the unprecedented “theft” under the current administration, emphasising the urgent need to “rescue” the country from its leaders.
He noted that the ADC will mobilise Nigerians to challenge the status quo in 2027, stating that he plans to put his name forward for election.
“The accompanying deceit, the loss of values, the mega-scale, unimpeded thievery and 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,” Olusunle quoted Atiku as having said, after conferring with him.
