I am a Southerner, and I endorse Atiku Abubakar for President — with a capable Southern Christian as his vice president in 2027
By Aare Amerijoye DOT.B
There comes a moment in the turbulent life of a nation when sentiment must bow to wisdom, when the compass of reason must override the drums of emotional blackmail, and when patriotic clarity must silence the tribal noise that has drowned Nigeria for decades. Nigeria has reached that moment ,a moment so critical, so defining, that silence itself becomes a form of national betrayal.
As a Southerner, raised in the cradle of a region that prides itself on enlightenment, courage, and political sophistication, I stand today to make the most important declaration of this era: a declaration that refuses to be imprisoned by tribe, intimidated by propaganda, or seduced by the shallow theatrics of regional politics.
I, a Southerner, endorse Atiku Abubakar as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and with equal patriotic conviction, I insist that a capable Southern Christian must be his Vice Presidential candidate.
This is not a declaration of blind loyalty.This is not the rhetoric of ethnic puppetry. This is not the melody of self-imposed delusion.
This is truth fortified by facts, fired by statistics, and sharpened by the painful realities Nigeria now faces under a crumbling regime.
THE CATASTROPHIC SCORECARD THAT DEMANDS ATIKU
When Bola Ahmed Tinubu mounted the throne of power in 2023, Nigerians hoped for relief; instead, they received an unending national exorcism. Let the figures speak.
Inflation has ballooned from 21.82 percent in May 2023 to above 33 percent, the highest in two decades.Food inflation crossed 40 percent, mocking the dignity of the poor as pepper, garri, rice, yam and beans became luxury items.
The naira crashed from four hundred and sixty naira per dollar to over one thousand four hundred, erasing salaries, wiping out savings and strangulating businesses.Fuel skyrocketed from one hundred and eighty-five naira to over seven hundred, triggering nationwide paralysis.
Unemployment remains above 33 percent, one of the worst in the world.Over one hundred and thirty-five million Nigerians now live in multidimensional poverty, an increase of twenty-two million since Tinubu assumed office.
Debt has climbed beyond eighty-seven trillion naira.
Kidnapping, banditry and terrorism now escalate with mathematical precision, claiming lives at a rate unprecedented since the Civil War.
These are not opposition numbers.These are not partisan inventions.These are documented realities inflicted by a government that excels only in propaganda and selective amnesia.
THE QUESTION: WHO CAN FIX THIS?
Nigeria today does not need a tribal champion. Nigeria needs a nation-builder with:
capacity
experience
economic intellect
national acceptability
global networks
governance maturity
And when you place every Nigerian political figure on the scale of competence, one name towers above the rest: Atiku Abubakar, the only Nigerian statesman who has repeatedly demonstrated clarity of vision, consistency of thought and competence of leadership.
THE STATISTICS OF ELECTABILITY — COLD, HARD AND UNFORGIVING
Nigeria’s presidential victory requires two things: Twenty-five percent in at least twenty-four states and a minimum of twelve to fifteen million solid base votes.
Only three Nigerians have ever crossed the fifteen million vote mark:Buhari. Jonathan. Atiku.
But only Atiku achieved such numbers without incumbency, without state power, without coercion, without the federal purse.
And the spread speaks for itself.
THE 2023 NUMBERS
Atiku Won 12 States in 2023
Adamawa
Taraba
Gombe
Kebbi
Sokoto
Katsina
Kaduna
Bauchi
Yobe
Akwa Ibom
Bayelsa
Osun
Atiku Scored 25 Percent in 21 States in 2023
Adamawa
Taraba
Gombe
Bauchi
Kebbi
Sokoto
Katsina
Kaduna
Yobe
Jigawa
Kano
Niger
Osun
Oyo
Ekiti
Ondo
Akwa Ibom
Bayelsa
Cross River
Delta
Anambra
Political arithmetic is merciless.Without Atiku, the opposition cannot defeat the APC.With Atiku, the APC is mathematically doomed.
THE 2019 NUMBERS
Atiku Won 17 States in 2019
Adamawa
Taraba
Gombe
Benue
Plateau
Nasarawa
FCT
Delta
Edo
Rivers
Bayelsa
Akwa Ibom
Cross River
Abia
Imo
Ebonyi
Enugu
Atiku Scored 25 Percent in 31 States and the FCT in 2019
Adamawa
Taraba
Gombe
Bauchi
Benue
Plateau
Nasarawa
Kogi
Kwara
FCT
Niger
Kaduna
Katsina
Sokoto
Zamfara
Kebbi
Osun
Oyo
Ekiti
Ogun
Ondo
Delta
Rivers
Bayelsa
Akwa Ibom
Cross River
Abia
Imo
Ebonyi
Enugu
Anambra
These numbers do not lie. They testify to national reach and unparalleled acceptability.
WHY A SOUTHERN RUNNING MATE IS THE MASTERSTROKE NIGERIA NEEDS
Power is not noise.
Governance is not emotion.
Leadership is architecture.
A Southern capable Christian as Vice President is not sentimentalism; it is strategic equilibrium.
One: It heals the North-South suspicion APC weaponised.
Two: It secures the seventeen Southern states, unlocking seven to nine million votes.
Three: It neutralises APC’s tribal blackmail.
Four: It stabilises governance with balanced representation.
Five: It activates Southern political machinery from Lagos to Port Harcourt to Akure to Calabar.
Nigeria is a tripod. Tinubu broke the balance.Atiku can restore it.
ATIKU’S VALUES — THE COMPASS OF A RESCUER
Economic expertise born of experience.GDP growth averaged six to seven percent under his policy environment.Foreign reserves grew from four billion dollars to forty-three billion dollars.The telecoms revolution created over twenty million jobs.Banking consolidation stabilised the system.
These were not miracles. These were reforms.
Security logic far ahead of its time.Atiku warned repeatedly about insecurity, state policing, border restructuring and coordinated intelligence.
Tinubu mocked him.A year later, Tinubu quietly adopted Atiku’s proposals.
Atiku has never weaponised tribe.Never preached division.Never reduced leadership to ethnicity.
He travelled personally when Boko Haram emerged,engaging security agencies long before it became fashionable.
He is the only Nigerian politician who has challenged a sitting president purely on principle, not ambition.
THE SOUTHERN REALITY: TRIBALISM HAS NOT FED US
Has tribal presidency reduced hunger in the South
Did Tinubu’s presidency strengthen the naira
Did his tribe shield us from hardship
Has ethnicity rescued our economy
The answer is no.
You cannot eat tribalism.
You cannot spend ethnicity.
You cannot fuel your car with sentiments.
NIGERIA NEEDS A RESCUER, NOT A TRIBAL FLAG-BEARER
Tinubu has turned governance into a private company.What Nigeria needs now is a competent North-South partnership, a unifying President, a capable Southern Vice President, a technocratic cabinet and a national rebirth.
Atiku offers all of these.
Tinubu offers none.
MY DECLARATION AS A SOUTHERNER
I refuse to support failure because it shares my language.
I refuse to endorse incompetence because it carries my surname.
I refuse to worship ethnicity at the expense of my future.
I am a Southerner, proudly so.And it is because I love my region, because I love my country and because I honour truth that I endorse Atiku Abubakar as President and a Southern capable Christian as Vice President.
Nigeria is bleeding.
Tinubu is drowning.
The economy is suffocating.
The people are weeping.
Only Atiku has the map, the experience, the competence and the vision to rescue this nation.
History is calling.
Patriots must answer.
The South must rise above sentiment and embrace strategy.
Twenty twenty-seven is not just another election. It is Nigeria’s last exit before the road ends.
And I, a Southerner, choose Atiku.
Aare Amerijoye DOT.B
Director General
The Narrative Force
