₦airaland Forum

The Arewa Citizens Parliament (ACP), has declared that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has become the “most valuable indirect political ally” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The group accused Atiku of weakening and destabilising opposition politics through what it described as decades-long presidential ambition and dominance over coalition efforts.

In a statement by the National Leader of the ACP, Hon. Saidu Jibrin, the group said no single individual had done more damage to opposition unity than the former vice president.

Said that Atiku has remained “permanently in presidential mode” for nearly three decades, moving across political parties, reshaping alliances around himself, and positioning himself as the unavoidable centre of opposition politics.

Jibrin said: “Yet after all these years of endless ambition, he bequeathed a weakened and crisis-ridden opposition in Nigeria. The ACP is alarmed that at a period when Nigerians expected opposition leaders to subordinate personal ambition to national survival, the political space is once again being suffocated by the familiar politics of control, entitlement, and domination.

“Nigeria is facing one of the darkest periods in its history. Families can no longer afford food. Farmers are abandoning their lands because of insecurity. Young people are losing hope daily. Businesses are collapsing. Millions are angry with the APC government and desperately searching for a credible alternative.

“But instead of building a disciplined and broad coalition capable of confronting the ruling party, opposition politics has once again been dragged into unnecessary internal tensions revolving around one man’s presidential calculations.

“The painful truth is that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has gradually transformed from an opposition figure into President Bola Tinubu’s most valuable indirect political ally.

“Every election cycle follows the same pattern when coalition talks begin, opposition figures attempt to unite, Nigerians raise hopes for a formidable alternative, and then Atiku arrives at the centre of the arrangement with the unmistakable determination to dominate, control, and ultimately personalise the entire process around his lifelong presidential project.

“The result has always been predictable with distrust, fragmentation, internal rebellion, weakened alliances, disappointed supporters, and electoral failure.

“This was precisely what happened within the PDP before the 2023 elections, when unresolved ambition and internal power struggles fractured the opposition and handed strategic advantage to the APC. Nigerians expected lessons to be learned. Instead, the same destructive politics has resurfaced again within emerging coalition efforts ahead of 2027.

“When the African Democratic Congress (ADC) began attracting interest as a possible rallying platform for opposition forces determined to rescue Nigeria from hunger, insecurity, and economic collapse, many Nigerians believed a fresh political direction was finally emerging.

“Unfortunately, the moment Atiku inserted himself into the equation, the atmosphere immediately changed from coalition-building to power contestation.
Rather than serving as a consensus builder, he has once again become the centre of instability. ”

The group also expressed concern that Northern Nigeria continued to recycle the same political actors while younger and more dynamic leaders were denied opportunities to emerge.

He said that the region currently faces severe challenges, including terrorism, poverty, collapsing agriculture, unemployment, drug abuse and widespread hopelessness among young people.

According to the ACP, the political conversation should focus on solving these urgent problems instead of being dominated by what it described as “another endless Atiku presidential project.”

Jibrin said: “The North today faces existential crises: terrorism, mass poverty, collapsing agriculture, out-of-school children, drug abuse, unemployment, and widespread hopelessness among young people. Yet the political conversation is once again being dragged backward into another endless Atiku presidential project.

“No democracy can grow when the same individuals refuse to leave the stage after decades of political dominance. No opposition can succeed when coalition platforms are reduced to vehicles for personal ambition rather than instruments of national rescue.

“And no serious political movement can inspire Nigerians when younger generations are constantly told to wait while the same old politicians recycle themselves election after election.

“Atiku’s supporters may not like to hear this truth, but Nigerians are increasingly exhausted by a politics built around perpetual ambition without corresponding political renewal, strategic discipline, or national cohesion.

“The ACP therefore warns opposition political actors not to allow the mistakes of 2023 to repeat themselves. If the opposition enters 2027 fragmented, divided, and consumed by ego battles, then President Tinubu’s path to re-election will once again become easier and Atiku Abubakar will bear a significant share of responsibility for that outcome.

“We call on Northern political stakeholders, youth groups, professionals, civil society organisations, and genuine democrats across Nigeria to reject politics driven by entitlement, domination, and personal obsession with power.

“Nigeria urgently needs a new generation of leadership defined by sacrifice, humility, strategic thinking, inclusion, and collective purpose, not another cycle of recycled ambition. The future of the North and the survival of Nigeria’s democracy cannot continue to be sacrificed on the altar of one man’s unending presidential quest.”

Parachoko:
fergie001 abeg where's your friend AMINDA

fergie001:
He has a strategic meeting with Atiku in Yola.

seunmsg:


But wait o, is Jonathan not picking up the PDP nomination form again?

fergie001:
He has a strategic meeting with Atiku in Yola.

fergie001:
He is consulting!

seunmsg:


But wait o, is Jonathan not picking up the PDP nomination form again?

Obiedun:
kostoma dada ni. He is a good customer. Let him contest nau. He is coming back in 2027 to contest again.

YesDaddyTill203:
No one is working for Tinubu more than Obi.
At least Atiku has a greater chance of winning; Obi, on the other hand, has less than a 5 percent chance of winning.
I'm not buying this narrative. It lacks logic and common sense.

seunmsg:


But wait o, is Jonathan not picking up the PDP nomination form again?

seunmsg:


But wait o, is Jonathan not picking up the PDP nomination form again?

Alliswell248:
A third class philosophy graduate cannot be the president of Nigeria.
He failed woefully as a Governor.

I was in Anambra then.

Ask them his achievements....
Audio investment in education with 486 miracle centres.
He left audio money for Obiano, which he denied.
Zero achievements except beer business.



Facts over emotion....

SmartPolician:
The day Atiku becomes president, he will recoup 10x all the money he spent on his presidential bid from the 1990s

ElevationD:
Nothing more than the pure and unadulterated truth. It is as clear as daylight that the hinderance is Atiku. I maintained that since 2023 when Atiku claimed that zoning was improper. Atiku had no business then and still has no business now. Atiku agrees with zoning when it favours him. If not for zoning, he would not be the VP in 1999. The only reason that he colluded to chase GEJ away in 2016 was zoning. When he decamped to PDP and contested in 2019, it was because of zoning. Now to him, zoning is improper.

The greatest opportunity for him was as the VP to OBJ. Out of his carelessness, greed and wrong reading of the political barometer, he lost it completely. If only he did not try to play smart against OBJ. However, aside from his ways, it is crystal clear that he is not destined to be the President of the country, no matter the effort.

The same uncompromising stance that he put up in appointing Okowa, against popular opinion and proper political calculations in 2023, made him choose to choose the same error path this year with ADC. He has no business being on the ballot in 2027 as a northerner, aside from trying to divide the votes to favour BAT.

Atiku’s supporters now point accusing fingers at Peter Obi, as if he is the government in power. As it stands, ADC as a so called opposition party , now views NDC - another opposition party - as the government in power and in effect acts as the opposition to NDC, another opposition party. It is very obvious that the plan in ADC was to use Peter Obi, pin him down, with Atiku faking to be the candidate to oppose BAT, effectively concluding the agenda of allowing BAT have his way in 2027.

Rather than talk about ADC and its programs, the party officials focus on Obi who left the party, attacking him every moment. Now it is Obi this, Obi that every minute.

When Bolaji Abdullahi was asked about the manifesto of ADC, he could not give an answer. As of today, he has not shown any. If ADC is truly a serious opposition party, why not focus on projecting the image of the party and working for victory in 2027?

It is not to be doubted that Obi’s departure created chaos and confusion within ADC. The man that they tried to use moved faster than them and abandoned them.

Obi contested in 2023 on the platform of a relatively unknown Labour Party platform. Atiku only contests on established platforms. Atiku should test his so called popularity on an unestablished platform and let’s see. If Obi contested on the platform of PDP in 2023, it would be game over for BAT at 12 noon that day.

gassbee:
make atiku step down first, your eye go clear

sleek214:
Atiku just stepped down from his private jet