Politics

2023: Atiku, Tinubu In Verbal War

Published

3 years ago

July 23, 2022

The presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described his counterpart in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, as a desperate liar who should never be entrusted with the presidency.

Tinubu spoke in reaction to an Arise TV interview aired on Friday, in which Atiku addressed a lot of issues, including a claim that he fell out with Tinubu in 2007 because he (Atiku) was opposed to a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.

In response to a question on his thoughts on the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the APC, Atiku said: “My fundamental disagreement with Asiwaju since 2007 was on the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“That was my fundamental disagreement and departure from Asiwaju.

“Together with Asiwaju, we formed ACN and I was given a ticket in Lagos and he insisted to be my running mate and I said no, I am not going to have a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“Because of that he switched his support to the late Umaru Yar`Adua and that was the departing point and of course, it is also a fact that when Buhari emerged in Lagos in 2015 that I also opposed a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“I opposed it and my opposition actually reinforced the decision of President Buhari to pick a Christian running mate.

“So, I have all along opposed that. I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe it is right for a country like Nigeria that is multi-ethnic and multi-religious; there should be balancing of interests, whether religious or otherwise.”

Asked whether the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate would not damage his (Atiku’s) chances in the Northeast, the PDP candidate said, “Certainly, prospects are much higher.

“If you know the composition of the Northeast, you have Borno and Yobe; these are essentially two Kanuri states, then you have the other states which are essentially Hausa-Fulani.

“So, even if people are going to vote on that basis, I think I have a more favourable (support) from the Northeast.”

However, speaking through his campaign organization on Saturday in a statement, Tinubu faulted most of the claims made by the former vice president, noting that the APC was extremely shocked by the many lies and ignorance displayed by the PDP presidential candidate.

“In the interview, Alhaji Atiku exposed himself as a man who is not prepared for the job he is applying for and a man who can not be entrusted with our commonwealth.

“He was flippant in his response to important questions about his record of service and how he made money while serving in Customs.

“He muddled up facts and exhibited befudling absence of mind,” Tinubu said through the Director, Media and Communication of his campaign organization, Mr Bayo Onanuga.

Stating that the PDP candidate bungled the interview, Tinubu also described him as a lawbreaker.

He said: “The PDP candidate is a lawbreaker: it was most shocking Atiku admitted that he cheated the system for decades and engaged in gross misconduct as a government worker.

“As a Customs officer at the Idi-Iroko border, Atiku revealed that he ran a commercial taxi service, claiming ‘there is no law stopping public officers from doing business in Nigeria’.

“He punched harder, claiming there is no conflict of interest in doing so.

“We found this to be untrue. Every officer in the civil service is expected to comply with a code of conduct and service rules which bar civil and public servants from engaging in private business, while in government employment to the detriment of the service he/she is employed to render to the public.

“The 1999 constitution further codifies this in Part I, Fifth Schedule, Section of 2 (b).

“It says a public officer shall not, except where he is not employed on full-time basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade. The rules however allow a public officer to engage in farming.

“We wonder which rule or which law Atiku was relying upon for his gross misconduct as a public officer.

“It is our considered view that Atiku gamed the system all through his career in public service, culminating in his founding of the Intel Logistics along with late Shehu Yar’Adua and some Italians, even while he was still in the employment of the Nigeria Customs Service.”

He said Atiku also has a poor knowledge of key sectors of the economy, adding; “We also found it surprising that the PDP presidential candidate does not know the contribution of oil and gas industry to Nigeria’s GDP.

“He claimed the sector represents 20% of our national GDP whereas it is below 10 percent and it is still falling owing to the growth of non-oil sector under the current All Progressives Congress-led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“False Data from Egypt: Atiku Abubakar wanted to impress his audience with his supposed knowledge of international affairs. He ended up embarrassing himself with false data he cited from Egypt.

“We found his claim that Egypt has two million police officers on the streets to be untrue. Various sources put the number at about 500,000 for a population of 104 million and not 80 million as falsely claimed by Atiku.”

On the issue of rotational presidency, Tinubu said Atiku should be more focused on the issue and not a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“Asked to justify why the PDP jettisoned Section 3c of its own constitution, which enshrines power rotation between the North and South, Atiku tried to fudge his answer by focusing on Governor Nyesom Wike and his effort to reconcile with him after he, a northerner, snatched the presidential ticket that ought to have been taken by a southerner.

“While Atiku was playing to the gallery on APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, he didn’t see seeking to be President after eight years of a President from his part of Nigeria as politics of exclusion.

“Probed further, Atiku provided several contradictory answers. In one breath, he said power rotation is not in the constitution. In another breath, he said the PDP has never ‘micro-zoned any position’.

“Then he admitted that the party has always rotated power between the North and the South.

“Atiku’s justification as to why he became PDP’s presidential candidate, instead of a southerner is a perfect example in ellipsis: ‘In politics’, he said, ‘we negotiate power through negotiations(sic)’. Whatever that means.

VANGUARD

Politics

Probe Natasha’s Allegations Against Akpabio, Afenifere Urges FG

Published

18 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has urged the Federal Government to investigate sexual harassment allegations levelled by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The call followed the Senate’s decision to lift Akpoti-Uduaghan’s six-month suspension.

This, Afenifere said should not overshadow the need to establish the truth of her claims.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Afenifere’s National Organising Secretary, Kole Omololu, said the senator’s recall reflected commitment to the rule of law.

“We commend the Senate President, His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Senate leadership for taking a decision that further reinforces the country’s rule of law,” Omololu said.

The group, however, insisted that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations must not be ignored.

“For over six months, where are the facts and evidence of her grave allegations?” Afenifere asked.

It called on the “Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to carry out a full investigation into the matter.”

Afenifere also recalled Akpoti-Uduaghan’s past false sexual harassment claims against former presidential aide Reno Omokri, which ended in an out-of-court settlement.

“Does this not suggest that, without proof, her allegations against Akpabio are suspicious?” Omololu asked.

The group further criticised Akpoti-Uduaghan for taking her claims to international media, including BBC, CNN, Sky News and Deutsche Welle, saying the move portrayed Nigeria negatively abroad.

It also queried her participation in a session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York.

“If Natasha truly participated in the IPU meeting without due nomination, then it simply revealed her compromise or manipulation of our public institutions for pecuniary ends,” the group said.

In March 2025, Natasha was suspended for six months after a row in plenary and her petition accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.

She claimed the incident happened in December 2023, but the Senate’s Ethics Committee dismissed her petition on procedural grounds. Despite a court order halting disciplinary action, the Senate went ahead with her suspension, which also froze her pay and barred her from official duties.

Akpoti-Uduaghan challenged the suspension in court, insisting it was tied to her allegations. While the Senate said it acted over misconduct, the case attracted global attention after she granted interviews to international media. The matter remains unsettled, with Afenifere now urging federal authorities to investigate her claims.

Meanwhile, Natasha formally resumed her duties at the National Assembly on October 7, 2025, after her six-month suspension ended – and immediately claimed that Akpabio is a dictator.

And almost immediately, Akpabio’s media aide Kenny Okolugbo debunked the claim.

Politics

2027: Drama As Atiku Disowns Media Consultant Over Statement On Yoruba

Published

2 days ago

September 25, 2025

Editor

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has denied any association with a media consultant named Kola Johnson.

This is as he also rejected statements released by the media consultant on Wednesday that he would protect Yoruba interests if elected as president in 2027.

Atiku, in a statement issued on Thursday by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, alleged that “faceless mercenaries” are behind the false press statement just to discredit him.

He also dismissed the claim as “false and offensive,” describing it as part of a calculated propaganda project to ridicule him in the media.

The statement specifically mentioned one Kola Johnson, described as a “self-styled media consultant,” who allegedly released a publication claiming that an Atiku administration would be dominated by a single ethnic group.

The statement read, “Our findings point directly to the Presidency, which, in its desperation to smear opposition leaders, has resorted to hiring faceless mercenaries to fabricate fake stories and circulate unauthorised statements on Atiku.

“Particularly offensive is the false claim attributed to this individual that an Atiku administration would be dominated by a single ethnic group. This disinformation is part of a calculated propaganda project designed to ridicule Atiku in the media.

“Let it be clear: Atiku Abubakar has never engaged one Kola Johnson as a media consultant, aide, or associate. Any statement issued in that name is fake and should be disregarded. We urge media houses that have published such falsehoods to immediately retract them.”

The statement also clarified that authentic information on the former Vice President is only released through his Media Adviser or Special Assistant on Public Communications.

“Editors and media gatekeepers are strongly advised to verify with the Atiku Media Office before publication,” the statement added.

It was widely reported on Wednesday that Atiku has assured people of the South-West geo-political zone that their interest would remain central to his policy direction if elected President in 2027, noting that his long-standing marital and cultural ties to the region make him family.

The report quoted a statement by one, Kola Johnson, as saying that the former Vice President spoke during an engagement with select stakeholders.

The report said Atiku described the people of the South-West as one of the finest species of the human race, noting that his marriage to a Yoruba woman in the 1970s forged a permanent bond between him and the Yorubas.

He dismissed fears of Hausa/Fulani domination under his leadership as unfounded, insisting that the Yoruba were his larger extended family and in-laws.

The former vice president added that his Yoruba connections extend beyond family, as some of his closest friends and associates were from the region.

“In case you don’t know or have forgotten, I was married to my first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman, in the 70s, and we have four Yoruba children together. She is now over 75 years old, and we are still together.

“Besides, the Yoruba are so sophisticated and highly educated that you can only toy with them at your peril,” Atiku stated. “My Ijesha-born Yoruba wife is more than a wife to me. Aptly put, she is my Jewel of Inestimable value and anybody who knows about my family, even from a distance, can easily tell you this.”

Politics

PHOTOS: Atiku, El-Rufai, Tambuwal, Others Attends ADC Meeting In Abuja

Published

2 days ago

September 25, 2025

Editor

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday attended a meeting of the African Democratic Congress coalition leaders in Abuja, alongside several prominent politicians.

Among those present were former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai; ex-Minister of Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; ADC National Chairman and former Senate President, David Mark; former Kwara State governor, Abdulfatai Ahmed; and ex-Sokoto governor, Aminu Tambuwal.

In a post on his official X handle, Atiku described the gathering as part of efforts to resist what he called entrenched interests holding back Nigeria’s development.

He stated that the meeting was also against the oligarchs who promote poverty and insecurity in the country.

He wrote, “I am currently at the stakeholders meeting of the Coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Abuja. It’s a meeting of the Nigerian people against the oligarchs who promote poverty and insecurity in the land.”

The ADC coalition was adopted in July by opposition politicians as the platform to challenge for power in the 2027 general elections.

The African Democratic Congress, originally formed in 2005 as the Alliance for Democratic Change, later changed its name to ADC and was officially registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2011. The party positioned itself as a centrist alternative to the dominant Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress.

Over the years, it has attracted defectors and reform-minded politicians seeking to build a third force in Nigeria’s political landscape.

Other members of the coalition include former PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus; 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi; ex-Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; former House of Representatives Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha; ex-Kogi Central Senator, Dino Melaye, and a former National Chairman of the APC, Odigie Oyegun.