Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that President Bola Tinubu is scared of the planned coalition of political parties being put together by him to challenge the president’s 2027 reelection.
Atiku, in a statement on Tuesday by his media office, noted that the panic in Tinubu’s camp has elicited desperate verbal attacks by the president’s spokespersons.
The former vice president was reacting to comments by the special adviser to the president on policy communication, Daniel Bwala, during a TVC media interview.
“The Atiku Media Office notes with utter contempt the disparaging remarks made by Mr Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy Communication, during a recent interview on TVC.
“It is both ironic and pathetic that Mr Bwala — a political turncoat who once served as spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential campaign — now presumes to lecture a statesman of global standing on matters of legacy, destiny, and retirement.
“His sanctimonious pontificating, laced with bitterness and duplicity, betrays a desperate effort to curry favour with a floundering administration clearly shaken by the unstoppable momentum of the national coalition being galvanised by Atiku and other progressive leaders,” the statement said.
Atiku said he neither seeks nor requires validation from political opportunists like Bwala, who shed principles as easily as they change parties.
“Mr Bwala’s current relevance, if any, is owed entirely to the platform he once occupied under Atiku’s leadership — a fact that should breed humility, not arrogance.
“The Tinubu camp’s obsession with Atiku’s political future is no coincidence. If, as they claim, Atiku is a spent force, why the relentless smear campaign?
“Why the strategic allocation of presidential platforms to attack him? The answer is plain: Atiku Abubakar remains the single most formidable opposition figure in Nigeria, and the coalition he is forging represents a clear and present danger to the decaying edifice of the ruling party.
“This broad-based alliance, aimed at reclaiming Nigeria from economic collapse, institutional failure, and democratic erosion, has clearly rattled the ruling elite.
“No amount of historical revisionism or sanctimony can obscure the fact that Atiku has been a central pillar in Nigeria’s democratic journey since 1999, championing reform, restructuring, and electoral integrity when others chose complicity.
“Legacy is not defined by the trappings of office but by courage, consistency, and conviction. Atiku Abubakar’s legacy — as a unifier, builder, and patriot — is deeply etched in the consciousness of millions of Nigerians. It is impervious to the revisionist bile of yesterday’s defectors turned today’s defenders of dysfunction.
“We reaffirm, unequivocally, that the Waziri Adamawa remains focused and unshaken in his commitment to Nigeria’s future.
“He will not be distracted by political jesters masquerading as patriots. The rescue and rebuilding of Nigeria is a task of urgent national importance — far too important to be derailed by the petty ego trips of desperate presidential aides,” he declared.
