JUST IN: Atiku declares 2027 presidential bid

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has confirmed that he will contest the 2027 presidential election and has vowed to ‘reconstruct traumatised homeland’.

Atiku’s declaration was disclosed on Sunday, August 24, 2025, by his former media aide, Tunde Olusunle, who worked with him during the 2023 general elections.

The statement followed remarks by Ola Olateju, a professor at Achievers University, who asserted that Atiku was more focused on national development than on seeking office.

In a sharp rebuff, Atiku debunked Olateju’s remarks, stating emphatically that the latter did not have his permission whatsoever to speak on his behalf.

Speaking without mincing words, Atiku who is currently in the United Arab Emirates insisted that anyone who wanted to stand in for him in occasions, must as a necessity, endeavour to have a pinch of salt of what his (Atiku’s) thought is on the instant subject.

Hear him:
“When people stand in for me at events, we preview my thoughts on the instant subject and what my contribution or intervention will be, so we are on the same page,” he explained.

“In this particular instance, there was no engagement with me to distill my thoughts. Prof Olateju was not speaking for me.”

The ex-vice president highlighted that his quest to run for the 2027 presidential election was borne out of the need to extricate Nigeria from protracted dilapidation.

“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.

“The accompanying deceit, the loss of values, the mega-scale, unimpeded thievery, 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,” he said.

Atiku also expressed confidence that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition, of which he is a member, would reshape Nigeria’s political landscape.

Continuing, he boasted that ADC would leave the globe in downright astonishment, thus leaving those who argued the party’s credibility dumbfounded.

“ADC is leading a potent mass movement which will shock the world. We will upstage the status quo in a way which will leave doubters dumbstruck,” he said.