Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has confirmed he will run for president in the next election cycle, putting an end to speculation that he might not contest the 2027 polls.
His long-time associate and 2023 campaign spokesperson, Tunde Olusunle, made the announcement on Sunday night in an interview with Thisday.
This declaration follows recent reports suggesting Atiku might reconsider his presidential bid.
The reports were based on comments by Prof. Ola Olateju of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, who suggested that Atiku was more focused on improving the country than on the presidency itself.
In a swift rebuttal from his holiday home in the United Arab Emirates, Atiku distanced himself from Olateju’s comments, stating that they were unauthorized.
“When people stand in for me at events, we preview my thoughts on the instant subject. In this particular instance, there was no engagement with me to distil my thoughts. Prof. Olateju was not speaking for me,” Atiku was quoted as saying.
“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,” he said.
Atiku, the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, reassured his supporters that their coalition would “shock the world” in the 2027 presidential election, despite what he described as attempts by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to discredit them.
He criticized the current administration for what he called unprecedented “theft,” stressing the urgent need to “rescue” the nation.
Atiku declared his intention to run for election and said the coalition would mobilize Nigerians to challenge the status quo in 2027.
“The accompanying deceit, the loss of values, the mega-scale, unimpeded thievery and 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, ” Olusunle also quoted Atiku as saying.
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