Presidency Tears Into Atiku’s Record, Labels 2027 Bid ‘Flight Of Fancy’

The Presidency on Saturday launched a blistering attack on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, describing his expected 2027 presidential bid as a “flight of fancy” driven by unrelenting ambition and burdened by longstanding controversies.

In a lengthy post on his X handle, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, argued that Atiku’s decades-long pursuit of the presidency had become a recurring political cycle that had failed to advance democratic inclusivity or national cohesion.

According to Dare, since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, Atiku has remained a constant contender for the presidency, contesting multiple elections on different political platforms, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress (AC), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and now the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 general election.

He contended that rather than fostering national unity, Atiku’s prolonged presidential ambitions had heightened political tensions, inflamed ethnic fault lines and relied on divisive rhetoric, regional posturing and religious dogmatism instead of offering a unifying vision for Africa’s most populous nation.

Dare also criticised the former vice president over reports that he retained a Washington-based lobbying firm under a reported $1.2 million contract to advance his political interests in the United States.

According to him, seeking foreign support to prosecute domestic political disagreements amounted to an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty, reflected a lack of confidence in the country’s democratic institutions and diminished the contributions of Nigerian journalists, academics, policy analysts and civil society organisations that have shaped the nation’s democratic discourse over the years.

He argued that Nigerians deserved Atiku’s “report card” and questioned whether the former vice president, who had long presented himself as a democrat, had instead become “a politician of many colours.”

The presidential spokesman also revisited a number of longstanding allegations and controversies that have trailed Atiku over the years, while acknowledging that the former vice president has never been convicted or indicted by any court in Nigeria or abroad.

Dare cited the 2010 report of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which examined financial transactions linked to Atiku, describing it as one of the most authoritative international documents on the former vice president’s financial dealings.

He also referenced Atiku’s mention during the corruption trial of former U.S. Congressman William Jefferson, allegations surrounding the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) dispute during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, leaked audio recordings released during the 2023 election cycle, questions surrounding his business interests in Intels Nigeria Limited, and criticisms of the privatization programme supervised under the Obasanjo administration.

While noting that Atiku has consistently denied wrongdoing and that none of the allegations resulted in a criminal conviction, Dare argued that the controversies had continued to shape public perception of the former vice president’s political career.

He further claimed that the Tinubu administration was currently addressing pension backlogs and other liabilities inherited from the privatization of public enterprises carried out during the Obasanjo-Atiku administration.

Describing Atiku’s political career as “a study in relentless ambition unmoored from ideological grounding,” Dare said the former vice president’s journey from the Nigeria Customs Service through his tenure as vice president to his repeated presidential bids had been marked by polarising rhetoric, enduring financial controversies and what he called a disconnect from the aspirations of a diverse Nigerian population.

He contrasted Atiku’s record with what he described as the achievements of President Bola Tinubu’s administration under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

According to Dare, the Tinubu administration has focused on stabilising the economy, expanding infrastructure, implementing a new national minimum wage and rolling out landmark social programmes, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), while pursuing broader economic reforms.

He argued that while the current administration was focused on reforms and national development, Atiku remained trapped by the controversies of his past.

Dare said Atiku’s latest political moves reflected desperation rather than statesmanship, insisting that the former vice president’s 2027 presidential ambition amounted to “a desperate flight of fancy,” haunted by unresolved questions from his long and controversial political history.