Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to focus on what he described as the shortcomings of the Federal Government, arguing that political rhetoric will not salvage the administration.
Atiku maintained that the President’s performance in office, rather than the opposition, would determine the outcome of the 2027 presidential election.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said President Tinubu’s biggest challenge ahead of the 2027 polls is not the African Democratic Congress or any other political party, but the record of his administration over the past three years.
The remarks followed President Tinubu’s meeting with the leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) at the State House in Abuja, where he declared that he was ready to wrestle his political opponents “to the finishing point” in next year’s election.
Reacting to the President’s comments, Atiku, the ADC’s 2027 presidential candidate, described the statement as an effort to shift public attention from what he called the administration’s poor performance. He also said the President’s response to the bishops’ appeal for credible, transparent and peaceful elections reflected a lack of the humility and decorum expected during such an important engagement.
According to Atiku, a leader presiding over what he described as the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in decades should be more concerned with tackling inflation, hunger, insecurity, the instability of the naira and restoring public confidence in government than engaging in political battles.
The former Vice President stated that “the President should wrestle with millions of Nigerians who now skip meals because food has become a luxury. He should wrestle with the insecurity that has turned farming communities into graveyards and highways into hunting grounds for criminals.
“He should wrestle with the unemployment that has robbed an entire generation of hope. He should wrestle with an economy suffocating under policy inconsistency, reckless borrowing and dwindling investor confidence.”
He further argued that leaders who fail to meet public expectations often resort to political drama in an attempt to distract citizens from pressing national issues.
“His greatest opponent is his own record. Every unpaid worker, every struggling business, every unemployed graduate, every victim of insecurity and every hungry family is a living testimony to the consequences of his administration’s choices. That is the contest he has consistently failed to win.”
Atiku also stressed that democracy is founded on accountability and the exchange of ideas, adding that governments secure re-election through competence, compassion and measurable achievements rather than confrontational rhetoric.
“In 2027, Nigerians will not be stepping into a wrestling arena. They will be stepping into polling units to deliver a constitutional verdict.
“The Nigerian people are not looking for a wrestler. They are looking for a leader. History will not remember who shouted the loudest. It will remember who governed the best.”
