Veteran presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has said that a professor who said he was not keen on contesting in 2027 did not speak for him.
He has thus declared he would run again.
Prof Ola Olateju of the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, who represented Atiku at the defection of some political figures to the African Democratic Congress, (ADC), in Lagos at the weekend, had said Atiku was not keen about occupying Aso Rock at all costs.
But another don and politician, Professor Tunde Olusunle, who is also a Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar during the 2023 presidential election, Atiku reaffirmed he is determined on his political course towards the Presidency.
Olusunle was quoted as sying: “I did not issue that statement; 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.
“ In this particular instance, there was no engagement with me to distill my thoughts; Prof Olateju was not speaking for me.
“I will run in 2027, Nigeria needs to be decisively rescued from the intensive care unit it has been consigned; 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.”
Atiku declared the the ADC coalition he is working on will galvanise popular support for the liberation of Nigeria and victory in 2027.
Dismissing insinuations that ADC’s weak performance in recent bye-elections is a true reflection of its capacity, he said a platform which was adopted just a few months ago cannot be expected to engender upsets in by-elections.
