Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on Nigerians to unite against what he described as a “common enemy” — the administration of President Bola Tinubu, warning that the country’s survival depends on it.
In a fiery statement on Friday, Atiku dismissed partisan lines, urging citizens to see the looming 2027 election not as a traditional political contest between parties, but as a battle between a suffering populace and a leadership that has “plunged Nigeria into hardship and despair.”
“The real contest ahead is not APC versus PDP, nor LP versus APC. It is Nigerians versus the forces that have impoverished them,” Atiku declared. “Inflation is suffocating families. Jobs are disappearing. Our youth are restless, and their anger is justified. This is not about politics — it is about our collective survival.”
Atiku, who ran against Tinubu in the 2023 elections, emphasised that he harbored no resentment towards former allies such as Ifeanyi Okowa and Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, both of whom recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He described such political movements as routine features of a democracy.
However, he stressed that political realignments pale in comparison to the urgent need for national rescue.
“Defections are normal. What matters now is saving Nigeria from an administration with no achievements to its name and no credible record to defend,” he said.
Warning against distractions along ethnic, religious, or regional lines, Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of weaponising division to mask its failures.
The former vice president urged Nigerians to reject these tactics and focus instead on confronting the leadership responsible for the nation’s worsening economic crisis.
“Our enemy is not one another,” he said. “Our enemy is a leadership that has weaponised poverty and hardship against its own people,” he said.
