•Momodu fires back at ex-VP’s critics, says Trump, Mandela, Biden ran for presidency at old age
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the only opposition force that was ready to challenge and defeat the “failing” All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year’s general election.
This is as a chieftain of the ADC and publisher, Dele Momodu, has dismissed calls for former vice president to step aside from the 2027 presidential race, describing the campaign against him as “unbridled chicanery.”
Atiku, who made the remark yesterday in a post on X, described the ADC as a party “strong in ideals and structure”.
“I remain convinced that the ADC has risen as Nigeria’s true opposition force , one that is strong in ideals, structure, and resolve, and ready to challenge and defeat the failing APC in the elections ahead,” he wrote.
The former vice president said he hosted stakeholders of the Adamawa ADC at his Abuja residence on Friday, describing the visit as “deeply touching.”
“I thanked them for the gesture and reminded the new state leadership that unity is now their sacred duty: To heal divisions, carry everyone along, and lead with fairness,” he added.
On Friday, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said Nigerians were determined to vote President Bola Tinubu out of office in 2027, alleging that his “policies have ruined lives and destroyed livelihoods.”
Abdullahi was reacting to comments made by the president at the State House on Thursday while hosting the Renewed Hope Ambassadors.
At the event, Tinubu had said he was unfazed by mounting opposition against him ahead of the 2027 elections.
“They want to scare me off? It’s a lie. I’ve been through this path before,” the president had said.
However, Abdullahi said the remarks reflected a leader disconnected from the reality of hardship, insecurity, and frustration facing millions of citizens.
In a related development, a chieftain of the ADC and publisher, Dele Momodu, has dismissed calls for Atiku to step aside from the 2027 presidential race, describing the campaign against him as “unbridled chicanery.”
Momodu fired back yesterday at popular activist and Peter Obi’s supporter, Zekeri Idris Jnr, who had urged Atiku to yield ground to younger candidates, arguing that his projected age of 80 by 2027 made him unfit for the presidency.
In a post on X, Momodu said those targeting Atiku were misdirecting their energy instead of holding the ruling government accountable.
“Instead of making videos against the ruling government, you’re dissipating energy on a man who has never wronged your preferred candidate,” the statement read.
Momodu cited a raft of global leaders who he said had served their nations effectively at an advanced age, naming former United States Presidents Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders; former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; former President Muhammadu Buhari; South Africa’s Nelson Mandela; former Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo; former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and Liberian President Joseph Boakai, adding that they “made good use of their age and experience for the betterment of their nations”.
“What disqualifies Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, please?” Momodu rhetorically asked.
The outburst followed a viral video in which Idris, wearing a green traditional outfit, delivered a nearly two-and-a-half-minute appeal, urging Atiku’s allies to persuade the former vice president to bow out of the race.
Idris argued that Nigeria’s current challenges demanded a different kind of energy and that no young Nigerian would vote for an 80-year-old candidate, regardless of his running mate.
“If he likes, let him go and bring angels from heaven as his running mate — not even Peter Obi. We won’t vote for an 80-year-old man,” Idris said in the video.
He also called on Atiku to play an elder statesman’s role by uniting younger contenders such as Obi and former Kano Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, rather than competing against them.
Atiku, who ran for the presidency on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform in 2023 and lost to President Bola Tinubu, is reported to be eyeing the ADC presidential ticket ahead of the 2027 elections.
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