The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, of posing a threat to Nigeria’s unity, peace, and progress through attempts to hijack the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and disrupt the country’s power rotation principle.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party alleged that Atiku and el-Rufai are orchestrating a plan to install Atiku as the ADC’s 2027 presidential candidate—despite it being the South’s turn in the rotational arrangement.
“It is now clear to all Nigerians that el-Rufai and his cohorts in ADC are on a mission to upend the presidential rotational principle designed to promote national unity and cohesion,” Morka said.
The party blamed Atiku’s refusal to step aside for a southern candidate during the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries for the PDP’s collapse in that election cycle.
The APC also dismissed el-Rufai’s recent criticism of the Tinubu administration as “another outburst of a waspish politician,” insisting that President Tinubu’s leadership is “visionary and transformational.”
The statement followed el-Rufai’s remarks in Sokoto over the weekend, where he labelled the current government “incompetent and clannish,” and said it does not deserve a second term.
Meanwhile, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, took aim at Labour Party’s Peter Obi over his renewed pledge to serve only one term if elected president in 2027.
Obi had cited leaders like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Nelson Mandela as examples of selfless leadership. But in a strongly worded rebuttal titled “Peter Obi and His Wrong Examples,” Onanuga accused the former Anambra governor of misrepresenting history.
“Obi must have flunked history in school,” Onanuga stated, pointing out that Lincoln was assassinated during his second term, JFK was killed before completing his first, and Mandela voluntarily stepped down after one term due to old age—not as a pre-election promise.
He added: “Mandela’s example might be more appropriately recommended to Obi’s rival for the opposition ticket, who will turn 81 by 2027.”
The clash highlights intensifying political rhetoric ahead of the 2027 election, as opposition realignments and intra-party tensions continue to build.
