Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

By Abdulgaffar Tukur

The ongoing internal wrangling within our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is deeply disheartening—especially at a time when Nigeria desperately needs a united and visionary opposition. As a committed member and believer in our shared democratic values, I speak not out of sentiment, but out of a sense of duty: this is not a time for blames, ego, division or personal ambition.

Nigeria is bleeding. Under the reckless and dictatorial leadership of the APC-led government, headed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the nation is suffering from severe economic hardship, rampant insecurity, deepening poverty, and increasing political intimidation. Our democracy is under siege—and the people are losing hope.

The PDP must rise above these petty divisions. We must remember who we are and what we once offered this nation—16 years of stability, progress and pride. That legacy is worth defending. It is worth reviving. But to do so, we must become a united and formidable force, focused not on personal ambition, but on national salvation.

It is time we start thinking strategically, patriotically, and selflessly.

Why can’t our leaders rally behind a powerful, unifying ticket—such as His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and His Excellency Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed? This is a ticket that could inspire confidence, promote healing and unite Nigerians across board. It is realistic, respectable and widely acceptable.

And to our elder statesman, His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar—sir, your legacy and lifelong contributions to this party are undeniable. But now is the moment to write your name in gold by becoming the father of a new movement. Step in not as a contender, but as a peacemaker and unifier who helps to rescue Nigeria when it matters most. That act alone could define your legacy more than any presidency ever could.

Let us make no mistake in 2027: this is not just about winning an election—it’s about saving the country. It’s about restoring dignity, good governance and democratic values. It’s about telling the Nigerian people that PDP is still their party—and that we are ready to fight for them once again.

Let us rethink. Let us regroup. And together, let us reclaim the soul of our beloved Nigeria.

Abdulgaffar Tukur is a PDP member; he writes from Kebbi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via:
abdulgaffarkalgo@gmail.com

By Yusuf Murtala

Many people have been brainwashed to believe some myths or lies againts their fellow humans without throughly investigating by themselves about what they have been told about someone for them to either believe or discard it.

Majority of people have been victims of such unfounded stories and accusations — one of which is a prominent politician in Nigeria’s political space, Atiku Abubakar. This man has suffered a lot from many allegations against his personality.

Two days ago, I was in Keke Napep (popularly known as Adaidaita Sahu) when this kind of discussion broke between two passengers and the driver. The three of them were bitterly complaining and narrating how Atiku Abubakar is funding terror acts in some places which according to them is what has backfired to cost him his presidential election.

Most of the things they were discussing and alleging were products of hatred, dogmatism, sectionalism and tribalism.

I’m neither an Atiku supporter nor his loyalist but, I never for once believe that Atiku has a hand in disrupting the peace and security of my country: Nigeria. I regard him as an established politician who is ready to take the mantle of leadership in Nigeria in order to change the narratives and lead us to the promise land.

Lastly, I urge my fellow Nigerians to personally investigate and think critically before believing or debunking stories on people, especially prominent personalities: politicians, business people, technocrats and renowned clerics so as not to fall into the trap of rumour mongers, disinformation and misinformation. Furthermore, we should also develop the habit of investing our time and energy in reporting and sharing positive stories about our fellow Nigerians, not hatred, propaganda and false stories.

Yusuf Murtala can be reached via his Facebook handle at Youngstar II.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The presidential candidate in the 2023 election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend the deadline for the exchange of old naira notes.

This was contained in an address posted on his verified Facebook Hausa page.

Recall that a CBN policy says that the old naira notes in circulation will cease to be legal tender on January 31, 2023.

Commenting about the deadline, Atiku Abubakar noted that such a policy is practised worldwide due to its impact on the economy, adding that Nigerians, at this critical moment, need an extension of the deadline.

He was quoted as saying, “There is no doubt that the CBN policy has generated heated debates within and outside Nigeria.

“It should be noted that the change of currency is a normal practice from time to time—it is not something new.

“Looking at the fact that the January 31st deadline is drawing nearer, patriotic Nigerians are expressing their fear of the policy worsening the situation of Nigerians.

“It would be difficult for many people who do not transact online to have their old notes changed before the deadline.

“While we will continue to educate people on the policy, it’s important for the CBN to consider extending the deadline.”

By Uzair Adam Imam

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, has fired the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for blaming President Buhari over the lingering security issues in the country.

Mohammed added that it was under the watch of PDP that Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009, adding that the party more or less nurtured the insurgents to the monster it later became.

Abubakar was reported to have expressed surprise over the continued presence of Boko Haram during his campaign outing at the weekend.

He said: “Let me quickly react to the statement credited to His Excellency, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has reportedly expressed surprise at the existence of Boko Haram.

“The former Vice President was quoted as saying he could not honestly understand the Boko Haram phenomenon, and wondered why Boko Haram continues to operate.

“Well, I think His Excellency didn’t need to look far to get the answers to his questions. He should simply ask his party, the PDP, under whose watch the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009. For six years until 2015, when our administration assumed office and inherited Boko Haram, the PDP more or less nurtured the insurgents to the monster they later became.

“Alhaji Atiku should ask his party why it allowed Boko Haram to operate freely, bombing cities, motor parks, schools and other soft targets unrestrained. Alhaji Atiku, who was then residing in Abuja before porting to his new abode in Dubai, should ask his party, the PDP, while it allowed Boko Haram to bomb the police headquarters, the UN Complex, a shopping mall and motor parks in Abuja with so much ease.”

He added: “His Excellency may want to know that today, thanks to our patriotic troops, military objectives have almost been achieved in theNorth East, the home region of Boko Haram, thereby creating conditions for Stabilization Operations to take place.

“Despite the very large Joint Operational Area, Boko Haram Terrorists have been cleared from most of their strongholds while remnants are being restricted to the Tumbus/island around the Lake Chad that are difficult to access.

“The former Vice President may want to know that both kinetic and non-kinetic activities employed by the military have seen the terrorists surrendering in droves, thereby freeing large spaces for normal socio economic life to resume.

“The good news this year is that a bumper agricultural harvest is assured, as farmers were able to carry out extensive farming, which has not been possible since the beginning of insurgency/terrorism in the North East.

“While on the campaign trail and throwing political jabs, we advise His Excellency Alhaji Atiku to note the popular idiom that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones,” he added.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president and presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), claimed that Nigeria had veered off its path toward unity and prosperity under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement released by his campaign group on Sunday, Atiku said that for Nigeria to be great, it must be inclusive and united.

He continued by saying that a nation needs strong leadership that is willing to carry out the mission if it is to be united.

In the former vice president’s words, the approaching general elections are a rescue operation to save the country’s spirit.

The statement partly reads, “The ruling party, APC, has taken us adrift, and we are far off the course to the purpose of unity and prosperity.

“That is why you and I must work assiduously together to ensure that we recover Nigeria.

“Saving the soul of Nigeria must begin with denying the APC your vote in 2023. They have failed us woefully and must be punished for that.

“But it’s not enough to vote out the APC. We must coalesce into the PDP – the only viable party that has the capacity to dislodge the failed ruling party”.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to resolve the lingering strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Atiku spoke at the youths programme on “Intergenerational Synergy on Government”, organized by PDP to mark the 2022 International Youth Day celebration in Abuja on Friday, August 12, 2022. 

The former vice president argued that education is a fundamental right which every youth needs for their growth, and he would do the needful when elected president 

“This is because education is fundamental to your growth. It doesn’t matter whether you are in politics, business or any sector. The fundamental right of every youth or every citizen is to be educated.” He said

Atiku criticized the government and boasted that he had invested in education for three decades. He then pledged to work with university authorities to end the strike. 

“I take very strong exception to the strike by ASUU and the government’s inability to resolve the crisis. I have been investing in education for the past thirty years. I pledge I will work with university authorities to end these incessant strikes that are causing unacceptable harm to the ability of our children to get an education.”

ASUU has been on strike since February 14, consequent of which most public universities have been shut down.

By Muhammed-Bello Buhari

Claim: Atiku, Nigeria’s former Vice President and the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, claimed that 90 per cent of northerners are not on social media while responding to a question in an exclusive pre-recorded interview on Arise TV aired on Friday, July 22.

Atiku made the claim, suggesting that the Labour Party cannot make inroads in northern Nigeria. He played down the possibility of Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, causing an upset to his presidential ambition during the next year’s general elections.

His words:

“It is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. After all, they were saying through social media [that] they had more than one million votes in Osun state.

“But how many voters turned for the Labour Party? And then again, mark you; you’re talking about social media. In the north, 90 per cent of our people are not tuned to social media.”

With this claim, social media was awash with all sorts of counterclaims. Nigerians on Facebook and Twitter knocked the former vice president out for his comment, alleging that such a claim is untrue.

Verification:

According to the Digital Report 2021 by Datareportal—one of the world’s most trusted sources of social media data, insights and trends—the number of social media users in Nigeria was equivalent to 15.8% of the total population (208.8 million) in January 2021. This means there were 33.00 million social media users in Nigeria in January 2021.

This same report recorded the total population of the northern region to be 128.17 million. This is also in line with the National Bureau of Statistics figures on Nigeria’s demographics, using data from the National Population Commission.

So assuming that the divide of the social media users in Nigeria between the south and the north is 50-50. i.e. of the 33 million users, 16.5 million are northerners. This means that of the 128.17 northerners, only 12.9 per cent are on social media, representing 87.1 per cent are not on social media.

And given the apparent disparities in internet usage between the north and south due to market size, urbanization, economic development, income, telephone density and employment, which are the major contributory factors to the divide as reported in the research conducted on the digital divide in Nigeria, there’s at least a 60-40 percentage divide between the south and north in terms of internet and social media usage.

As such, 40 per cent of Nigeria’s 33 million social media users is 13.2 million. This means that of the 128.17 northerners, only 10 per cent are on social media, which also means that 90 per cent are not on social media.

Verdict: Atiku’s claim that 90 per cent of northerners are not on social media is backed up by data. Findings have shown that only 10 per cent of northerners are on social media. Therefore, the claim is valid.

Muhammed-Bello Buhari is a freelance fact-checker based in Kaduna and can be reached via embbuhari@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Nigeria’s former vice president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said the Buhari-led government had adopted his proposal to rebrand the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC

Atiku disclosed this in a post he made on his verified Facebook page on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. He said he is happy the decision was taken, but there is still more to be done to make the NNPC a world-class company.

“I had in 2018 made public my plans to reform the NNPC to make it more profitable, transparent and efficient. The APC-led government denigrated me for my patriotic vision. But today, I am happy to note that the same government has taken a tentative step along the lines of the suggestions that I had made. It is a step in the right direction, but we are still far from what I had envisaged. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to complete the process of turning the NNPC into a genuinely world-class company in the mould of NLNG, Aramco of Saudi Arabia and Petrobras of Brazil, where Nigerians and institutions will invest in. ” Atiku posted 

 Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, in a televised programme on Tuesday, officially unveiled the rebranding and commercialization of the NNPC.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

The 2023 presidential elections present the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a golden opportunity to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). However, the PDP faces a daunting challenge in how to utilize this opportunity. To do this, the PDP needs to present a common interest from the party’s wide, and sometimes, varying interests so as to secure for the party, sufficient internal and external support during the elections.

PDP got its calculations right. The All Progressives Congress (APC) picked its presidential candidate from the South, especially the Southwest – Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, is APC’s presidential candidate.

The emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate for the main opposition party – (PDP) was a product of three things. The party has settled for someone who has the national outlook; the party wants to outwit the ruling All Progressive Congress ( APC) in one of the latter’s strongholds — the North, and lastly, the party needs a strong war-chest for the 2023 presidential elections.

Atiku’s emergence was smooth, despite the political intrigues that occurred before and during the presidential primaries. The selection of Ifeanyi Okowa as Atiku’s running mate had appeared also a smooth one. But two weeks after, it is causing dangerous stirs in the PDP camp that had appeared united, initially after the primaries. Former Governor Ayo Fayose scratched the ‘ old-wound’ of the call for a southern presidential candidate, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state is fuming, while  Governor  Nyesom Wike’s camp is causing more ‘commotion’ within the party by threatening the much-needed unity in the party. 

To be nominated or selected as a Vice Presidential candidate, the person must bring something to the table — votes, a daring war chest, well-established political structures, or influence in the political party.

Had Atiku picked Wike, the PDP would have appeared to opt for someone that will bring a massive war-chest and “home votes”. At the same time, the PDP would appear to have succumbed to pressure and tried to calm ‘a bull in a china shop’.

The APC, on the other hand, would have been happy, if Wike had emerged as the PDP vice presidential candidate. Firstly, it would have ‘balanced’ its controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket. Secondly, the APC would have used Wike’s candidacy to consolidate its votes in one of its strongholds — the North. In the 2019 presidential elections, the APC used Peter Obi’s Vice Presidential candidacy to de-market the PDP in the north. Peter Obi’s deportation of northerners was massively used against him. Like Peter Obi, Wike doesn’t have longtime friends, political associates or structures in the north, to defend him. However, to be fair to Wike, during the campaign for the PDP presidential primaries, he was able to tour the country, thus making some new networks and contacts. Furthermore, if Atiku had picked Wike, the former would have had to work extra hard in the north, because Wike will be a good recipe for APC’s strategy in the North. With Wike as VP, those people who are unhappy with APC or have not decided, may not want to thumbprint a ballot paper with a “Wike.”

The selection of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as Atiku’s running mate is a product of PDP’s strategy to consolidate its footings in its strongholds — the Southeast and the South-South while not jeopardizing its attempt to strike the APC in the North. Okowa is controversy-free and the North will not have any issue with him.

Any person in Governor Nyesom Wike’s shoes will certainly feel hurt and demeaned — he has been a pillar in the PDP when the party was ‘deserted’ and he’s among the very bigwigs that have never left the PDP to another party. Furthermore, Mr. Wike polled 16 votes to defeat Mr. Okowa who scored three votes in a shadow election by a committee set up by the PDP to pick a running mate as reported by many media houses in the country. Moreover, whether one likes or dislikes Wike, for sure, he has something to offer the PDP.

That window created by Atiku for the PDP to setup a committee to select for him the Vice Presidential candidate, was an error on Atiku, so to say. The selection of a running mate is the absolute right of the flagbearer. Since Atiku already had someone in his mind, that committee was unnecessary. Though, it appears it was an honest attempt to bring everybody on board in making or taking a decision.

When it comes to elections, every political party has its own strategy. Had Atiku accepted the choice of the ‘VP Selection Committee’, it would have been the first time in the history of Nigerian politics, that a political party will solely determine the VP candidate for its presidential candidate. Though the PDP said, it was Atiku that requested the party to recommend to him, a VP. Atiku has the final say!

Atiku Abubakar is a master in negotiations, give and take and reaching out to people, including adversaries. Atiku should sit down with Wike, one-on-one, to resolve all the issues. It’s politics. It’s all about winning!

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached via; 08036070980 or zaymohd@yahoo.com.