Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are nervous as a result of he’s the centre of gravity within the unfolding 2027 political equation.
Atiku stated the presidency’s nervousness was made worse by the latest momentum of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) forward of the 2027 presidential election.
In an announcement on Tuesday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku raised the alarm over coordinated disinformation to undermine ADC’s momentum.
He harassed that claims of his political retirement have been outright falsehood, saying, “This isn’t sentiment. It’s political actuality.
“And it’s exactly this rising convergence, this widening discipline of attraction that has triggered panic amongst anti-democratic parts who now resort to crude propaganda in a determined try to fracture a momentum they neither perceive nor can comprise.”
The previous vp stated, “Those that perceive energy know that what some dismiss as ‘noise’ is usually the earliest sign of motion, revealing the place consideration was drifting, the place pursuits have been recalibrating, and the place the subsequent realignment may in the end settle.
“No quantity of disinformation will halt this motion. The willpower of Nigerians far outweighs the worry of those that have failed them.
“We urge supporters of Atiku Abubakar, members of the ADC, and all well-meaning Nigerians to ignore this propaganda in its entirety and stay steadfast within the collective mission to rebuild our nation.”
‘Strain on INEC to Destabilise ADC’
ADC accused the APC-led federal authorities of making an attempt to destabilisethe opposition social gathering following Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s defection.
It alleged that the plot was being executed by mount-ing stress on Chairman of Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, to intervene with the ADC management.
In an announcement by its Nationwide Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC stated a March 28 letter by some Senior Advocates, purportedly representing an expelled member of the social gathering, was getting used to push INEC to invalidate social gathering actions and alter its construction earlier than the court docket ruling. ADC alleged that this was a part of a grand plan to destabilise the one viable opposition social gathering left within the nation and promised to withstand it utilizing all constitutional means.
The social gathering stated it had noticed a coordinated try to stress Amupitanand to destabilise the David Mark-led management of ADC.
The assertion stated, ‘’The choice of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to affix our social gathering has understandably despatched jitters by way of the ruling social gathering.
“Since then, high officers inside the federal authorities have renewed their onslaught towards our social gathering, in a bid to discourage different high-profile figures.
‘’This conspiracy is centred on a authorized dispute that’s now being pushed past the courtroom. In a letter dated March 28, 2026, a staff of Senior Advocates of Nigeria is asking INEC to implement a curious and peculiar interpretation of a Courtroom of Attraction ruling relating to what constitutes ‘establishment ante bellum’.”
Abdullahi stated within the stated letter the writers even went forward to threaten the INEC chairman with arrest if he didn’t grant their request inside seven days.
ADC acknowledged, ‘’They need INEC to invalidate social gathering conferences, take away recognised officers, and hand over the affairs of the social gathering to a selected particular person, regardless that the case itself has not been totally determined by the courts.
“Clearly, what the authors of this vexatious letter are trying to do is to stress INEC to take sides and grant them what no court docket in Nigeria has granted.”
The assertion added, ‘’For the avoidance of doubt, Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe, who’s claiming to be aggrieved over the ADC management, was by no means the Chairman of the ADC.
“And, maybe extra considerably, Nafiu Gombe had earlier resigned his place alongside different members of the Nationwide Working Committee.
‘’He has additionally since been expelled from the social gathering. Subsequently, any try to recreate a ‘establishment’ that upgrades his place to Nationwide Chairman of the ADC at any time limit is, at finest, fictitious.
‘’What we’re witnessing is a convergence of authorized stress and political intent by a ruling social gathering that’s unsettled by the rising enchantment of the ADC. However Nigerians can see what is going on.’’
Group: Plans to Cancel Opposition, Make APC Solely Choice Received’t Be Allowed
A gaggle, Nigeria Democratic Rights Advocacy (NDRA), warned the governing APC that the makes an attempt to compromise the nation’s democracy and make the social gathering the one possibility on the poll in 2027 wouldn’t be tolerated or accepted.
NDRA additionally raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the presidency to discredit and cancel credible leaders of the opposition ADC.
Secretary-Normal of NDRA, Hon. Julius Aondowase, in an announcement, stated the continuing litigation difficult the authenticity of the Senator David Mark-led Nationwide Working Committee (NWC) of ADC was being orchestrated by APC.
The group acknowledged that the rising profile of ADC, particularly within the northern a part of the nation, had unsettled the presidency and upset a specific outstanding appointee of the APC administration from the north.
NDRA stated within the assertion, “We now have it from a dependable supply {that a} assembly was convened on Monday with senior authorized minds in Abuja.
“The aim of the assembly is to discover all doable choices that might compromise the judicial system to cease the ADC from taking part within the election subsequent yr.”
Aondowase acknowledged, “We’re additionally conscious that the choice to get the ADC off the poll within the upcoming election was handed all the way down to the Northern high politician within the presidency.
“It’s the final joker by the ruling social gathering, the All Progressives Congress, to make sure a system of management over all viable opposition events forward of the election subsequent yr.”
Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale
Times Nigeria