• ‘Atiku, el-Rufai will lose even with terrorists’ support’
Member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Bode George, is afraid that the party will meet its end if former Vice President Atiku Abubakar secures its 2027 presidential ticket.
This was as a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Ayekooto Akindele, said that even if Atiku and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, merge with terrorists such as Abubakar Shekau and Bello Turji, they would still lose in 2027.
George stated on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, yesterday: “If he (Atiku) picks PDP ticket, that is the end of this party. If he picks it by manipulation, which was what was done the last time, we will not accept it.” Atiku, PDP’s 2023 flag bearer, came second after former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu of APC in the last poll.
The former vice president has been in a race to become Nigeria’s President for over two decades and has been the presidential candidate of different parties in six elections.
Of late, Atiku championed an inter-party alliance that birthed a coalition on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The opposition arrowhead, alongside former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; his Kaduna counterpart, el-Rufai, among others, announced the coalition as a springboard to oust Tinubu whose administration has been accused of crippling the economy, with all-time high inflation and unprecedented cost of living.
The coalition is banking on the votes recorded by Atiku and Obi in the last poll. In 2023, Labour Party (LP)’s Obi came third. His votes and Atiku’s combined were over 12 million, more than four million above the total votes recorded by Tinubu who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Asked whether Atiku could be the flag bearer of the PDP in 2027, George said, “He cannot be. This is what I am saying. North had eight years. There should be eight years in the South. That is the dictate; that is the doctrine of the PDP. I cannot say he cannot contest; he can go to any party because it is his constitutional right, but as far as we are concerned, he cannot be the candidate.”
The PDP chieftain equally doesn’t want Tinubu to be re-elected in 2027, adding that he wants his party to win the next election with a southern candidate.
AKINDELE stated that Atiku and el-Rufai should never be allowed near power when it rotates back to the North. He posted on Facebook: “By the time power will shift to the North in 2031, it will be in the hand of a pan-Nigerian politician.”
People like Atiku and el-Rufai must never come near power again. If they like, let them merge with Shekau and Turji, they will lose abysmally in 2027.”
According to him, if Atiku, Obi and other prominent politicians willing to join SDP could adhere to the party’s culture, they would defeat Tinubu and APC in 2027.
