Atiku Abubakar calls President Bola Tinubu’s “wrestle opponents to the finish” remark the lamentation of a drowning man, urging him to fight inflation instead
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says President Bola Tinubu’s biggest political challenge ahead of the 2027 election is not the opposition, but the record of his own administration.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Atiku was responding to President Tinubu’s remarks that his political opponents were “crying wolf” over alleged favouritism ahead of the next election because they were “afraid of their own shadows,” and that he was prepared to “wrestle his opponents to the finish” in 2027.
Why Atiku calls President Tinubu’s remarks a “lamentation of a drowning man”
The president made the remarks on Tuesday while receiving the leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by Matthew Ndagoso, Archbishop of Kaduna, at the State House in Abuja.
Tinubu assured the bishops that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would remain neutral and that all political parties would have equal opportunities in 2027.
Reacting, Atiku described the president’s remarks as “the lamentation of a drowning man” and accused him of choosing “bravado over statesmanship” instead of addressing the country’s challenges.
He said it was disturbing that Tinubu made the comments in response to the bishops’ appeal for credible, transparent and peaceful elections, arguing the president resorted to combative rhetoric rather than reassuring Nigerians of his commitment to electoral integrity.
What Atiku says President Tinubu should focus on instead
Atiku said Tinubu should instead focus on tackling inflation, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, exchange rate instability and declining investor confidence.
“The president should wrestle with the millions of Nigerians who now skip meals because food has become a luxury,” he said.
“He should wrestle with the insecurity that has turned farming communities into graveyards and highways into hunting grounds for criminals. He should wrestle with the unemployment that has robbed an entire generation of hope. He should wrestle with an economy suffocating under policy inconsistency, reckless borrowing and dwindling investor confidence.”
Atiku argued that political rhetoric cannot erase the economic hardship confronting Nigerians.
“A government that has little to celebrate inevitably seeks refuge in chest-thumping. But Nigerians are no longer interested in political performances. They are interested in performance in government,” he said.
“Empty slogans cannot fill empty stomachs. Boastful declarations cannot lower food prices. Threats against political opponents cannot restore the value of the naira.”
He said the president’s real contest lies elsewhere.
“His greatest opponent is his own record. Every unpaid worker, every struggling business, every unemployed graduate, every victim of insecurity and every hungry family is a living testimony to the consequences of his administration’s choices. That is the contest he has consistently failed to win,” Atiku said.
Atiku added that democracy is “a marketplace of ideas and accountability,” and urged the president to spend the remainder of his tenure addressing the country’s challenges rather than “manufacturing imaginary political battles.”
“The Nigerian people are not looking for a wrestler. They are looking for a leader. History will not remember who shouted the loudest. It will remember who governed the best,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ADC also faulted the president’s remarks, urging him to concentrate on tackling terrorism, banditry and kidnapping instead of engaging the opposition.
In a statement signed by Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, the ADC said Tinubu’s real opponents are insecurity and other governance challenges, not opposition parties, arguing that elections are won by performance rather than political rhetoric.
