Following President Bola Tinubu’s resolve to wrestle with opposition politicians to the finishing point, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has said, “the president should wrestle with the millions of Nigerians who now skip meals because food has become a luxury.”
This was as he pointed out that Tinubu’s greatest political obstacle ahead of the 2027 general election is not the opposition but the performance of his administration, urging him to focus on addressing Nigeria’s worsening economic and security challenges.
Atiku spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in response to President Tinubu’s comments that opposition politicians were “crying wolf” over alleged favouritism ahead of the next election because they were “afraid of their own shadows.”
The president had made the remarks on Tuesday while receiving the leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso of Kaduna, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
During the meeting, Tinubu assured the bishops that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2027, insisting that all political parties would be given equal opportunities.
He went further to say, “I asked for this job. I’m in it. Those who will take it from me will try. They will try. All is fair in politics, and it’s equal opportunity… I’m ready, but I won’t give them a red carpet. I won’t offer them the leash to tie me and rope me. No, we wrestle each other to the finishing point.”
Reacting in a statement issued on Thursday, Atiku described the president’s assertion as “the lamentation of a drowning man,” accusing him of resorting to political bravado instead of addressing pressing national concerns.
He expressed disappointment that Tinubu’s comments came in response to an appeal by the Catholic bishops for peaceful, transparent and credible elections, arguing that Nigerians expected reassurance on electoral integrity rather than political attacks.
The former vice president pointed out that Tinubu should be more concerned with rising inflation, widespread hunger, insecurity, unemployment, exchange rate volatility and declining investor confidence.
According to him, “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.”
The ADC standard bearer argued that political rhetoric would not erase the hardship faced by ordinary 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.
He added that “empty slogans cannot fill empty stomachs,” insisting that threats against political opponents would neither reduce food prices nor restore the value of the naira.
Atiku maintained that Tinubu’s administration would ultimately be judged by its record, saying every struggling business, unemployed graduate, unpaid worker and victim of insecurity reflected the consequences of government policies.
“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,” he stated.
He went on to describe democracy as “a marketplace of ideas and accountability,” urging the president to devote the remainder of his tenure to solving the country’s challenges rather than engaging in what he called 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,” Atiku added.
