2027 Presidency: APC asks Atiku to quit race, FG agency boss urges Obi to join Tinubu

African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna, and Romanus Ugwu, Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) has intensified its political offensive ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with its Kaduna State chapter urging former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the race and join forces with President Bola Tinubu, while the Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has appealed to Peter Obi to abandon his presidential ambition and consider joining the ruling party. The separate appeals, made in Kaduna and Abuja yesterday, came as the APC claimed that more than one million supporters attended Tinubu’s presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna on Saturday, October 24, declaring that the turnout had strengthened its confidence in delivering at least two million votes for the president in the 2027 election. Kaduna State APC Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Sani Haruna, who addressed journalists at a post-rally press conference, insisted that the massive turnout demonstrated that Northern Nigeria had embraced Tinubu and that Atiku should reconsider his presidential ambition rather than continue what he described as an increasingly difficult electoral pursuit. “I am categorically calling on him to withdraw from the race. Already, the odds are against him.” Haruna urged the former vice president to reciprocate what he described as Tinubu’s previous political support, arguing that cooperation between the two politicians would better serve the country’s interests. “It is on record that President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a favour to Atiku Abubakar by giving him a platform in 2011 to contest for the presidency of Nigeria. And we know that there’s a saying that one good turn deserves another.” Haruna accused Atiku and other opposition figures of failing to adequately address the economic and developmental difficulties confronting Northern Nigeria despite their previous opportunities in government. He alleged that some opposition politicians continued to rely on ethnic and religious sentiments to mobilise support instead of presenting credible programmes for improving the region’s fortunes. According to him, the enthusiasm demonstrated during Tinubu’s visit to Kaduna had challenged predictions that the president would face overwhelming opposition in the North. “The coming of Mr President to Kaduna, and in particular Northern Nigeria, has proven to naysayers that the North has accepted President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.” Haruna maintained that the party had successfully mobilised supporters from different parts of the region, with crowds stretching from the airport through the routes taken by the president’s convoy to the rally venue. “We promised Nigerians and people all over the world that Kaduna was going to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people who would come out to welcome Mr President. “True to what we said, on Saturday, estimates have shown that over a million people came out to welcome Mr. President,” he said. Haruna said the turnout had reinforced Governor Uba Sani’s pledge that Kaduna State would deliver at least two million votes for Tinubu in the presidential election. “The promise made by our governor, Senator Uba Sani, that Kaduna State was going to produce two million votes for Mr President, the turnout on Saturday has shown that we can even surpass that target.” He dismissed allegations that some participants were financially induced to attend the rally, insisting that their willingness to remain at the venue for several hours demonstrated genuine support for the president. “People were at the stadium from 10 p.m. on Friday night. People slept over. People queued up as early as 4 a.m. to get access into the stadium. You cannot buy that sentiment,” he said. “People queued up, people waited under the hot sun for hours to welcome Mr President. You can never buy that emotion.” The spokesman maintained that Tinubu’s economic policies were beginning to produce results, particularly in food prices, infrastructure development and security. “The reforms are yielding positive results. We are seeing a downward review of prices. Now prices of food items are gradually reducing. Insecurity is gradually being eradicated,” he claimed. He cited ongoing railway construction from Kaduna towards Kano as evidence of the administration’s commitment to Northern development and commended Governor Sani for the organisation of the presidential rally. APC, ADC trade attacks over Atiku’s education, unpaid salariesAPC campaign council’s headache2027: Opposition parties are social media tigers; they can’t unseat Tinubu –Doherty, APC chairman, UK Meanwhile, in Abuja, Ike-Muonso urged Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), to reconsider his ambition in the interest of political stability, national unity and the informal power-sharing arrangement between Northern and Southern Nigeria. Speaking during an interactive session with journalists, the RMRDC director-general argued that allowing Tinubu to complete a second term would preserve the principle of North-South power rotation and reduce political tensions ahead of the election. He expressed concern that Obi’s participation could divide the southern presidential vote and complicate efforts to sustain the rotational arrangement. “Presidential ambition must be balanced with the larger interests of national unity, political stability and the need to sustain policies that can transform the economy. “Nigeria has developed a political tradition of power rotation between the North and South, and respecting that understanding can help strengthen confidence among the country’s diverse political constituencies.” Ike-Muonso encouraged Obi to consider joining the APC, arguing that participation in the ruling party would provide opportunities to influence public policy, contribute to national development and understand the governance structures through which development programmes were being implemented. Acknowledging Obi’s political influence and contributions to debates on accountability and economic management, Ike-Muonso maintained that political leadership sometimes required collaboration rather than electoral competition. “Peter Obi has built a political following and brought issues of public expenditure, accountability and economic management into the national conversation. Those issues deserve sustained engagement. “But political leadership also requires strategic decisions about when to contest, when to collaborate and how best to contribute to national development.” The RMRDC chief argued that Nigeria’s political debate should extend beyond individual presidential ambitions to the economic policies needed to create employment, improve productivity and strengthen domestic manufacturing. He said the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda had provided a framework for institutions such as the RMRDC to promote industrialisation, import substitution and value addition to locally available raw materials. According to him, the council is pursuing initiatives to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on exporting unprocessed commodities, including a proposed legislative framework requiring at least 30 per cent value addition to raw materials before export. “The opportunity before Nigeria is to move beyond exporting raw commodities and build an economy in which our natural resources support local factories, generate employment and create wealth within our communities.” He explained that the council was also promoting the identification and development of raw-material resources across the country’s 774 local government areas to encourage investment in processing facilities and industrial clusters. Ike-Muonso maintained that Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy would depend significantly on strengthening manufacturing, processing local resources and reducing dependence on imported industrial inputs. He also cited infrastructure development across the South-East, including federal road projects linking Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo states, as important to improving commerce and investment opportunities. He argued that stronger transportation networks, better access to industrial inputs and greater collaboration between research institutions and manufacturers would help translate economic policies into employment and improved living standards. The RMRDC boss maintained that the ultimate measure of political leadership should be the ability of government policies to produce tangible improvements in citizens’ lives, rather than merely the success of individual political ambitions. The separate interventions underscored the growing political contest over Tinubu’s re-election bid, with the Kaduna APC seeking to weaken Atiku’s anticipated northern support while Ike-Muonso advanced the argument that Obi should defer his presidential ambition in favour of political continuity and the completion of an eight-year southern presidency. Tags:

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