A group, Arewa Citizens Parliament (ACP), has declared that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has become the “most valuable indirect political ally” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The group accused Atiku of weakening and destabilising opposition politics through what it described as decades-long presidential ambition and dominance over coalition efforts.
In a statement by the national leader of the ACP, Hon. Saidu Jibrin, the group said no single individual had done more damage to opposition unity than the former vice president.
He said that Atiku has remained “permanently in presidential mode” for nearly three decades, moving across political parties, reshaping alliances around himself, and positioning himself as the unavoidable centre of opposition politics.
Jibrin said: “Yet after all these years of endless ambition, he bequeathed a weakened and crisis-ridden opposition in Nigeria. The ACP is alarmed that, at a period when Nigerians expected opposition leaders to subordinate personal ambition to national survival, the political space is once again being suffocated by the familiar politics of control, entitlement, and domination.
“Nigeria is facing one of the darkest periods in its history. Families can no longer afford food. Farmers are abandoning their land due to insecurity. Young people are losing hope daily. Businesses are collapsing. Millions are angry with the APC government and desperately searching for a credible alternative.
“But instead of building a disciplined and broad coalition capable of confronting the ruling party, opposition politics has once again been dragged into unnecessary internal tensions revolving around one man’s presidential calculations.
“The painful truth is that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has gradually transformed from an opposition figure into President Bola Tinubu’s most valuable indirect political ally.
“Every election cycle follows the same pattern when coalition talks begin, opposition figures attempt to unite, Nigerians raise hopes for a formidable alternative, and then Atiku arrives at the centre of the arrangement with the unmistakable determination to dominate, control, and ultimately personalise the entire process around his lifelong presidential project.
“The result has always been predictable with distrust, fragmentation, internal rebellion, weakened alliances, disappointed supporters, and electoral failure,” he said.
