President questions how former Vice-President financed his university while in office, as APC leaders rally Rivers behind his re-election bid and Governor Fubara promises three million votes.
President Bola Tinubu has challenged former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to explain how he financed the establishment of his university while serving in government, turning the ownership of a private educational institution into a fresh point of political confrontation ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Tinubu made the challenge on Saturday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he accused Atiku of using public resources to advance private interests.
The President questioned the source of funds used to establish the university, suggesting that Atiku’s business interests during his tenure as Vice-President deserved public scrutiny.
“Ask him how he built the university, while he was in office as vice president in charge of our economy. Who built the university for you? It’s your money. It’s your effort. A man without moral integrity, rectitude and ethics for the office,” Tinubu said.
The allegation adds a personal dimension to the political exchanges between the President and opposition figures seeking to challenge his administration in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
Tinubu also rejected criticisms of his government’s handling of the economy, particularly complaints about rising living costs and hunger. He blamed previous political leaders, including Atiku, for the conditions they now criticise.
However, the President’s remarks placed the question of public accountability at the centre of the campaign rally, particularly the relationship between political office, private wealth and business ownership.
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Atiku served as Nigeria’s Vice-President from 1999 to 2007 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He is associated with the establishment of the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Adamawa State, which began operations in 2005.
The institution’s establishment during his period in public office provides the background to Tinubu’s challenge. However, the President did not present documentary evidence at the rally to substantiate his allegation that public resources financed the university.
The former Vice-President has, however, rejected the insinuation. In a response issued through his campaign spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku maintained that his investment in education predated his appointment as Vice-President.
He said he laid the foundation for ABTI Academy in 1993, six years before joining the Obasanjo administration in 1999.
The American University of Nigeria’s institutional history provides additional details. It records that ABTI Academy was established in 2002, ABTI University received its licence in 2003, construction began in October 2004 and the institution admitted its first students in 2005/2006.
The university was subsequently renamed the American University of Nigeria in 2007.
The distinction between Atiku’s claimed earlier investment in education and the university’s documented establishment timeline is important to the controversy.
Tinubu’s allegation concerns the source of the money used for the university, while Atiku’s response challenges the suggestion that his educational investments originated from his time in public office.
Fubara promises three million votes
Beyond the exchange involving Atiku, Tinubu used the Rivers rally to consolidate support for his second-term ambition, thanking Governor Siminalayi Fubara for accepting his intervention during the state’s political crisis.
He praised Fubara’s handling of the reconciliation process involving his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Fubara, in return, promised to mobilise at least three million votes for the President in January 2027, describing Tinubu’s intervention as instrumental to restoring political stability in Rivers.
The governor said: “Rivers will give you three million votes. We will stand by you. We will work for you. We will deliver for you.”
Wike also declared that Rivers residents had received unprecedented federal recognition, claiming that at least 47 political appointments had gone to indigenes of the state under Tinubu’s administration.
He cited the Bonny-Bodo Road and other federal infrastructure projects as evidence of the President’s attention to the state.
Meanwhile, APC Presidential Campaign Council Director-General Abdulaziz Yari set a target of 2.3 million votes, citing approximately 3.3 million registered voters and 2.8 million collected Permanent Voter Cards.
Tinubu also appealed to young Nigerians to obtain their PVCs, describing the 2027 election as a decisive moment for their future.
The Port Harcourt rally thus combined attacks on opposition figures, defence of the administration’s record and ambitious electoral promises.
However, the controversy surrounding Atiku’s university has introduced another question into the campaign: whether political allegations about private wealth will be accompanied by documentary evidence capable of establishing the claims.
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