2027 presidential election: Atiku banks on northern Nigeria
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vanguard
Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar is stepping up mobilisation in northern Nigeria, where he has extensive political networks, as discontent with the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party of President Bola Tinubu, grows. He urges supporters in Sokoto to protect their votes, and economic deterioration could weigh on the 2027 election, reports Vanguard.
In Nigeria, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, who is targeting the 2027 presidential election, is counting on the north, where he has extensive political networks, the newspaper Vanguard reports. He calls on his supporters there to mobilise en masse, notably in Sokoto, and to protect their votes. President Bola Tinubu, for his part, retains the advantages of incumbency and an extensive political structure.
Atiku has warned that low turnout would weaken the opposition: people would buy voter cards village by village to give the impression that his supporters are fewer than those in the South.
Solomon Dalung, a former Minister of Sports and Youth Development who served under Buhari and is an ADC official, says that support from the late former president Muhammadu Buhari is shifting towards Atiku. He links this development to the reported visit of Buhari’s widow, Aisha, to the former vice-president, which he presents as proof of a political realignment.
On 10 November, the opposition party ADC challenged Tinubu to face Atiku at the ballot box on 16 January 2027. In September, the APC, the ruling party, had already judged Atiku dangerous for the presidential election.
