The 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.
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 lands because of 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.
“This was precisely what happened within the PDP before the 2023 elections, when unresolved ambition and internal power struggles fractured the opposition and handed strategic advantage to the APC. Nigerians expected lessons to be learned. Instead, the same destructive politics has resurfaced again within emerging coalition efforts ahead of 2027.
“When the African Democratic Congress (ADC) began attracting interest as a possible rallying platform for opposition forces determined to rescue Nigeria from hunger, insecurity, and economic collapse, many Nigerians believed a fresh political direction was finally emerging.
“Unfortunately, the moment Atiku inserted himself into the equation, the atmosphere immediately changed from coalition-building to power contestation.
Rather than serving as a consensus builder, he has once again become the centre of instability. ”
The group also expressed concern that Northern Nigeria continued to recycle the same political actors while younger and more dynamic leaders were denied opportunities to emerge.
He said that the region currently faces severe challenges, including terrorism, poverty, collapsing agriculture, unemployment, drug abuse and widespread hopelessness among young people.
According to the ACP, the political conversation should focus on solving these urgent problems instead of being dominated by what it described as “another endless Atiku presidential project.”
Jibrin said: “The North today faces existential crises: terrorism, mass poverty, collapsing agriculture, out-of-school children, drug abuse, unemployment, and widespread hopelessness among young people. Yet the political conversation is once again being dragged backward into another endless Atiku presidential project.
“No democracy can grow when the same individuals refuse to leave the stage after decades of political dominance. No opposition can succeed when coalition platforms are reduced to vehicles for personal ambition rather than instruments of national rescue.
“And no serious political movement can inspire Nigerians when younger generations are constantly told to wait while the same old politicians recycle themselves election after election.
“Atiku’s supporters may not like to hear this truth, but Nigerians are increasingly exhausted by a politics built around perpetual ambition without corresponding political renewal, strategic discipline, or national cohesion.
“The ACP therefore warns opposition political actors not to allow the mistakes of 2023 to repeat themselves. If the opposition enters 2027 fragmented, divided, and consumed by ego battles, then President Tinubu’s path to re-election will once again become easier and Atiku Abubakar will bear a significant share of responsibility for that outcome.
“We call on Northern political stakeholders, youth groups, professionals, civil society organisations, and genuine democrats across Nigeria to reject politics driven by entitlement, domination, and personal obsession with power.
“Nigeria urgently needs a new generation of leadership defined by sacrifice, humility, strategic thinking, inclusion, and collective purpose, not another cycle of recycled ambition. The future of the North and the survival of Nigeria’s democracy cannot continue to be sacrificed on the altar of one man’s unending presidential quest.”