Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, will from Thursday night take questions from Nigerians through a new online platform called Ask AA. The portal goes live at 8:30pm, according to a statement by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication for the ADC Presidential Campaign Council. It invites voters to question the former Vice President on the economy, security, technology, job creation and the cost of living, as well as on his record in public office.
Shaibu said Atiku would personally answer questions, with support from members of his media team. “The objective of this initiative is to bring Atiku Abubakar closer to the electorate through a practical, problem-solving platform,” he said. The campaign council added that a radio interface would follow, so that communities without internet access can take part.
Atiku announced the platform on his social media accounts, saying he believed leadership should be “a two-way conversation”. He said Nigerians would be free to examine his economic record and policy plans and to offer their own suggestions, promising “No filters, no intermediaries.” He also pledged to personally phone some of the citizens who leave their contact details, to hear about the problems affecting their daily lives.
The launch comes 93 days before the presidential election, in a calendar that is tighter than in previous cycles. Following the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026, INEC moved the presidential and National Assembly elections forward from February 20 to January 16, 2027. Campaigns for those polls opened on August 19, 2026, and must end 24 hours before voting begins.
How far a web portal can travel is a fair question in a country where internet access is growing but uneven. Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission show broadband penetration rose to 57.4 per cent in July 2026, up from 48.81 per cent in August 2025, with broadband subscriptions reaching 124.4 million. Total internet subscriptions stood at 157.4 million in May. These figures count active lines rather than individual users, and many Nigerians hold more than one SIM card.
The gaps are sharpest outside the cities. The commission and industry operators continue to point to high infrastructure costs, unreliable electricity, affordability and weak coverage in rural and underserved communities as barriers to wider access. That is the audience the campaign says its radio interface is meant to reach, although it has not said when that service will start.
The 2023 election offers a measure of the ground every candidate must cover. Of 93.47 million registered voters, fewer than 25 million cast ballots, a turnout of about 27 per cent. Bola Tinubu won with 8.79 million votes, Atiku came second with 6.98 million on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party was third with 6.10 million.
Atiku, who served as Vice President from 1999 to 2007, has pursued the presidency for more than three decades. He contested the Social Democratic Party primary in 1993, ran as the Action Congress candidate in 2007, lost party primaries in 2011 and 2015, and was the PDP candidate in 2019 and 2023. He left the PDP and formally joined the ADC in November 2025, and is now one of 18 presidential candidates on INEC’s list for 2027.
The portal arrives as his campaign makes the cost of living, and petrol prices in particular, its main line of attack on President Tinubu. Atiku has proposed targeted support for crude supplied to domestic refineries, a plan the Presidency and the APC campaign have challenged him to cost in detail. Tinubu has maintained that his reforms are working and has ruled out a return to fuel subsidy.
Several details of Ask AA remain unclear. The statement did not say how questions will be selected, how many Atiku will answer himself or how quickly responses will be published. It also did not explain how the personal data of participants, including phone numbers, will be stored and protected, an obligation that falls under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. The APC and the Tinubu campaign had not publicly responded to the launch as of Thursday afternoon.