Atiku To Tinubu: Protect Obi, Free El-Rufai, Face The Real Crises
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has drawn a firm line under the widening quarrel between the Tinubu administration and the opposition, warning the Federal Government on Thursday that any harm coming to Labour Party’s former standard bearer, Peter Obi, would be an assault on Nigeria’s democracy itself.
Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 general election, framed the safety of opposition leaders as a constitutional duty of the state rather than a favour extended by those in power. His intervention, contained in a statement issued in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, argued that a healthy democracy is judged by how freely its critics can speak, not by the reach of the government’s authority.
“Nothing must happen to Peter Obi. An injury to one is an injury to all. When one opposition leader is intimidated, every opposition voice is diminished. When one citizen begins to fear because of his political beliefs, democracy itself becomes the casualty,” the statement read.
The warning did not arrive in a vacuum. It followed remarks by Obi, now the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, in an interview on the “With Chude” programme hosted by Chude Jideonwo, excerpts of which circulated on social media on Wednesday. In that conversation, the former Anambra State governor said the pressure around him had grown so heavy that he could not be certain of his safety ahead of the poll, alleging that the government was deliberately frustrating his means of livelihood. “Not even a candidate. I might not even be alive. I’m telling you. Every single thing I do for a living, this government is frustrating it. Deliberately so,” Obi said.
The presidency pushed back sharply. In a statement posted on X on Wednesday night, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed Obi’s account, including his reference to an incident involving his vehicle at an airport. Onanuga described Obi as a “pathological and serial liar” and said the claim that he might not be alive for the election scheduled for January 2027 was “nothing more than a fabricated narrative, a page from his book of lies and propaganda.” He also rejected suggestions that the government was targeting Fidelity Bank, in which Obi holds a declared interest, insisting the lender continued to thrive under the administration’s economic reforms.
It was that exchange of words that drew Atiku’s rebuke. He faulted the tone of the government’s response, saying political criticism should not be mistaken for hostility toward the state. “The presidency must understand that democratic leadership demands composure, not contempt,” he said, adding that “a government that answers every criticism with abuse projects insecurity, not confidence.”
The former vice president tied the moment to what he called the country’s real emergencies, listing poverty, hunger, insecurity, corruption and kidnapping as the true adversaries. “The opposition is not the enemy of Nigeria. Poverty is the enemy. Hunger is the enemy,” he said, urging the state to redirect the energy spent on political combat toward rescuing abducted schoolchildren, teachers and other captives still held by criminal gangs.
Atiku further renewed his demand for the release of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who has been in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission while standing trial. By the account of Atiku’s media aide Paul Ibe, also on Thursday, that detention had reached 144 days. “Every Nigerian, irrespective of political affiliation, is entitled to due process, equal protection under the law and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a competent court. Justice must never create the appearance of selective application,” Atiku said.
The episode fits a broader pattern of hardening relations between the presidency and opposition figures as the 2027 contest draws nearer, with civil society groups increasingly vocal about political tolerance and due process. The Federal Government has repeatedly maintained that its actions are guided by the rule of law and that no citizen stands above it, regardless of political leaning.