The 2027 ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at political opponents he says are recycling allegations from the Obasanjo era because they can no longer defend the economic hardship Nigerians are living through under the current administration.

The Former Vice President said the sudden resurrection of old claims was not a show of strength but an admission that those in power have run out of answers on hunger, purchasing power and the cost of living.

Atiku's Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, made this known in a statement issued and made available to Legit.ng on Friday, September 4, 2026,

"At some point, desperation announces itself. When those defending this government can no longer explain why food, transportation, electricity, rent, education, insecurity and healthcare are increasingly beyond the reach of ordinary families, they rummage through twenty-year-old files looking for an escape route. This is panic dressed up as accountability," Atiku said in the statement.

He pointed out that the allegations he now faces were fully ventilated during a period of open political conflict with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, passing through the EFCC, an administrative panel, the National Assembly and the courts, without producing a conviction.

Atiku turns focus on Tinubu

Atiku drew a direct contrast between his own position and that of President Bola Tinubu, referencing a case in the United States where Tinubu reportedly moved to block the release of FBI and DEA records concerning him by raising privacy arguments.

"It is like a man ordering his neighbour to empty his pockets while keeping his own firmly zipped. A man seeking protection for his own records has no business waving petitions at somebody else," Atiku said.

He repeated his standing challenge for anyone with credible evidence against him to bring it before the courts, adding that petitions and acknowledgement stamps do not constitute legal judgments.

Governance, not allegations, will decide 2027

Atiku also warned against what he described as the weaponisation of state institutions, insisting the EFCC belongs to all Nigerians and must not become a political tool deployed whenever those in power are losing the argument on governance.

"You cannot feed a hungry family with an EFCC petition. You cannot restore purchasing power with recycled allegations, and you cannot make life affordable by shouting Atiku whenever Nigerians demand answers," the statement read.

He closed by saying the 2027 general elections would be decided on records, the lived experience of ordinary Nigerians and the quality of what each candidate offers for the future.