Former presidential aide Laolu Akande has urged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to put his 2027 presidential ambition behind a broader opposition effort against President Bola Tinubu, arguing that a united challenge depends on leaders choosing collective strategy over personal candidacies.
Akande’s proposal places the responsibility for a shared opposition strategy on Atiku.
BusinessDay reported Oct. 24 that Akande made the appeal in an interview on the Naija Unfiltered podcast. PUNCH also reported remarks from the program and identified Symfoni TV as its publisher. Akande said ego and personal ambition were making cooperation harder and argued that Atiku should be willing to set aside his own candidacy to help the opposition challenge Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akande called on opposition parties to build more durable organizations and improve their ability to withstand political pressure. He also urged them to examine their own weaknesses instead of blaming all their setbacks on the APC.
To support his argument, Akande pointed to Tinubu’s time in the APC during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Akande said he saw Tinubu excluded from meetings, but that Tinubu remained with the party while awaiting a chance to pursue the presidency. He also alleged that Buhari’s government rejected Dele Alake and Wale Edun for ministerial posts after Tinubu recommended them.
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s report on the 2023 presidential election records 8,794,726 votes for Tinubu, 6,984,520 for Atiku and 6,101,533 for Obi. The figures put Tinubu ahead of the two opposition candidates in that election. INEC’s current calendar lists Jan. 16, 2027, for the next presidential and National Assembly elections.
