Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, has told former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to abandon his 2027 presidential ambition, asserting that Atiku is not destined to rule the country.
In a statement released in Abuja, Olayinka stated, “The PDP presidential ticket will no longer be available to be wasted by serial betrayals of the party, who are obviously suffering the consequences of their past sins against the party and its members.”
Olayinka further emphasized that Atiku should “let the PDP breathe,” urging the former presidential candidate to give up any plans for running in 2027. His comments came after FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, said in a live media session that there would be no chance for Atiku to secure the PDP ticket in 2027.
In response, Atiku’s media aide, Phrank Shaibu, referenced Atiku’s past victories within the PDP, notably defeating Wike to secure the 2023 presidential nomination and overcoming former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal in the 2019 race.
However, Olayinka dismissed Atiku’s previous successes, calling his “celebration of his narrow and fraudulent defeat of Wike in the 2022 PDP primary” both “funny and childish.” He compared it to “Arsenal fans jumping to the rooftops to celebrate the club’s narrow defeat of Super Falcons.”
Olayinka also criticized Atiku for “venerating himself for contesting the PDP ticket with Wike and Tambuwal, people who were just a little above 25 as of 1993, when he contested the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential primary and came third.” He added, “That’s the more reason he needs to go home and rest and stop acting like the proverbial cock that failed to realize that it is now elderly.”
The senior assistant further stated that Atiku’s ambitions had been thwarted due to past betrayals of the PDP, saying, “It is obvious that he (Atiku) is paying the price of betraying the PDP in 2003, 2007 and 2014. If not, the same presidency he has contested twice and lost, could have been his to just pick if he had avoided being inordinately ambitious while he was Vice President.”
Olayinka also referenced Atiku’s controversial actions in 2007, when he ran for president under the Action Congress while still serving as Vice President under the PDP. “A serving Vice President joining others to form another party and contesting as candidate of the new party against his own party. That’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar!” Olayinka remarked.
Olayinka concluded by reiterating that Atiku’s actions in the past, particularly his role in Lagos during the 2023 elections, will forever be a mark of betrayal. “Therefore, it is again being sounded to his ears and those of the people lying to him that he is the only one who can win the presidency for the PDP that the ticket of the party will not be for someone like him, who will lose an election and run to Dubai, only to come back two years to another election,” Olayinka added.
