Presidential aide Daniel Bwala has stated that his former mentor and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar may never become Nigeria’s president, despite years of campaigning for the position.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Bwala, Atiku’s spokesman during the 2023 presidential campaign, stated that the former vice president had most likely exhausted all options to fulfil his dream.
“In all honesty, I have expressed my opinion that it may never have been destined by God for him (Atiku) to be a president in Nigeria because he has done everything he needs to do to be president, and he did not win the presidency.
“2023 was the biggest opportunity that my former principal, Atiku Abubakar, had. He will never have that kind of privilege again,” he said.
Bwala also downplayed the possibilities of the growing opposition coalition, which includes Labour Party leader Peter Obi and former APC head Rotimi Amaechi, unseating President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
He attacked the coalition’s use of the African Democratic Congress as its platform, claiming the group lacked a distinct alternative policy agenda.
“What I still find intriguing is that this coalition of internally displaced politicians have not been able to summon the courage and come up with alternative facts, alternative policies or alternative programmes.
“Throughout the interview you had with Peter Obi, what I find is that he has not been able to counter or to disagree in the real sense of the word with the policies that we are implementing,” he said.
Bwala also projected that the opposition alliance would disband within six months owing to internal power disputes over who should run as the coalition’s presidential nominee.
He cited a recent statement made by Labour Party vice presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed, who apparently acknowledged that the ambitions of the coalition’s diverse members pose a significant threat to its unity.
“But one of them, his name is Datti (Baba-Ahmed), already sensed the danger that is ahead for them, and he said that the problem of this coalition will be who will be the president because right now, I’m quoting him, ‘everybody wants to be the president’.
“After one month, when they sit down, I am telling you on my own honour, in the next six months, that coalition thing will not even be a conversation; they will scatter,” Bwala stated.
