Dele Momodu, chieftain of the African Democratic Congress and publisher, has dismissed calls for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the 2027 presidential election, calling the campaign against him “unbridled chicanery.”
Momodu struck back on Saturday at Zekeri Idris Jr., a popular activist and Peter Obi supporter who had asked Atiku to give way to younger candidates, claiming that his projected age of 80 by 2027 rendered him ineligible for the presidency.
In a post on X, Momodu claimed that those targeting Atiku were wasting their time instead of holding the governing government accountable.
“Instead of making videos against the ruling government, you’re dissipating energy on a man who has never wronged your preferred candidate,” the statement read.
Momodu cited many global leaders who he said had served their nations effectively at an advanced age, naming former United States Presidents Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders; former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; former President Muhammadu Buhari; South Africa’s Nelson Mandela; former Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo; former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; and Liberian President Joseph Boakai, adding that they “made good use of their age and experience for the betterment of their nations.”
“What disqualifies Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, please!” Momodu rhetorically asked.
The outburst followed a viral video in which Idris, dressed in a green traditional garb, issued a roughly two-and-a-half-minute appeal to Atiku’s allies to convince the former vice president to withdraw from the race.
Idris contended that Nigeria’s current issues necessitated a different type of energy and that no young Nigerian would vote for an 80-year-old politician, regardless of his running mate.
“If he likes, let him go and bring angels from heaven as his running mate — not even Peter Obi. We won’t vote for an 80-year-old man,” Idris said in the video.
He also urged Atiku to play an elder statesman position by uniting younger competitors like Obi and former Kano governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, rather than competing with them.
Atiku, who campaigned for president on the PDP platform in 2023 but lost to President Bola Tinubu, is reportedly seeking the African Democratic Congress’ presidential ticket for the 2027 election.
