Atiku Fires Back at Oshiomhole, Accuses APC of “Monumental Failures” Ahead of 2027 Race

|By Adejumo Adekunle

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has hit back at Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole after the former APC national chairman dismissed his capacity to lead Nigeria as he prepares to contest the 2027 presidential election under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

In a statement on Tuesday, Atiku’s spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, rebuked, mocked, and challenged Oshiomhole, urging him to “look in the mirror” before questioning Atiku’s leadership credentials.

Oshiomhole, in a recent interview, alleged that Atiku, who “could not fix his party,” lacked the competence to fix the country. But Shaibu countered sharply, describing the senator’s remarks as a “tired distraction” from what he called the “monumental failures” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) — a party Oshiomhole helped entrench.

Shaibu argued that Atiku served as Vice President, not the national chairman of the PDP, and therefore could not be blamed for internal party disagreements. He contrasted the PDP’s internal democratic structure with what he described as the APC’s culture of centralised control, claiming the ruling party was run like a “private estate” where dissent was “criminalised.”

“If Oshiomhole seeks the man who ‘fixed a party’ into a personal empire, he needs only to look at the godfather he serves,” the statement noted, adding that the APC had weakened institutions and weaponised state power during its years in office.

Shaibu further defended Atiku’s governance record, insisting that although he had never been president, his development blueprint “remains the most coherent Nigeria has seen in decades.”

He then challenged Oshiomhole’s moral authority to judge leadership, noting that the APC had “failed to fix Nigeria after eight wasted years under Buhari and nearly three years of Tinubu.”

Shaibu concluded that Nigerians “know the truth,” insisting Atiku embodies “vision, experience and capacity,” while Oshiomhole represents “noise, propaganda and a bruising legacy.”