By Ayo Kehinde 
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has reaffirmed his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election, vowing to rescue Nigeria from what he described as its current state of “intensive care unit.”
Atiku, who spoke in an interview with ThisDay on Sunday through his former campaign spokesman, Tunde Olusunle, said the country had degenerated into unbearable levels of poverty, pain, and anguish, stressing that urgent intervention was needed.
“I will run in 2027. Nigeria needs to be decisively rescued from the intensive care unit it has been consigned to.
“The degeneration in our country, the level of poverty and pain, the anguish, is unacceptable,” he said.
According to Olusunle, Atiku lamented the “deceit, loss of values, mega-scale unimpeded thievery, and absolute lack of accountability,” which he said must concern every patriot, adding that he was offering himself to lead the “reclamation and reconstruction” of the nation.
Atiku is a key promoter of the opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), whose 2027 presidential ticket is already generating stiff competition.
His declaration is expected to further complicate negotiations within the coalition, with former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, and ex-Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, pushing for the ticket to be zoned to the South.
The former vice president, however, insisted that the ADC coalition would galvanise mass support ahead of the 2027 polls, brushing aside concerns over the party’s poor performance in recent bye-elections.
“ADC is leading a potent mass movement which will shock the world; we will upstage the status quo in a way which will leave doubters dumbstruck,” he added.
