FORMER Vice President and 2027 presidential hopeful, Atiku Abubakar, has pledged that Yoruba interests will be central to his administration’s policies if elected president, dismissing fears of ethnic domination as baseless.
News Point Nigeria reports that speaking through a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by his media consultant, Kola Johnson, Atiku insisted that the Yoruba nation was not just an ally but family, citing his long-standing marital and personal ties with the South-West.
Atiku, who served as Vice President between 1999 and 2007, dismissed the perception that his presidency might foster Hausa/Fulani domination over other ethnic groups, particularly the Yoruba.
“The entire Yoruba stock is my larger extended family and in-laws,” Atiku declared. “This is why the Yoruba, whether individually or collectively, have always occupied a special place in my heart.”
He stressed that his first marriage to Titi Abubakar, an Ijesha-born Yoruba woman, in the 1970s, and their four children together, was living proof of his unbreakable bond with the South-West.
“In case you don’t know or have forgotten, I was married to my first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman, in the 70s, and we have four Yoruba children together. She is now over 75 years old, and we are still together,” Atiku said.
He affectionately recalled how his children with Titi sometimes call him “Baba Rere”, meaning “Good Father” in Yoruba, describing his wife as his “Jewel of Inestimable Value.”
Atiku vowed that if elected in 2027, the South-West would occupy a “topmost place” in his policymaking and governance agenda.
“It is also for this reason that the interest of the Yorubas will always occupy a topmost place in my policymaking and governance if, by the special Grace of Allah, I am lucky to be president in 2027,” he stated.
He added that his long-standing political friendships and alliances with Yoruba leaders were further evidence of his detribalised nature.
“Anyone who knows me will tell you with all sincerity that, as a person, I am naturally a highly detribalised person. Even before I could ever venture into politics, I flowed easily and effortlessly with people of diverse tribes, ethnicity, religion and whatever sectarian differences,” he noted.
By tying his personal life to Yoruba identity, Atiku seeks to assure the region that his presidency would not sideline their interests, but instead elevate them to the core of Nigeria’s governance.
