2027: Atiku, El-Rufai will lose even if they ally with Shekau and Turji – APC chieftain
On Monday, April 14, Ayekooto Akindele, a prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made a stunning statement regarding the 2027 elections. According to Akindele, even if Atiku Abubakar, the former PDP presidential candidate, and Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, were to form an alliance with notorious figures like Abubakar Shekau and Bello Turji, they would still lose badly in the 2027 elections.
Akindele expressed his opinion boldly in a Facebook post, stating: “By the time power will shift to the North in 2031, it will be in the hands of a Pan-Nigerian politician. People like Atiku, El-Rufai must never come near power again. If Atiku and El-Rufai like, let them merge with Shekau and Turji, they will lose abysmally in 2027.”
His remarks come amidst a growing political coalition led by Atiku, which also includes Peter Obi of the Labour Party and El-Rufai, who recently defected from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Atiku’s aim with the new coalition is to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, though Adewale Adebayo, the former presidential candidate of the SDP, has hinted that there are talks to have Atiku and Obi join forces with the SDP. Adebayo believes that if the coalition can embrace the SDP’s core values, they have the potential to defeat Tinubu and the APC in the upcoming elections.
Despite these developments, Akindele’s comments suggest that, for him and many within the APC, Atiku and El-Rufai’s political futures remain deeply problematic, with little hope for success in 2027—even in the most unlikely alliances.
