If elected president in 2027, former vice president Atiku Abubakar has promised that the Yoruba people’s interests will “occupy a topmost place” in his administration’s policies.
The idea that, should he be elected, his presidency “may lead to Hausa/Fulani domination over Yoruba or other ethnic groups” is incorrect, he said.
“My larger extended family and in-laws are the entire Yoruba stock,” Atiku said in a statement released in Abuja on Thursday by Kola Johnson, his media strategist.
The former vice president emphasized that such worries were unfounded due to his personal and marriage ties to the Yoruba.
He said, “I count myself extremely lucky indeed to have had a wife from amongst this noble species of the human race, which by this token implies that the bond uniting me together with the Yoruba is aptly like the genetic bond of a family.
“This is why the Yoruba, whether individually or collectively, have always occupied a special place in my heart.”
He promised that if elected, the South-West would be central to his policymaking.
He described his Ijesha-born wife as his “Jewel of Inestimable Value” and insisted that the Yoruba had always been among his closest friends and political allies.
“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,” Atiku added.
Atiku, a long-time presidential hopeful, is seeking to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential poll.
He was first runner-up in the last general election, which Tinubu won.
