Atiku Refutes Viral Claims of Stepping Aside from Politics

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has denied a viral report suggesting that he had “stepped aside and retired from active politics,” describing the claim as “entirely false and deliberately misleading.”

The report suggested that Atiku declared his intent to step aside during an engagement with African Democratic Congress (ADC) stakeholders at the national level.

In a Monday statement signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku’s team clarified that the only recent engagement he had was with stakeholders of the ADC in Adamawa State last Thursday.

His team characterised the report as “an effort by anti-democratic elements to create confusion, dampen the momentum of ADC.”

The statement reads, “We wish to state, for the record, that information circulating on social media about a purported meeting of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, with stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in which the former Vice President allegedly decided to ‘step aside and retire from active politics,’ is entirely false and deliberately misleading.

“The Waziri Adamawa has not, in recent times, held any such meeting with ADC stakeholders at the national level. The only recent engagement he had was with stakeholders of the ADC in Adamawa State last Thursday.”

The media team further expressed that an issue as fundamental and consequential as exiting active politics “cannot, and would never, be communicated through rumours, faceless sources, or third-party fabrication. Such a decision, if ever taken, would be formally conveyed through the Atiku Media Office.”

The statement added, “This latest falsehood bears all the hallmarks of a coordinated disinformation campaign designed to create confusion, dampen momentum, and mislead the Nigerian public.

“Only the government and its agents could have sponsored this desperate narrative out of fear of what is coming.”

“We state without equivocation that this mischief is being driven by anti-democratic elements who are deeply unsettled by the growing national consensus to rescue Nigeria from the failures of the current administration.

“We therefore urge supporters of Atiku Abubakar, members of the ADC, and all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard this fake news in its entirety and remain focused on the collective effort to reclaim and rebuild our nation,” the statement concluded.