Former Vice president Atiku Abubakar has declared President Bola Tinubu Nigeria’s “number one enemy,” a failure and an incompetent leader, charging Nigerians to rise up against Mr Tinubu’s for their “collective survival.”

In a statement on Friday, Mr Atiku said he bore no grudges against his running mate, in the 2023 presidential poll, Ifeanyi Okowa and the Delta State governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Party.

He added that the 2027 election would be a battle between suffering Nigerians and their “number one enemy,” Mr Tinubu.

He stated, “Let us be clear: the coming political battle is not APC versus PDP, or LP versus APC. It is Nigerians versus an administration that has plunged the nation into untold suffering. The economy is in freefall. Inflation is choking the masses. Jobs are vanishing. Youth restiveness is surging to terrifying levels. Nigerians are not just tired — they are angry, and rightfully so. This moment is about collective survival. The real enemy is not one another — it is the Tinubu administration’s abysmal failure. We must reject every attempt to distract us with ethnic, regional, or religious sentiments. These are tools of manipulation, designed to divide and conquer, used by those with nothing else to offer.”

The opposition leader noted that defections, alliances, and realignments were part and parcel of democratic politics, stating “We’ve seen them before, and we’ll see them again.’’  He also lamented Mr Tinubu’s incompetent leadership that “has no achievements to stand on, no credible record to defend.”

Recall that presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday mocked Mr Abubakar over Mr Okowa’s defection, describing the opposition leader’s political future as bleak.

“Atiku’s political future looks bleak. The coalition that he, El Rufai, Babachir, and new member Baba-Ahmed are cobbling together has disintegrated. Potential allies, including a former running mate Ifeanyi Okowa and defunct CPC members, are giving his leprous group a wide berth. Atiku is a loser again,” Mr Onanuga said in a post on X formerly Twitter.