The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu is 90 years old, saying he has evidence to support the allegation.
The former vice-president made the claim during an interview with the BBC while explaining why he believes he remains qualified to contest the presidency in 2027.
Atiku said his age and health compared favourably with those of the incumbent President, whom he described as 90 and ill.
“I have a president who is 90 years old now, and who is sick. I am healthy; I am strong. So why would I not make my services available to my fellow countrymen?” Atiku asked.
“I have evidence that he [Tinubu] is 90, and I will present it in court.”
Atiku also defended his decision to continue seeking the presidency, describing it as a constitutional right and part of his long political journey.
He said he had contested the governorship of Adamawa State four times but was repeatedly disqualified by military authorities during Nigeria’s transition to democratic rule.
“I ran for governor four times, because at that position, the people who were in charge of Nigeria’s transition to democracy were military, and I was so anti-military.
READ ALSO: “Don’t Let Atiku Deceive You Over Fuel Subsidy” — Sowore Warns Nigerians
“Any time I won, they would disqualify me. The last was when there was even an attempt on my life, and I went into exile,” he said.
“I’ve never found anything easy in my life. There is nothing new there. So, because I’m contesting the presidency two or three times… I mean, that’s not anything unusual in my life — in my political life.
“I have the experience, I have the competence, I have the patriotism. So why would I not make all this available to the service of my country?”
On Nigeria’s worsening security situation, Atiku blamed the persistence of insurgency and other forms of insecurity on what he described as the “irresponsibility of government”.
He argued that successive governments had failed to devote sufficient attention and resources to the country’s security and defence needs.
“I remember when we were in office, I told the president that, look, we are over 200 million people and yet we have less than 200,000 policemen,” he said.
“Egypt that has about 80 million had one million policemen on the streets. And therefore, there is peace there.
“Believe me, within one year, we can control this insurgency and insecurity that is all over the place.”