Vice-President Kashim Shettima launched a sharp verbal attack on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar during the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Speaking before party loyalists and officials, Shettima recalled what he described as a debt Atiku owes to President Bola Tinubu, dating back to the 2007 presidential election cycle.
Shettima Recalls Atiku’s 2007 Debt to Tinubu
Shettima said: "In 2022, I reminded this nation that former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar Presidential Bid in 2007 found refuge in the political house of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had built, that generosity became part of our political history."
He argued that President Tinubu's decisions had shielded Nigeria from worse economic conditions, adding: "Had President Tinubu surrendered to expediency, some of today's critics might have been writing Epistles on a collapsed economy from the comfort of London, Dubai, Morocco or New York."
Shettima Compares Atiku to Kenya’s Odinga
Shettima also turned his attention to Atiku's repeated bids for the presidency, comparing him unfavourably to American president Abraham Lincoln while drawing a parallel to Kenyan opposition figure Raila Odinga.
"You can call him Bola, if you like call him adekunle, but the truth is that, he is the President and Commander In chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, I will respect and call Atiku the Vice President of Nigeria and I won't join others to call him kachala but Atiku who has contested for the 8th time is no Abraham Lincoln, he is more of Odinga Odinga," the Vice-President said.
The remarks appeared to reference a recent controversy in which Reno Omokri, a supporter of Atiku, had asked the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate to apologise to President Tinubu for referring to him simply as "Bola" during a public statement.
Shettima Criticises Obi and Atiku’s Economic Plans
Shettima also drew Peter Obi, the Labour Party's 2023 presidential candidate, into his critique, describing both Obi and Atiku as offering unrealistic economic solutions. He called Obi "the master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions who seems to believe a size 36 shirt tailored for Bangladesh will somehow fit a Nigeria size 52."
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke showed up at the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja, declaring his full backing for President Bola Tinubu's bid to return to Aso Rock in 2027. Adeleke, a chieftain of the Accord Party, made the appearance and used the occasion to argue that Tinubu deserves a second term because the country's problems cannot be solved within a single four-year tenure.
