Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has outlined a two-pronged plan for his first 100 days in office, promising to significantly bolster the nation's security forces and reverse the removal of the fuel subsidy. He made these commitments during a Hausa-language interview on the PAP show on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, setting the stage for his 2027 presidential campaign.
Atiku's Security Blueprint for the First 100 Days
Addressing Nigeria's persistent security crises, Atiku stated, "What I will do in the first 100 days in office to address insecurity is to increase the number of security personnel and equip them adequately." He attributed the country's security challenges, including Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks in the North-East, bandit violence in the North-West, IPOB separatist activities in the South-East, and kidnapping in the South-West, to a failure of leadership at the highest levels.
Drawing on a past experience from the early days of the Boko Haram insurgency in Yobe State, Atiku recounted advising a former president to summon security chiefs and demand results or their resignations. He argued that current leadership has failed to take such decisive action. According to Daily Trust, Atiku said, "Boko Haram started in Yobe. At that time the president called me and told me there was a serious problem and asked what should be done. I advised him to summon all the security chiefs. When they arrived, I told him to ask them to either address the issue or resign. But now, failure of leadership is the reason they are not being summoned."
Fuel Subsidy Restoration and Military Welfare Promises
On the economy, Atiku was unequivocal about the fuel subsidy. He stated that its removal had failed to translate into any meaningful improvement in the daily lives of Nigerians and pledged to reverse the policy upon assuming office, as reported by Vanguard. He also addressed recent protests by retired military officers demonstrating over unpaid entitlements. Atiku asserted that the failure to settle the veterans, despite Nigeria's substantial national resources, was the result of deliberate diversion and theft of public funds, a pattern he said he intended to break.
These commitments come as the 2027 general election approaches, with other opposition figures, including Peter Obi, expected to contest. Obi resigned from the Labour Party and was ratified as the NDC presidential candidate in May 2026. In a separate development, a senior official of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Theo Abu Agada, the party's director of new media and strategic communications, publicly urged Atiku to withdraw from the 2027 race and support Obi. The call was made in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, August 20, 2026, as reported by Legit.ng.
