Former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has claimed he has evidence that President Bola Tinubu is 90 years old, saying he will present it in court.
Atiku made the claim in a BBC interview while defending his decision to seek the presidency in 2027 despite questions about his age and health.
“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.
He later insisted that he had proof of Tinubu’s alleged age and would take it to court.
“I have evidence that he is [90], and I will present it in court,” he said.
Atiku said his decision to contest was within his constitutional rights, noting that he had made several attempts to seek elective office.
He recalled running for governor four times but said military authorities repeatedly disqualified him during Nigeria’s transition to democracy.
“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. 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.
He also described his political journey as difficult.
“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,” Atiku said.
On insecurity, Atiku blamed the crisis on the “irresponsibility of government” and said Nigeria needs more security personnel.
“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.
He compared Nigeria with Egypt, saying, “Egypt that has about 80 million had one million policemen on the streets. And therefore, there is peace there.”
Atiku added, “Believe me, within one year, we can control this insurgency and insecurity that is all over the place,” he said.
