Former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi, has said that the 2027 election will be a battle between the Nigerian people and the political class. In an exclusive interview with Sunday Telegraph, Utomi, who was the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in 2007, however, said he sees former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, playing a fatherly role in 2027, instead of aspiring to rule the country.
“I don’t see an 80-yearold president of Nigeria,” Utomi stated in relation to Atiku who will be over 80 years in 2027. He noted that age is slowing down President Bola Tinubu in the administration of the country, adding, “Nobody who is over 70 years should run a country like Nigeria because it deserves energy.
“We need a younger candidate, but it is not me because I am going to be 70 in a few weeks. “I have ruled myself out and likewise people like Bola Tinubu and Atiku should also rule themselves out.” Utomi accused the political class of an attempt to redefine democracy in the country.
According to him, their intentions have always been to prevent democracy from taking place in Nigeria. “These people are not democrats; they don’t believe in the people; they believe they can use the resources of the state to browbeat very poor people and possibly hijack their states and use state capture to do as they feel,” he said.
He attributed the insecurity in the country as part the revenge of the poor against misgovernance by the political class, and warned that it is going to come in more dramatic way that will shock them. Utomi also warned of implosion in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), due to deluge of defections from other political parties to the party.
“It really doesn’t matter where they defect to. APC can keep on manipulating the system but it will completely collapse if they continue the way they are going and they will be swallowed by it,” he added. The former presidential candidate said the country is in a mess, due to lack accountability by leaders.
“There is need for some much fundamental change in the management around tax, which they tend to not get or they do but pretend because they see themselves not as servants of the people but masters of the people. “If we are really serious, we should have concluded in this 2025 that our country is in a mess and think of how we fix it.
“People who didn’t win election are still playing conqueror. It is a tragedy. Building national consensus is so difficult and that’s where we are. “Accountability also doesn’t matter to them. If process and accountability mattered to them, we won’t have what we have and because of an extremely weak National Assembly, it is a complete sell out of the people,” he said.
