Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday accused President Bola Tinubu of using the controversy over the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election as a test run for rigging the 2027 general elections.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate said the dispute was not just about who becomes the next NBA president. He said it also showed what he believes is the Tinubu administration’s wider plan for politics and elections ahead of 2027.
In a statement issued in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku accused the Federal Government of trying to influence the NBA election. He warned that the association’s electoral process must remain independent.
“This desperation shows how the Tinubu-led APC government plans to use government agencies to rig the 2027 general elections.
“We are concerned that President Bola Tinubu has brought his state-sponsored toxic politics of coronation to bear on the election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA),” Atiku said.
He alleged that the same method was being used to weaken opposition parties by creating internal crises, weakening democratic institutions and preparing the ground for manipulation during the 2027 elections.
The former vice president also referred to media reports claiming government officials and their agents had gone to court to pressure members of the legal profession into accepting a preferred candidate in the NBA election.
“There have been media reports of how this government and its agents have resorted to the use of the courts to railroad members of the Bar into settling for its preferred candidate. This, to say the least, is a dangerous precedent that is capable of widening our fault lines,” the former Vice President added.
Atiku insisted the NBA should handle its own election, saying the responsibility belongs only to the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), set up by the association’s National Executive Council under the NBA Constitution, 2015 (as amended).
“By seeking to enthrone its preferred candidate by arm twisting the NBA to disqualify two of the prospective candidates, the Tinubu presidency was simply adopting its play book to have the candidates of the opposition parties disqualified through the instrumentality of the courts and the electoral umpire,” the statement said.
He urged government officials to allow the NBA conduct what he described as a free and democratic election that would ensure a smooth leadership transition.
Atiku also alleged that after failing to delay the election, government officials stepped up their actions by using security agencies against service providers involved in the process.
“It is disgraceful and a negation of democracy that in spite of the failed efforts to shift the polls, even with the open support of the Attorney General of the Federation, officials of government are now deploying security agents to arrest service providers and frustrate the election,” he said.
