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Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that President Bola Tinubu is 90 years old, claiming he has evidence to establish the assertion in court.
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The ADC presidential candidate made the claim while defending his decision to contest the 2027 presidential election despite his own age.
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Atiku said he is healthy and strong and questioned why he should be prevented from offering himself for public service.
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The former vice-president said Nigeria could significantly bring insurgency and insecurity under control within one year if the right measures were adopted.
August 28, (THEWILL) — Former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has dropped a fresh political bombshell, alleging that President Bola Tinubu is 90 years old and insisting that he has evidence to prove the claim in court.
Atiku made the allegation in an interview with the BBC while defending his decision to seek the presidency in the 2027 general election and responding to questions surrounding his age and fitness for public office.
The former vice-president argued that age should not be used to disqualify him from seeking the presidency, insisting that he remains physically fit and capable of serving the country.
“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.
Pressed on his assertion concerning Tinubu’s age, Atiku said he was prepared to substantiate it through legal proceedings.
“I have evidence that he is (90), and I will present it in court,” he said.
The allegation is particularly significant given that President Tinubu’s publicly documented date of birth is March 29, 1952, which would make him 74 years old as of August 2026. Atiku did not disclose during the interview the nature of the evidence he claimed to possess.
Atiku Defends Fresh Presidential Bid
Atiku’s comments came in response to questions about his decision to contest the presidency again in 2027, despite having previously sought the office on several occasions.
The former vice-president maintained that his continued participation in presidential contests was within his constitutional rights and consistent with his long political career.
He recalled that his political ambitions dated back to the military era, when he said he repeatedly sought to become governor but was prevented from doing so by military authorities overseeing Nigeria’s transition to democratic rule.
“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,” he said.
According to Atiku, his political activities eventually exposed him to danger, including an alleged attempt on his life which forced him into exile.
“The last was when there was even an attempt on my life, and I went into exile,” he said.
He argued that the obstacles he had encountered throughout his political career had never deterred him from pursuing his political objectives.
“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.
Atiku also launched an attack on the handling of Nigeria’s worsening security situation, blaming the persistence of insurgency, terrorism and other forms of insecurity on what he described as the “irresponsibility of government”.
The ADC candidate argued that successive administrations had failed to sufficiently expand and equip Nigeria’s security architecture to match the country’s population.
He recalled that while he was in government, he had raised concerns about the number of policemen available to protect Nigerians.
“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.
Atiku compared Nigeria’s security personnel strength with that of Egypt, arguing that the North African country had maintained a significantly larger police force relative to its population.
“Egypt, which has about 80 million had one million policemen on the streets. And therefore, there is peace there,” he said.
He argued that Nigeria’s security challenges could be substantially reduced within a relatively short period if the government demonstrated the political will to implement appropriate measures.
“Believe me, within one year, we can control this insurgency and insecurity that is all over the place,” Atiku said.
Felix Ifijeh is a journalist with years of professional reporting experience. Known for his keen news sense, compelling storytelling and commitment to accurate, impactful reporting, he has built a reputation for turning leads into clear, engaging, and well-structured reports that resonate with readers. His work reflects deep newsroom experience and a commitment to accurate, impactful journalism.
