Aliyu Audu, a former Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Public Affairs, has announced that he stepped down from his position to actively campaign against Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Audu said his resignation was guided by “principle and conscience,” citing growing concerns over the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)’s bid to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.
“It confirmed it on one hand, and on the other hand, it strengthened my resolve to not work for him in 2027,” Audu said, referring to President Tinubu’s Democracy Day remarks in which he expressed pleasure at the opposition’s disarray.
“I couldn’t in all honesty and in my conscience be in his government knowing I’m plotting against removal in 2027, because I will, and by God, we will remove him. Collectively, Nigerians will install a leader that will be our chosen, not his chosen. Not emilokan (my turn), but awa lokan (our turn), in fact, gbogbo wa lokan (all of us).”
Audu also took a jab at the inclusion of PDP chieftain and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, in the APC-led government.
He questioned the legitimacy of allowing individuals from opposition parties to operate within the administration without formal alignments.
“What is Wike doing in our government? If he’s going to leave the PDP, he should leave. If we’re doing a government of national unity, you deal with the party, not individuals. The party is what we vote for — not Bola Tinubu but APC; not Atiku but PDP; not Peter Obi but Labour Party.”
In his resignation letter dated June 8, Audu condemned the APC’s direction and warned against the systematic suppression of opposition voices.
He followed up with a statement clarifying that while he doesn’t back the PDP, he refuses to be complicit in undermining Nigeria’s democratic diversity.
“If we now begin to silence or crush opposition simply because we have the upper hand, then we are no different from the very system we once criticised under Obasanjo in 2003,” he declared.
