Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has pledged that the interest of the Yoruba will “occupy a topmost place” in his administration’s policies if elected President in 2027. He described as unfounded the narrative or fear that his presidency, if elected, “might lead to Hausa/Fulani domination over Yoruba or other ethnic groups.”
“The entire Yoruba stock is my larger extended family and in-laws,” Atiku stated in a statement on Thursday issued in Abuja by his media consultant, Kola Johnson. The ex-vice president stressed that his marital and personal ties to the Yoruba made such fears baseless.
He said, “I count myself extremely lucky indeed to have had a wife from amongst this noble species of the human race, which by this token implies that the bond uniting me together with the Yoruba is aptly like the genetic bond of a family. “This is why the Yoruba, whether individually or collectively, have always occupied a special place in my heart.”
He promised that if elected, the South-West would be central to his policymaking. Atiku, a long-time presidential hopeful, is seeking to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential poll.
He was first runner-up in the last general election, which Tinubu won. “Therefore, the fear that my ascension to presidency might lead to Hausa/Fulani domination over Yorubas or other ethnic groups does not only arise, but also is absolutely unfounded because the entire Yoruba stock is my larger extended family and in-laws,” he stated.
The former vice president cited his first marriage to Titi, an Ijesha-born Yoruba woman, whom he married in the 1970s, as proof of his deep-rooted connection to the South-West.
