Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to direct the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, to step aside pending investigations into the death of 26-year-old Mary Habila, who died on June 27, 2026, within the minister’s private residence in Uburu, Ebonyi State.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Thursday, Atiku expressed condolences to the Habila family but said sympathy alone was insufficient given the unanswered questions surrounding the case.
“No family should have to mourn a daughter taken in the prime of her life while also fighting simply to learn the truth of how she died,” he said. “But condolences are not enough. Nigerians deserve answers, and it is on this score that the Tinubu administration has failed, comprehensively and disgracefully”.
Atiku noted that for nearly two weeks, neither the minister, the police, nor any arm of government addressed the matter publicly, and that it took the courage of Sahara Reporters to bring the death into public view. He added that three weeks after her death, no autopsy had been conducted and no cause of death had been established, with the investigation still domiciled in Ebonyi State where Umahi previously served two terms as governor.
“Let me be clear: I make no pronouncement on anyone’s guilt or innocence. That is precisely the point. Only a credible, independent, and transparent investigation can establish the truth,” Atiku stated.
He demanded that President Tinubu direct Umahi to step aside immediately, describing the move as “the minimum standard of public accountability in any serious democracy” . He also urged the Inspector-General of Police to transfer the investigation to Force Headquarters with the involvement of independent forensic experts, and called for a full, independent autopsy with findings made public .
However, Atiku’s latest stance has drawn scrutiny given his handling of a similar tragedy in 2022. Following the murder of Deborah Samuel, a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto who was stoned to death and set ablaze by fellow students for alleged blasphemy, Atiku initially condemned the killing in a tweet that read: “There cannot be a justification for such gruesome murder”.
The tweet was deleted hours later after the former Vice President faced backlash from some northern supporters who threatened to withhold their votes in the 2023 election .
Atiku later explained that he ordered the deletion because the tweet was posted without his approval, stating that any post on social media without his initials “A. A.” was not from him . Appearing on Channels Television’s The People’s Townhall in December 2022, he said: “I asked the tweet to be deleted because I normally approve every tweet. So, since I didn’t approve it, I said, ‘delete it’” .
The contrast between Atiku’s current forceful demands for transparency and his withdrawal of the Deborah Samuel condemnation has raised questions among Nigerians about consistency and moral authority.
Social media users at the time had labelled him a “hypocrite of the highest order” for condemning other killings while retreating on the Deborah Samuel case .
Atiku, who recently clinched the presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 election, concluded his statement on the Habila case by saying: “The measure of a nation is how it responds when the powerful are touched by tragedy and the powerless demand truth” .
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