Presidential hopeful Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has declared that the Yoruba people will be given a topmost place in his policy-making and governance if he is elected president in 2027, stating that he counts them as family through his marriage.
The former Vice President, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made these assertions in a statement issued by his media consultant, Kola Johnson.
Atiku extolled the virtues of the Yoruba people, describing them as “one of the finest species of the human race.” He emphasized his deep personal connections, saying, “my bond with the Yorubas was genetic as of a family.” The presidential aspirant highlighted that this familial bond would directly influence his governance approach. “It is also for this reason that the interest of the Yorubas will always occupy a topmost place in my policy making and governance if by the special Grace of Allah, I am lucky to be president in 2027,” he stated.
Addressing potential concerns about ethnic dominance, Atiku asserted that such fears are unfounded. “Therefore, the fear that my ascension to presidency might lead to Hausa/Fulani domination over Yorubas or other ethnic group does not only arise, but also absolutely unfounded because the entire Yoruba stock are my larger extended family and in-laws,” he said. Atiku recounted his marriage to his first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman, in the 1970s, with whom he has four children. He revealed a personal detail, noting, “My children with Titi sometimes called me ‘Baba rere’ meaning ‘good father’.”
He further praised his wife, calling her his “Jewel of Inestimable value.” This relationship, according to him, has shaped his circle of friends and associates. “This has indeed been the reason why both in my private and public life, Yorubas rank amongst my most intimate friends and associates. Therefore I have never joked with them,” Atiku stated. He also added a note of political realism, warning that “Yorubas are so sophisticated and highly educated that you can only toy with them at your own peril.”
Positioning himself as a unifying figure, Atiku claimed, “I am naturally a highly detribalized person.” He described his political persona as that of “a politician without borders, in terms of my absolutely detribalised outlook.”
However, he conceded that his marital union had a profound impact, endearing the ethnicity to him. “I see the larger Yoruba regional landscape, not only as my home just as I equally see the extended Yoruba tribes’ men and women as an extended larger family, so the question of Hausa/Fulani domination does not arise at all,” he concluded.
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