Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, alongside former Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), on Friday paid a courtesy visit to former President Muhammadu Buhari at his residence in Kaduna State.
The visit was made public by El-Rufai’s close associate, Imran Wakili, via a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he described El-Rufai’s continued respect for Buhari as “priceless.”
“Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, together with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal, and other dignitaries, visited former President Muhammadu Buhari at his Kaduna residence,” Wakili posted. “El-Rufai’s endless respect for Buhari is priceless, even with the best effort of Garba Shehu.”
The meeting comes on the heels of strategic political engagements by Atiku and other opposition leaders in Kaduna State, as part of what sources describe as a broader move to form a formidable coalition against President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku, El-Rufai, and Labour Party’s Peter Obi are reportedly aligning forces under a new political coalition unveiled during a press conference by a group known as Concerned Leaders and Political Stakeholders in Nigeria.
The development has sparked discussions about potential party realignments. Adewale Adebayo, former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), revealed that talks are ongoing between the SDP, Atiku, and Obi, with the possibility of the opposition figures adopting the SDP as a platform to challenge Tinubu.
“If Atiku, Obi, and other prominent leaders join the SDP and stay true to its values, they will defeat and retire Tinubu and the APC,” Adebayo stated.
In a related twist, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) chieftain, Buba Galadima, suggested that El-Rufai may serve as Atiku’s fallback option within the SDP in the event that the PDP denies him its 2027 presidential ticket.
The high-level political maneuvering signals the beginning of a potentially fierce race for 2027, as Nigeria’s opposition leaders begin laying the groundwork for a united front.
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