U.S. Lobbyists: Has Atiku Given Up Before 2027? || By Ebenezer Ogundele
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is alive and currently serving as President of Nigeria. With that established, the question Nigerians should be asking in 2026 is simple: Has Atiku Abubakar already conceded 2027?
For over a year now, the rhythm from the Atiku camp and his new political vehicle, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has been the same. Not a message of what they will do for Nigerians. Not a blueprint for jobs, power, or food prices. The message has been one thing: “Tinubu must resign.”
That is not opposition. That is exhaustion.
Instead of spending 2025 and 2026 on the streets of Kano, Makurdi, Owerri, and Sokoto, the strategy has been to spend it on K Street in Washington D.C.
Reports and filings show that Atiku and proxies linked to the ADC have committed a whopping $1.2 million to U.S. lobbyists within the last 12 months. The brief? To “internationalize” cases against President Tinubu in the United States and to lobby the Trump administration to weigh in on Nigeria’s domestic politics.
Let us call it what it is: a shortcut.
You cannot win Aso Rock from a law firm in Washington. You win it in Birnin Kebbi market. You win it in the mechanic workshops of Nnewi. You win it in the lecture halls of UNILAG.
If the goal is to rescue Nigeria, why is the first port of call not Gusau, but D.C.? Why is the first budget line not food relief, but lobbyists?
$1.2 million is about ₦1.8 billion at current rates. Let that sink in.
With ₦1.8 billion in one year, Atiku could have Fed 100,000 poor families with ₦15,000 monthly food support for 12 months.
He could have built and equipped 30 primary health centers across the 6 geopolitical zones
In fact, from it, the Ex-VP could have paid WAEC and JAMB fees for 300,000 indigent students along empowering 20,000 small traders with ₦90,000 grants to restart businesses
Imagine the headlines. “Atiku feeds 100k homes.” “Atiku pays school fees.” That is how you build a movement. That is how you create 2027 foot soldiers who will defend your vote on election day.
Instead, the money went to memos, dinners, and PowerPoint decks for American consultants who cannot locate Yola on a Nigeria’s map.
If you are not willing to invest in Nigerians, why should Nigerians invest their votes in you?
The African Democratic Congress was supposed to be a “third force.” Right now it sounds like a press release machine.
Every week: “Tinubu should resign.”
Every month: another trip to brief U.S. lawmakers about a case that Nigerian courts have already addressed.
Resignation calls are not a policy. They are an admission that you have no alternative policy to sell. When you have no answer for inflation, you shout “resign.” When you have no answer for insecurity, you shout “resign.” When you have no answer for youth unemployment, you shout “resign.”
Nigerians in 2023 rejected that script. They will reject it again in 2027.
Running From the Ballot
This is the core of lit.
President Tinubu won in 2023. He is campaigning, governing, and doing the hard politics of coalition building ahead of 2027. His party is in 30+ states, including FCT where Minister Nyesom Wike is showing workings, not noises. His structure is in every ward.
What is Atiku’s structure? Social media, press releases and U.S. lobbyists.
The constant run to America suggests one of two things. Either the ADC believes Nigerian voters are irrelevant, or they have already concluded they cannot beat Tinubu at the polls.
If you believe you can win, you organize. You reconcile. You go to the grassroots. You do not outsource your campaign to Washington.
The talk about a “Dubai-based Nigerian President” being “out of the race even before kick off” only exposes the desperation. The President is in Abuja, in Lagos, in Imo, in Katsina. The campaign has started. The only people who seem to have not kicked off are those waiting for a foreign government to do it for them.
Beyond the money, there is a cost to Nigeria’s image. When opposition leaders run to foreign capitals to lobby against a sitting president, it tells investors that our democracy is not mature. It tells young Nigerians that power is gotten abroad, not at the ballot. That is dangerous.
Opposition is healthy. Criticism is necessary. But opposition must be rooted in Nigeria.
My Conclusion:
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is a veteran. He has run before. He knows how this game is played.
So we ask directly: Have you given up on 2027?
Is that why the playbook is Washington instead of Warri?
Is that why the budget is for lobbyists instead of the poor?
Is that why ADC’s loudest policy is “resign” instead of “this is what we will do”?
If you spend $1.2 million on Nigerians instead of on U.S. consultants, you would not need lobbyists to sell you in 2027. The people you fed, the students you sponsored, the clinics you built would sell you.
Politics is not about who shouts loudest overseas. It is about who shows up at home. It’s not about social media ranting and ratings, it’s about the grassroots calculation.
Until that changes, the answer to “Has Atiku Given Up Before 2027?” looks like yes.
Ebenezer Ogundele writes from Ibadan, Oyo state Capital.
ebenezerolukayode01@gmail.com
