Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has said he would rather support President Bola Tinubu than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election.
Lawal made the statement while speaking on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, where he explained his reservations about Atiku’s bid to return to the presidency.
The former SGF said his position was based largely on his previous experience working with Atiku.
He claimed that although he had once considered supporting the former vice president, his experience eventually changed his mind.
“I’d rather go with Bola than Atiku because when Nigeria crashes with Bola, it might be an orderly crash, but with Atiku it would be a chaotic one,” Lawal said.
When asked to explain why he preferred Tinubu to Atiku, Lawal gave a blunt response.
“Because he’s not a good man.”
Lawal said his initial interest in working with Atiku was driven by the situation in northern Nigeria.
He explained that he had considered supporting a northern candidate because of what he described as the worsening conditions in the region.
“I wanted to work for Atiku. I had the belief that the North, the way we are suffering, we should not surrender the presidency, that at least our own man will not, if nothing else, stop the decline we are in,” he said.
According to Lawal, his subsequent experience working with Atiku affected his assessment of the former vice president.
He alleged that Atiku sometimes gave instructions that were later changed after he consulted other people.
“Everything you do with him, there’s chaos,” Lawal said.
“He will call you and tell you, ‘Do this,’ and then you do it, then front you are back.”
The former SGF also linked what he described as confusion to disagreements over political appointments.
He alleged that decisions reached with Atiku could be altered after other people became involved.
Lawal’s comments come only weeks after he spoke publicly about his involvement in discussions between Atiku and Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 election.
Politics Nigeria recalls that he had previously disclosed that Atiku sent him to persuade Obi to return to the political arrangement and accept the position of running mate on the African Democratic Congress platform.
According to Lawal, the proposal involved more than simply putting Obi on the ADC presidential ticket.
He said Atiku had proposed serving for four years and then pursuing a constitutional amendment that would create a single six-year presidential tenure.
Lawal said the arrangement would also have provided for presidential rotation, beginning with the South-East and later extending to other parts of the country.
He said he approached Obi because of his relationship with the former Anambra State governor. According to him, Obi was not convinced by the proposal.
“He says his survey shows him that they are unlikely to win if he pairs with Atiku.”
Lawal said Obi subsequently indicated that he would rather stay out of the contest than join a ticket he believed would not succeed.
He also said he later reported Obi’s position to Atiku and made further efforts to persuade Obi, including consultations with some prominent Igbo figures.
The account has, however, been disputed by Obi.
In September, the NDC presidential candidate denied that he had rejected an offer to become Atiku’s running mate. Obi said he was not in a position where such an offer had formally been made to him.
“I don’t know where that was said. I wasn’t even in a position where that was being offered, and I refused,” Obi said.
Obi also said any possible opposition alliance should involve political parties rather than being reduced to negotiations between individual politicians.
Atiku eventually secured the ADC presidential ticket after its primary election.
The party later selected former Rivers State Governor and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, as his running mate.
Obi, meanwhile, emerged as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, with former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate.
Lawal has since moved away from the ADC and joined the NDC, where he has publicly backed the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket.
Although he has criticised Atiku strongly, his comments on Tinubu do not amount to an endorsement of the President’s record in office.
Rather, Lawal presented his choice as a comparison between the two politicians, based on his personal experience with Atiku.
