Vice-President Kashim Shettima has challenged Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, to account for the political structures, successors and lasting institutions he has built in decades of public life. 

He spoke on Friday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential rally at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the first stop on President Bola Tinubu’s South-South campaign tour.

Shettima argued that the presidency is not a retirement benefit for long service in politics. He said it must be earned through ideas, competence, organisation, public confidence and results, and that the real measure of a political career is what it has built, whom it has raised and what has endured.

He questioned Atiku’s influence in his home state, Adamawa, and challenged him to name the governors and deputy governors he has nurtured who still back his current ambition. A candidate who promises to unite Nigeria, he said, should first show he can reconcile rival interests at home, adding that charity begins at home.

He also asked Atiku to explain the performance of businesses he has often cited as proof of his economic credentials, including Gotel Communications, Adamawa Plastics and Adama Beverages. By contrast, he pointed to Lagos, where former governors Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, as well as incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, still identify with Tinubu’s political structure.

Tinubu used his own address to turn on Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate. He said Obi failed to confront erosion as Anambra governor, while he himself confronted the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos, and questioned whether Obi’s movement across political parties reflects the qualities needed to lead the country.

The President also described the 16 January 2027 election as consequential and urged young Nigerians to use their permanent voter cards to reject those he said are deceiving them. APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda and the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Abdulaziz Yari, insisted the party does not need to rig the election.

The attacks came as Atiku fights for his place on the ballot. A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday voided the leadership of the David Mark-led ADC and with it the primary that produced Atiku as candidate.

On Friday, Atiku declared that nothing will keep him off the ballot. He accused the ruling party of using court manoeuvres and political pressure to weaken opposition parties and push the country toward a one-party state, and said Tinubu cannot use the courts to escape the verdict of voters.

The ADC has said it will appeal. Separately, Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, called on Tinubu to withdraw from the race after a video circulated online of the President stumbling while walking to a vehicle at the Akwa Ibom rally, a claim the Presidency has not addressed in the reports reviewed.

Supporters of the President have since seized on Shettima’s remarks online, with some arguing that Atiku’s record of changing parties shows a lack of cohesion, while Atiku’s camp maintains the court cases are designed to shut him out of the contest.