By Omeiza Ajayi
Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal, accusing him of dangerous ethnic profiling, hollow contradictions, and substituting suspicion for evidence in a series of public attacks.
Atiku made his position known in a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The former Vice President said it was unfortunate that a man of Babachir’s standing had chosen to abandon facts and reason in favour of ethnic prejudice and conspiracy theories in his desperate attempt to discredit a political opponent.
He said the most disturbing aspect of Babachir’s intervention was not the criticism itself, which he acknowledged as a democratic right, but the repeated attempt to portray an entire ethnic group as inherently linked to criminality.
“It is both dangerous and irresponsible to suggest that any Nigerian should be judged, condemned, or held accountable for crimes committed by individuals simply because they share a common ancestry,” Atiku said.
He observed that by such flawed reasoning, every ethnic nationality in Nigeria could be collectively blamed for the actions of a few criminal elements within their communities — a mindset he said had historically fuelled division and undermined national unity.
Atiku also pointed out the irony that Babachir now sought to demonise the very ethnic group from which former President Muhammadu Buhari emerged, noting that it was Buhari who appointed Lawal to the highest office he ever occupied in public service.
“At no point did Mr. Lawal object to receiving such trust and elevation from a Fulani President. He accepted the office, the privileges, and the prestige that came with it. It is therefore difficult to understand why he now seeks to stigmatise an entire ethnic group merely because another Fulani man seeks the presidency through democratic means,” Atiku said.
He further drew attention to what he described as a glaring contradiction in Babachir’s public conduct, noting that on the very same day Lawal issued his lengthy attack, he was granting media interviews, boasting that no fewer than five governors wanted him back in the All Progressives Congress APC.
“Nigerians are entitled to ask a simple question: which Babachir should they believe? The Babachir who claims to be a victim of political conspiracies and ethnic domination, or the Babachir who boasts that governors are scrambling for his services?” Atiku queried.
He said such contradictions exposed a man struggling to reconcile personal disappointment with political reality, adding that it was difficult to take lectures on principle from someone who spent the morning marketing his political value to one party and the afternoon accusing another party’s presidential candidate of representing an ethnic conspiracy.
On allegations that he had been indifferent to victims of violence, Atiku dismissed the claims as demonstrably false, saying he had consistently condemned terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, and communal violence across the country, regardless of the ethnic or religious identity of the victims.
He recalled that when tragedy struck the people of Kagoro in Southern Kaduna, he attended a church thanksgiving service to identify with the grieving community — without asking whether the victims were Christians or Muslims, northerners or southerners, Fulani or non-Fulani.
“Leadership is not about counting tribes or measuring faith. It is about standing with people in moments of difficulty, regardless of their ethnic or religious identity. That has always been my approach, and it will continue to be,” he stated.
Atiku also cited his facilitation of scholarships for some of the released Chibok schoolgirls at the American University of Nigeria as evidence of his commitment to action over rhetoric, saying several of the beneficiaries had since graduated and rebuilt their lives.
He described attempts to question his competence as an entrepreneur as both amusing and detached from reality, pointing to his investments across multiple sectors of the economy and the American University of Nigeria as enduring monuments to private initiative and national development.
Dismissing Babachir’s overall posture, Atiku said the tone of the former SGF’s recent interventions revealed a man increasingly consumed by resentment.
“His heart appears full of bitterness, and his public utterances increasingly reflect anger rather than reason, grievance rather than evidence. While we do not share his hostility, we genuinely pity him. Mr. Lawal would be better served by stepping away from the politics of hate and embracing reflection and personal healing that can restore perspective and balance.
“Babachir may see tribe. I see Nigerians. Babachir may see division. I see a nation that must come together if it is to overcome its present challenges. That is the difference between politics driven by resentment and leadership driven by purpose,” he said.
