Former Vice President and 2023 PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has sparked fresh controversy after using Arsenal Football Club’s recent Premier League win as a metaphor to push his long-standing call for an opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.In a post on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku wrote, Arsenal just taught us a lesson in consolidating our strengths in a coalition vehicle. Victory is assured when we stand united.” His statement, while seemingly light-hearted, is being viewed by many as a not-so-subtle jab at opposition leaders reluctant to embrace any form of political alliance.
Atiku’s comment comes at a tense time for Nigeria’s opposition parties. The PDP Governors’ Forum recently declared they would not partake in any coalition or merger, exposing deep cracks within the party. Yet Atiku continues to advocate for unity as the only viable path to unseat the ruling APC in 2027.
Critics, however, have ridiculed Atiku’s football-politics analogy, calling it tone-deaf and disconnected from the realities of grassroots politics. This is not the Premier League. Nigeria isn’t won with tweets and team spirit slogans, one political commentator quipped.
Others see Atiku’s Arsenal-inspired rhetoric as a veiled attempt to pressure internal dissenters and publicly shame rivals within the fractured PDP and beyond. With 2027 still years away, observers are asking: is Atiku strategizing or simply dreaming from the sidelines of political irrelevance?
Regardless, the post has reignited debate around opposition unity or the lack of it and whether Atiku still has the political muscle to lead such a coalition, or if he’s merely reliving past glories like an aging football fan stuck in a golden era.
