Mystery Over ‘Media Consultant’ Who Issued Atiku’s Yoruba Statement

…He Is Unknown to Our Office- Source

By John Paul

There appears to be some confusion in former Vice President Abubakar Atiku’s camp over the identity of a certain “media consultant” who issued a statement in his name claiming the Yoruba would occupy topmost places in his government if elected in 2027. A senior source in Atiku’s inner circle told KTH Daily last night that the man, one Kola Johnson, is “unknown to the Atiku campaign structure.”

Despite the disavowal, Johnson’s statement circulated widely on Tuesday, portraying Atiku, now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), as insisting that his marriage to Titi Atiku Abubakar, from the Ijesa stock of Osun State, bound him closely to the Yoruba people and erased fears of Hausa-Fulani domination under his leadership.

“It is for this reason that I count myself extremely lucky indeed to have had a wife from amongst this noble species of the human race, which by this token implies that the bond uniting me together with the Yoruba is aptly like the genetic bond of a family, and this is why the Yoruba, whether individually or collectively, have always occupied a special place in my heart,” the statement quoted Atiku as saying.

“It is also for this reason that the interest of the Yoruba will always occupy a topmost place in my policy-making and governance if by the special grace of Allah, I am lucky to be president in 2027. Therefore, the fear that my ascension to the Presidency might lead to Hausa/Fulani domination over Yoruba or other ethnic groups does not only arise(sic), but also absolutely unfounded because the entire Yoruba stock is my larger extended family and in-laws.”

Johnson’s release stressed Atiku’s marital history: “In case you don’t know or have forgotten, I was married to my first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman in the 70s, and we have four Yoruba children together. She is now over 75 years old, and we are still together. My children with Titi sometimes called me ‘Baba Rere’, meaning good father. I am extremely in love with my children and serve as a good father to them as I urged every father to do the same to their children.”

It further described Titi Atiku as “more than a wife, a jewel of inestimable value,” insisting that Yoruba people, being “sophisticated and highly educated,” could never be toyed with. “This has indeed been the reason why both in my private and public life, the Yoruba rank amongst my most intimate friends and associates. Therefore, I have never joked with them.”

The statement also quoted Atiku as stressing his detribalised outlook: “Anyone who knows me will tell you with all sincerity that, as a person, I am naturally a highly detribalised person. Even before I could ever venture into politics, I flowed easily and effortlessly with people of diverse tribes, ethnicities, religions, and whatever sectarian differences. This is why immediately I opted into politics without being immodest, I was essentially like a politician without borders, in terms of my absolutely detribalised outlook. Call it a statesman if you would not mind.”

“But frankly speaking, however, I cannot but confess that my marital union to a Yoruba wife had indeed gone a long way in endearing the generality of the Yorubas in my heart. I see the larger Yoruba regional landscape, not only as my home, just as I equally see the extended Yoruba tribesmen and women as an extended larger family. So the question of Hausa/Fulani domination does not arise at all.”

But with Atiku’s camp denying knowledge of Johnson, the authenticity of the statement remains in doubt, raising questions about whether it was authorised or a freelance intervention. “We don’t know who this person is,” the senior campaign source said. “He is not part of our structure, and we cannot vouch for the authenticity of the statement he issued in Atiku’s name.”