‘I’m plotting Tinubu’s removal’ — Aliyu Audu says after resigning as presidential aide

Aliyu Audu, former senior special assistant on public affairs to President Bola Tinubu, says he committed to seeing him removed from office in 2027.

Audu, who was appointed in October 2023, resigned as Tinubu’s aide on June 8, 2015.

Speaking in an interview on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme on Monday, Audu Audu said he resolved to resign from Tinubu’s administration when he realised the president was “prioritising vengeance over collective progress”.

“I sought God’s face and he gave me approval. I couldn’t, in all honesty and conscience, be in his government knowing I am plotting his removal in 2027,” Audu said.

“By God’s grace, we will remove President Bola Tinubu in 2027. And collectively, Nigerians will install a leader who is chosen by all. Not ‘emi lokan’.”

‘Emi lokan’ is a Yoruba phrase which means ‘it is my turn’. The phrase was popularised by Tinubu in June 2022.

Tinubu, then an APC presidential aspirant, said it was his turn to become president after he had publicly supported former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The phrase has since been mainstreamed into the country’s political lexicon.

Audu said Tinubu’s Democracy Day remarks, where he expressed pleasure over the opposition party being in disarray, further strengthened his resolve not to support Tinubu’s re-election bid.

“Our progress will come from healthy competition. Human progress comes from healthy competition,” he said.

Audu is the convener of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rebirth Movement.