Former vice-president uses courtesy visit from late president’s widow to highlight rising living costs ahead of 2027 race
Abuja — Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar received the former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, on Wednesday and used the occasion to argue that Nigeria’s families are being crushed by the cost of everyday life.
Mr Abubakar, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the visit was “warm and deeply appreciated”. Beyond the courtesies, he added, it was a reminder that anyone seeking to lead Nigeria must put “the welfare, dignity and future of our people first”.
Writing on X, he said households across the country were being “stretched by the rising cost of food, transport, education, healthcare and other basic necessities”. Nigerians, he argued, deserved an economy that “rewards hard work, restores opportunity and allows every family to live with dignity and hope”.
“That is the Nigeria we must build together, a country that works for its people again,” he wrote. “We must ease the burden, restore hope and Make Nigeria Affordable Again.”
The slogan has become a central plank of his campaign. Earlier this week he accused President Bola Tinubu’s government of making the country more expensive for households and businesses, and promised that an Atiku administration would reverse that trend.
The purpose of Mrs Buhari’s visit was not disclosed. Nigerian newspapers reported that she was accompanied by one of her daughters and some associates, and that the meeting took place at Mr Abubakar’s residence in Abuja. Daily Trust described her as a strong supporter of President Tinubu.
The encounter is politically striking. Mrs Buhari is the widow of former president Muhammadu Buhari, who died in London in July 2025 and was buried in Daura, Katsina State. Mr Abubakar and the late president were long-standing rivals, most notably after Mr Abubakar lost the All Progressives Congress presidential ticket to Mr Buhari in 2015. The two men later contested against one another at the ballot box.
They have, however, maintained a measure of personal civility. In February this year Mr Abubakar hosted Mrs Buhari, her daughter Hanan and other members of the family in Saudi Arabia while both parties were in the kingdom for the lesser hajj, or Umrah. That meeting was presented as a private, religious visit rather than a political negotiation.
Mrs Buhari and members of her family later moved from Daura to the late president’s residence in Ungwan Rimi GRA, Kaduna.
Neither Mrs Buhari nor her aids issued an immediate public statement on Wednesday’s meeting. In the absence of any agreed readout, the visit is likely to be read in two ways: as a courtesy call between two prominent northern political households, and as an opportunistic moment for the opposition candidate to restock his argument that the cost of living must be the central issue of the 2027 campaign.
Mr Abubakar’s message was unvarnished. The task before those who seek office, he said, is not merely to exchange greetings, but to restore an economy in which ordinary families can again live with hope.
By John James
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