Three prominent opposition leaders former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, and former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi have openly criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over Nigeria’s deepening poverty, hunger, and insecurity, pledging to unite against his re-election in 2027.

Speaking during a public lecture in Abuja on Saturday titled “Weaponisation of Poverty as a Means of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of Nigeria,” held to commemorate Amaechi’s 60th birthday, Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of deliberately impoverishing Nigerians for political gain.

“What we are experiencing in Nigeria today is state-sanctioned weaponisation of poverty,” Atiku declared. “That is why we are in this alliance to make sure we don’t allow them to continue weaponising poverty.”

The 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate recalled his childhood in Kano, lamenting the contrast between the city’s former prosperity and its current state of despair.

“I never saw people sleeping outside not under bridges, not in front of shops,” he said. “But recently during a visit, I saw people sleeping everywhere under bridges, on the streets driven out by poverty and insecurity.”

Atiku also accused the federal government of sabotaging local efforts to support vulnerable populations. “A state agency was helping such people — relocating them, supporting them. What happened? They were summoned and told to stop,” he alleged.

Although El-Rufai and Amaechi did not make formal statements at the event, their presence alongside Atiku is being interpreted by political observers as the emergence of a potential coalition of influential figures dissatisfied with Tinubu’s leadership.

The shared platform signals a possible realignment of political forces ahead of the 2027 general election, as former allies and rivals of the current administration rally around a common cause halting what they describe as the administration’s failure to address widespread hardship.