ABUJA Nigeria — Former spokesperson to opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, Otunba Segun Showunmi, has threatened to expose the secrets of opposition figures, warning that he would not tolerate attacks following his decision to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Showunmi, who served as a spokesperson for Atiku’s presidential campaign in previous elections, said he knew where the political skeletons of his critics were buried and would not hesitate to expose them if provoked, reports The Nation.
Speaking during a media engagement with political correspondents in Abuja on Thursday, Showunmi criticised opposition figures accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to establish a one-party state instead of building strong political structures ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Let politics be politics, but let development be the reason why we encourage our people to see what is before their eyes. So, I don’t understand what that distraction is,” he said.
“If they want to distract, I’m better able to distract them and carry their body around with it. I know where their skeletons are buried. It annoys; it irritates me.”
Showunmi dismissed allegations that Tinubu was steering Nigeria towards a one-party state, arguing that the country’s electoral framework, with 18 registered political parties and more than 100 million registered voters, did not support such claims.
He blamed opposition leaders for failing to build viable coalitions and strengthen their parties early enough, accusing some of prioritising personal ambitions over party development.
“When people come, and they don’t do their own work, and then they choose to hang every blame on their rival, as if they don’t know that elections are a pre-joining event, that the date is baptised and already known,” he said.
Showunmi further accused politicians of abandoning their parties whenever they failed to secure tickets, only to join other parties and subsequently blame the President for their political difficulties.
“Their own idea of political parties is that if they don’t have a ticket, the party must die. And they’ve done that many times over… Then they jump into other people’s party, get themselves thrown in court, and keep shouting that somebody sitting in the Villa is trying to make a one-party state,” he added.
He maintained that elections should be determined by the performance of the incumbent government and the policy alternatives offered by opposition parties, rather than accusations aimed at covering up their organisational shortcomings.
