ATIKU’S “YAHOO YAHOO” JIBE: OPPOSITION POLITICS MUST NOT DESCEND INTO INSULTS
By The National Patriots
Describing a commitment made by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a possible “Yahoo Yahoo promise” is unacceptable language from a man who occupied the nation’s second-highest office for eight years.
Political opposition is not a licence to abandon decorum.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar should watch his language, refrain from politicising important national interventions and engage President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on policies, records and results. Nigeria deserves a contest of ideas, not insults.
In his Independence Day response, Atiku challenged President Tinubu to show what his administration had accomplished in three years and portrayed the President’s address largely as promises about tomorrow.
That narrative ignores substantial evidence.
The IMF stated in June 2026 that Nigeria’s “strong reforms over the past three years” had improved macroeconomic outcomes and strengthened resilience. It cited the ending of fuel subsidies and deficit monetisation, exchange-rate liberalisation and tighter monetary policy among measures that reduced fiscal vulnerabilities and rebuilt external buffers.
These are measurable developments, not promises.
“YAHOO YAHOO” — BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FACTS?
Atiku specifically mocked the President’s commitment to reducing transportation costs:
“Bola, was this a Yahoo Yahoo promise…?”
Coming from a former Vice-President, that expression diminishes national political discourse. More importantly, it overlooks programmes already operating.
The Presidential CNG Initiative has reported reduced fares on routes served by converted vehicles, including Area 1–Gwagwalada, Nyanya and Wuse in Abuja, alongside interventions in Enugu and other states.
Coverage must expand faster, but incomplete coverage is not the same as a nonexistent programme.
The same applies to social protection, student loans, consumer credit, agricultural interventions and programmes designed to cushion reform. Their effectiveness should be scrutinised, but their existence should not be dismissed for political convenience.
ATIKU’S AMERICAN PROBLEM — AND THE COSTLY LOBBYING TRAIL
When a politician makes credibility and alleged deception weapons against his opponent, his own record inevitably becomes open to scrutiny.
For years, Atiku’s inability to enter America generated controversy. Reuters reported in 2019, citing several U.S. diplomats and others familiar with the matter, that he had been banned from entering the United States for several years after featuring prominently in two corruption-related cases.
When he eventually entered Washington in January 2019 after more than a decade away, Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department had granted a temporary waiver following extensive lobbying.
Atiku personally retained prominent Washington law and lobbying firm Holland & Knight LLP in December 2018 to assist with his visa difficulties, including seeking congressional support. Reuters reported that the firm had been paid $80,000 at that stage.
The PDP separately retained Ballard Partners at $90,000 per month.
United States Department of Justice documentation also identifies Professor Maxwell Gidado as counsel to Atiku Abubakar and records correspondence concerning efforts surrounding Atiku’s proposed American visit.
The lobbying trail continued.
In 2026, Atiku entered a $1.2 million, 12-month engagement with Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. U.S. filings describe services including policy positioning, reputational strategy, engagement with Congress and the executive branch, U.S.-facing messaging and institutional outreach.
The firm’s founder, Karl-Marx Edward Ikemefuna Okeke-Von Batten, has himself attracted scrutiny. U.S. court records identify him as Karl M.E. Okeke and establish that he was convicted of misdemeanor assault in 2003 and sentenced to 180 days in jail.
The question is legitimate: why does a Nigerian presidential aspirant with Atiku’s longstanding American controversies consider reputation management in Washington important enough for a $1.2 million engagement?
Lobbying and reputation management do not themselves establish wrongdoing. But against this documented history, Nigerians are entitled to ask questions.
If credibility is to become a weapon in 2027, Atiku’s own record cannot be off limits.
THE CITIZENSHIP CONTROVERSY
Atiku has also faced controversy arising from the unusual history of his birthplace.
He was born in Jada on November 25, 1946, when the area formed part of British-administered Northern Cameroons. Following the 1961 plebiscite, Northern Cameroons joined the Federation of Nigeria.
That history became the basis of litigation questioning whether Atiku satisfied the constitutional requirement of Nigerian citizenship by birth for presidential eligibility.
The Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa brought the case before the Federal High Court.
But the court did not determine the substantive citizenship question in Atiku’s favour.
Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the organisation lacked locus standi — legal standing to institute the action.
The organisation was an incorporated trustee registered under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act for specified objectives. The court held that it could not move beyond those registered functions to pursue this particular public-interest litigation challenging Atiku’s citizenship.
Justice Ekwo described it as a “busy body and meddlesome interloper.”
Having found that the plaintiff lacked standing, the court did not determine the remaining substantive issues. Adamawa State, meanwhile, maintained that Atiku was a Nigerian citizen from Adamawa and constitutionally eligible.
The position is therefore clear: the court did not declare Atiku a Cameroonian, but neither did that judgment adjudicate the underlying citizenship controversy in his favour. The substantive question was not determined.
WHAT DID OBASANJO SAY?
During the 2014 presentation of My Watch, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, while disputing Atiku’s account of the controversial third-term episode, described his former deputy as:
“a blatant and shameless liar.”
That was Obasanjo’s assessment during their political disagreement, not a judicial finding. But it remains an extraordinary statement from a President about the man who served beside him as Vice-President for eight years.
Atiku cannot throw accusations of deception at others and expect his own record to remain beyond scrutiny.
LET THE ARGUMENT BE ABOUT RESULTS
President Tinubu assumed office confronting longstanding structural problems: an expensive subsidy regime, multiple exchange rates, weak revenues, deficit financing, infrastructure deficiencies and an economy requiring substantial productive investment.
His administration chose difficult reforms rather than postponing them.
Nigeria now has stronger external buffers and an improved foreign-exchange framework, while the IMF says the reforms have strengthened macroeconomic resilience.
Tinubu’s professional background provides context for his approach. Official records describe him as a professional accountant who studied accounting and management, worked with Deloitte and later Mobil Producing Nigeria, where he became Treasurer.
Atiku should tell Nigerians precisely what he would do differently.
Which reforms would he reverse? Which would he retain? If subsidies return, how would he finance them? What is his alternative for the naira, foreign reserves, exports, employment and social protection?
That is the debate Nigeria deserves.
NATIONAL PATRIOTS POSITION
The National Patriots urges Atiku and other political leaders to maintain the decorum expected of statesmen. Serious national issues should not be reduced to inflammatory rhetoric or expressions such as “Yahoo Yahoo.”
President Tinubu’s administration, meanwhile, must answer political rhetoric with accelerated delivery.
Millions of Nigerians continue to face a painful cost-of-living crisis. Food remains expensive, household purchasing power is strained, and too many citizens have yet to feel the benefits of improving macroeconomic indicators.
That is why the next phase is critical.
The President must ensure that stabilisation translates rapidly into cheaper food and transportation, jobs, improved security, productive investment, functioning infrastructure and transparent social protection.
Nigeria has endured three difficult years of reform. There is credible evidence that important economic foundations are being repaired. The task now is to make those gains visible in the daily lives of ordinary Nigerians.
At sixty-six, Nigeria’s political conversation should rise above “Yahoo Yahoo” jibes.
Let Atiku present his alternative. Let President Tinubu present his record. Let both records withstand scrutiny. And let Nigerians judge the evidence for themselves.
Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser MFR.
President, The National Patriots.
Special Adviser to Former President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR.
Vice Chairman Strategic Communications Committee Buhari PCC 2019.
Member, Strategy Committee, Presidency 2023.
