‘We received a phone call from Buhari’s grave to vote Atiku’ — Solomon Dalung

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Solomon Dalung, has claimed that supporters of the party received what he described as a “phone call from the grave” of former President Muhammadu Buhari, urging them to support Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election.

Dalung, a former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, made the remark on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.

He argued that Atiku, the ADC presidential candidate, had inherited the political structures of former presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Buhari, adding that the former vice-president had a broad national political network.

According to Dalung, Buhari’s political support base, estimated at about 12 million votes, would be transferred to Atiku following a visit by the late president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, to the ADC candidate at his Abuja residence last month.

“The message she took for any politician to know is that the 12 million votes have been successfully transferred. We have had a phone call from the grave of Buhari that we should vote Atiku,” he said.

Buhari secured approximately 12.2 million votes in the 2011 presidential election, which he contested under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He later won the 2015 and 2019 elections on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polling about 15.4 million and 15.2 million votes, respectively.

Dalung expressed confidence that Atiku would defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, arguing that the ADC candidate’s political support base was more substantial than the crowds politicians attract at campaign rallies.

He described some of the crowds seen at political gatherings as “rented crowds”.

The former minister also dismissed the possibility that efforts to prevent the ADC from campaigning would stop Atiku from winning the election.

“I am confident that as events are unfolding, Tinubu, even if he would take over the ADC secretariat and stop ADC from campaigning, he cannot defeat Atiku Abubakar in 2027,” he said.

Atiku is expected to face Tinubu of the APC, Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and other presidential contenders in the 2027 election.

Dalung served as Minister of Sports and Youth Development under Buhari between November 2015 and May 2019.

His remarks came a day after he criticised the ADC leadership, accusing the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, of unilaterally appointing caretaker committees across states.

Dalung argued that the appointments undermined a pending case before the Supreme Court and questioned the party leadership’s commitment to winning the 2027 election.

Buhari, who ruled Nigeria as a military head of state from 1983 to 1985 and later served as civilian president from 2015 to 2023, died at a clinic in London on July 13, 2025.

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