Former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has stated that the recent visit of former First Lady Aisha Buhari to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar served to confirm that the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s 12 million-vote bloc has been transferred to Atiku ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, Dalung, who now serves as a prominent chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), pointed to the late president’s widow meeting with Atiku at his Abuja residence as a clear signal to Nigeria’s political class. Using metaphorical language to emphasize what he described as a decisive shift in northern political loyalty, Dalung remarked that supporters had received a directive from beyond the grave to back the ADC candidate.

“Last month, you saw when the wife of the late president visited Atiku in Abuja,” Dalung stated during the broadcast. “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.”

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Aisha Buhari had previously visited Atiku at his Abuja residence, a meeting the former vice president publicly acknowledged at the time while focusing his public statements on broader economic challenges facing Nigerians rather than any formal endorsement.

Dalung, who served in Buhari’s cabinet between 2015 and 2019, argued that Atiku’s nationwide political reach is anchored in his inheritance of the political structures associated with both the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and former President Buhari. According to the former minister, this combined grassroots base carries far more electoral weight than what he dismissed as the “rented crowds” gathered at conventional campaign rallies.

Turning his focus to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dalung expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu would be unable to defeat Atiku in 2027, even if the opposition faced institutional or administrative hurdles.

“I am confident that as events are unfolding, Tinubu, even if he would take over the ADC, secretariat and stop ADC from campaigning, cannot defeat Atiku Abubakar in 2027,” Dalung asserted. He further characterized the incumbent president as electorally vulnerable, claiming that almost any opponent placed on the ballot against Tinubu in a straightforward contest would prevail.

Dalung’s remarks come amid heightened political realignments ahead of the 2027 general elections, as opposition figures rally around the ADC to challenge the ruling APC while the party simultaneously navigates ongoing legal disputes over its leadership and presidential candidacy.