Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has assured the Yoruba that their interests would be a priority if he is elected president in 2027.

In a statement issued by his media consultant, Mr Kola Johnson, on Wednesday, Atiku dismissed fears that his presidency would favour his Fulani kinsmen, insisting such fears were “absolutely unfounded.”

He stressed that his personal and family ties to the Yoruba people were proof of his commitment to the South-West.

“I count myself extremely lucky to have had a wife from amongst this noble species of the human race, which by this token implies that the bond uniting me together with the Yoruba is aptly like the genetic bond of a family,” he said.

He added that Yoruba interests would occupy a “topmost place” in his governance.

Atiku recalled that his first marriage was to Mrs Titi Abubakar, an Ijesha-born Yoruba woman whom he married in the 1970s, noting that they have four Yoruba children together.

“In case you don’t know or have forgotten, I was married to my first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman, in the 70s, and we have four Yoruba children together. She is now over 75 years old and we are still together,” he said.

The former vice president described his wife as his “Jewel of Inestimable Value” and said his Yoruba children sometimes call him Baba Rere (Good Father).

He insisted he had always been detribalised and surrounded by Yoruba friends and allies.

“Anyone who knows me will tell you with all sincerity that as a person, I am naturally a highly detribalised person. Even before politics, I flowed easily and effortlessly with people of diverse tribes, ethnicity, religion, and sectarian differences,” he said.

Atiku has been a perennial presidential candidate since the early 1990s, contesting on several platforms. In the 2023 election, he finished second to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

The South-West, dominated by Yoruba voters, has historically been a decisive factor in Nigerian elections, often tilting the balance of power between northern and southern candidates.