Veteran journalist and TVC News Director Babajide Kolade-Otitoju has rejected claims by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that President Bola Tinubu is 90 years old, describing the assertion as “ridiculous.”
Otitoju pointed out that the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, if alive, would have turned 89 on August 24, 2026. Abiola was born on August 24, 1937, and died in 1998 at the age of 60.
“MKO Abiola, if he were alive, would be 89 today. Atiku wants me to believe Tinubu is older than him. It’s ridiculous,” Otitoju said.
The comments come after Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential hopeful for 2027, claimed in a BBC Hausa interview that Tinubu is 90 and that he possesses evidence he would present in court. Atiku made the remark while defending his own fitness to contest, noting he would be approaching 80 by the 2027 election.
Official records, including documents submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) biography, list Tinubu’s date of birth as March 29, 1952, making him 74 years old as of 2026. The State House also marked his 74th birthday in March 2026.
Atiku, born November 25, 1946, is 79. Fact-checks of his age claim against Tinubu have found no publicly available evidence supporting the 90-year figure, though historical discrepancies in some of Tinubu’s academic records have long fuelled public debate.
Otitoju, a long-time media figure known for his programme *Journalists’ Hangout*, framed the comparison with Abiola — a towering figure in Nigerian history and the acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election — to underscore what he sees as the implausibility of the claim.
The exchange adds to the intensifying political discourse ahead of the 2027 general elections, where age and fitness of leading candidates have become recurring points of contention.
