Professor Kingsley Chinedu Moghalu, a prominent Nigerian political economist, lawyer, and former diplomat who also served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has rejected inclusion in the policy team of Atiku Abubakar, who is the presidential candidate for the African Democratic Congress, in respect of the forthcoming 2027 general election.
Kingsley Moghalu made a statement on his X, claiming that he wasn’t consulted and his consent wasn’t requested before enlisting his name as part of Atiku’s policy-making team. This statement came just hours after Atiku’s team announced their Presidential Campaign Council and included Moghalu on the policy advisory list. The leadership of the campaign’s policy team consists of the chairman, deputy chairman, and secretary. The Chairman, Mohammed Hayatudeen, is a prominent Nigerian banker, economist, corporate executive, and technocrat who is widely recognized for his leadership in Nigeria’s financial and private sectors, as well as his involvement in public policy. The Deputy Chairman in person is Professor Mohammed Sagagi, and the Secretary is Aare Aremijoye. The campaign structure was announced by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council and Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku.
Image Credit: LinkedIn
Moghalu said he was surprised to see a statement from the African Democratic Congress and Atiku campaign team, including his name as a member of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s policy team for the 2027 presidential campaign. In 2019, Moghalu was the presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party; he said he quit political partisanship in Nigeria in 2022. He has stayed away from partisan politics in Nigeria since 2022, choosing instead to maintain a non-partisan position on national issues. He is not a member or supporter of any political party in the country.
Image Credit: African Democratic Congress
Despite stepping away from party politics, he has remained actively involved in matters concerning Nigeria. He currently serves as president of the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET Africa), a nonpartisan public policy think tank and executive education academy. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Sogato Strategies, a firm that provides geopolitical risk and regulatory strategy advisory services. He has made it clear that staying outside partisan politics does not mean turning his back on the country or its affairs. Rather, he continues to focus on contributing to Nigeria’s progress without aligning himself with any political party.
Image Credit: Punch Newspaper
According to the campaign, the policy team is expected to come up with practical solutions to some of the major challenges facing Nigerians, including the rising cost of living, unemployment, insecurity, and the growing pressure on people’s purchasing power. However, Moghalu’s denial has raised questions about how his name ended up on the campaign’s published list in the first place, especially as he says he was neither consulted nor gave his consent to be included. As of Thursday evening, neither Atiku nor the ADC campaign team had issued a public response to Moghalu’s statement. It is still unclear whether his name was included in the campaign structure by mistake or whether there was a misunderstanding about his reported involvement in the policy team.
