Nigeria, Aug. 25 -- Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has reportedly told a close aide that he will run for president in the 2027 general election. He reportedly said his aim is to rescue Nigerians from poverty.

Tunde Olusunle, a spokesperson for Atiku during the 2023 presidential election, told journalists that Atiku declared his ambition to him.

"I will run in 2027. Nigeria needs to be decisively rescued from the intensive care unit it has been consigned. The degeneration in our country, the level of poverty and pain, the anguish, is unacceptable," Mr Olusunle quoted Atiku as saying.

Mr Olusunle spoke in an interview with ThisDay newspaper on Sunday.

"The accompanying deceit, the loss of values, the mega-scale, unimpeded thievery...