CALABAR, Nigeria — Senator Adams Oshiomhole on Monday alleged that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar married Jennifer Douglas from the South-East and later divorced her after losing a presidential election.
The Edo North senator made the claim while speaking at an All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
Oshiomhole said Atiku had gone to the South-East and promised that a certain person’s daughter would become First Lady if he won the presidential election. That, according to him, was when Atiku married Jennifer.
“Like somebody said the other day that Atiku went to the Southeast and said, ‘If I win election, your daughter would be the First Lady,’ that was when he married Jennifer,” Oshiomhole stated.
He continued: “Because he likes abusing our president, so we must reply: he married Jennifer, set up a foundation for her and at the end of the day, he lost the election, and he went ahead and divorced her; he took her to court, is that not true? We must have the courage to mention their names if they have no respect for mentioning our leader’s name.”
The senator framed the remarks as a response to Atiku’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu. He insisted that political opponents who attack the President should expect robust replies.
Jennifer Douglas (also known as Jennifer or Jamila Douglas-Abubakar), who hails from Onitsha in Anambra State, was one of Atiku Abubakar’s wives. The couple’s divorce became public around 2021–2022. In a statement at the time, Jennifer said the core reasons for the separation included disagreement over her continued stay in the United Kingdom to care for her children and other long-standing issues. She denied that Atiku’s marriage to another wife was the primary cause.
Atiku Abubakar, currently the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 elections, has not yet publicly responded to Oshiomhole’s latest comments as of Monday evening.
The exchange forms part of the intensifying political rhetoric as parties begin early positioning for the next presidential contest. Oshiomhole, a former Edo State governor and one-time national chairman of the APC, used the Calabar rally to also criticise Atiku on other grounds, including claims that the former vice president spends much of his time in Dubai and only returns to Nigeria around election periods.
Political observers note that personal and family matters have frequently featured in Nigerian campaign rhetoric, though such attacks often draw both support and criticism from the public.
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