Atiku Abubakar: Nigeria’s Tenacious Presidential Candidate

Atiku Abubakar has run for President of Nigeria five times, and if he runs again in 2023, it will be the sixth.

Atiku’s campaign for the presidency began in 1992, during the failed Third Republic. He ran for the Social Democratic Party’s presidential nomination (SDP). He finished third in the primary behind the late Chief Moshood Abiola, the ultimate winner of the annulled presidential election on June 12, 1993.

His second presidential ambition was during the 2006/07 presidential election cycle. Atiku re-announced his presidential candidacy in November 2006. He later ran for president of the Action Congress, which has now merged with other political parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He, however, lost the election, coming third behind the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umaru Yar’Adua, and All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP) candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who is now Nigeria’s president, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Atiku’s third presidential election contest was held in 2010/11. Following the AC’s defeat in 2007, Atiku returned to the People’s Democratic Party. He announced his desire to run for president again in October 2010.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, the incumbent president of Nigeria in 2010 beat him to the ticket and went on to win the election.

The fourth presidential election will be held in 2014/2015. Following his defeat in the PDP, Atiku joined a new coalition, the APC, in 2015 to run for the country’s top political post. Unfortunately, he was beaten to the ticket by President Buhari.

Atiku Abubakar’s fifth shot at leading over 200 million Nigerians was during the 2018/2019 presidential election period. After failing to fulfill his goals in the APC, Atiku returned to the PDP in November 2017.

Although he won the PDP presidential primaries, Atiku was unable to realise his ambition as he was defeated by President Buhari once again in 2019.

Family background

Garba Abubakar, Atiku Abubakar’s father, was a Fulani trader and farmer, and Aisha Kande was Atiku Abubakar’s mother. Atiku Abdulqadir, his paternal grandfather, was born in Wurno, Sokoto State, and moved to Kojoli Village in Jada, Adamawa State.

His father was opposed to the idea of Western education and tried to keep Atiku Abubakar out of the traditional school system. When the government discovered that Abubakar was not attending mandatory schooling, his father spent a few days in jail until Aisha Kande’s mother paid the fine.

Abubakar started school at the Jada Primary School in Adamawa when he was eight years old. Abubakar attended the Nigeria Police College in Kaduna for a brief period. During the Nigerian Civil War, he worked for the Nigeria Customs Service after graduating in 1969. Abubakar graduated from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, United Kingdom, with a master’s degree in international relations in 2021.

Political Journey

In the 1990s, Yar’Adua drew Abubakar into the political discussions that were now taking place on a regular basis in Yar’Adua’s Lagos home, this led to the birth of Peoples Front of Nigeria (PFN).

Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Baba Gana Kingibe, Bola Tinubu, Sabo Bakin Zuwo, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, and Abubakar Koko were among the PFN founding members.

In the run-up to the Third Nigerian Republic, Abubakar was chosen National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Front of Nigeria in 1989.

Atiku Abubakar was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1989 to represent his constituency in the process of drafting a new constitution for Nigeria.

In 1993, Abubakar contested in the presidential primaries of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

After June 12, and during the General Sani Abacha transition, Abubakar showed interest to contest for the gubernatorial seat of Adamawa State under the United Nigeria Congress Party, but the transition program came to an end with the death of General Abacha.

In 1998, Abubakar joined the Peoples Democratic Party and later secured nomination for Governor of Adamawa State, winning the December 1998 governorship elections.

He won the gubernatorial seat for Adamawa state but before he could be sworn in, he accepted a position as the running mate to the PDP presidential candidate, former military head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo who went on to win the 1999 presidential election ushering in the Fourth Nigerian Republic.

Atiku Abubakar was sworn in as Vice President of Nigeria on May 29, 1999, alongside Olusegun Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria

Having spent eight years in power, Atiku’s administration made a move to entrench a third term of four years in Nigeria’s polity. Unfortunately, the National Assembly later defeated the reforms that would have allowed Obasanjo to run for another term.

For a brief period, the rejected constitutional amendment caused a division within the People’s Democratic Party.

Abubakar fell out with his boss, Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006, and defected from the People’s Democratic Party to the Action Congress of Nigeria in time for the 2007 election.

Following the 2007 election, Abubakar returned to the People’s Democratic Party. In January 2011, he contested for the Presidential ticket of his party alongside President Jonathan and Sarah Jubril, and lost the primary, garnering 805 votes to President Jonathan’s 2736.