Atiku's Long Journey for the Presidency

Waziri Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, has tried to become President of Nigeria six times. His current attempt is his seventh.

In 1993, he ran for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential primaries but lost to MKO Abiola.

In 2007, he was the presidential candidate for the Action Congress (AC) and finished third after Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari.

In 2011, Atiku lost the PDP presidential primaries to Goodluck Jonathan, who was in power at the time.

In 2015, he lost the APC presidential primaries to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2019, he was the PDP presidential candidate again and lost the general election to Buhari.

In 2023, he was the PDP candidate once more and lost the election to Bola Tinubu. Now he is making his seventh attempt.

Only six people have tried to be president in their countries seven times or more. They are:

(1) Pascual Racuyal of the Philippines, who ran 11 times.

(2) Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda of Mexico, who ran 10 times.

(3) Harold Stassen of the United States, who ran 9 times.

(4) Jack Fellure of the United States, who also ran 9 times.

(5) Lyndon LaRouche of the United States, who ran 8 times.

(6) Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who ran 7 times.

None of these individuals ever won the presidency except Wade, who won on his fifth and sixth attempts but lost on his seventh.

Atiku has failed in all six of his attempts over the last 33 years, and now he is on his seventh.

Think about it. In a country of 230 million people, one man has been trying to be President for 33 years and has failed each time. Now, he is trying again for the seventh time.

Also, consider that this same man has belonged to seven political parties since he began his political career in 1991. Since 1999, he has switched between four parties, including the PDP, which he left and rejoined twice.

This shows he is a political wanderer. For Atiku, the party is just a tool for power. He does not exist for the party.

It is his choice to keep trying, but some may see it as an obsession. One clear sign of this obsession was when he tried to rally the PDP Governors against his leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo had picked him as his running mate for the second time.

Atiku tried to take Obasanjo's place as the party's presidential candidate in 2003. This was not just ungrateful but also a betrayal, especially since Obasanjo trusted Atiku to raise funds for the election.

Atiku gathered money from private donors. Instead of using it for the election, he withheld it and pressured the President.

Two things saved Obasanjo: first, his faith in God, and second, a wealthy businessman from Kano who provided funds for the convention and election.

This is how Atiku's plans to undermine Obasanjo were foiled. Despite this, Obasanjo still kept Atiku as his running mate. Atiku became Vice President alongside the man he tried to bring down.

After the 2003 election, the real conflict began. I, along with others like Nasir El-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu, fought against Atiku during his time as Vice President.

We showed him that his treachery would not pay off, and since then, his political career has been marked by failure and division.

Some may think that if Abdoulaye Wade could win after five attempts, Atiku might do the same after seven. But Atiku is not Wade.

Atiku lacks Wade's sincerity, courage, loyalty, humility, and discipline. He is more focused on making money than serving the nation.

Wade played fair in politics. Atiku, on the other hand, seems to believe Nigeria exists for his benefit alone.

Since leaving office in 2007, Atiku has opposed the idea of power moving to the South. He challenged Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and faced off against Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi in 2023.

He has done this even when many Northern leaders supported a shift to the South for fairness. Clearly, he does not care about Southern aspirations.

This shows his mindset, which he hides well. He has a narrow view and not a national one, which may explain why he has not succeeded.

Atiku has hired a foreign public relations firm to help his campaign, spending a large amount of money. This is unusual for a Nigerian presidential candidate.

He has attacked and insulted Nigerians, showing how desperate he is to win. Yet he is likely to fail again.

If evidence comes out, he may have to answer for corruption allegations from his time as Vice President. Cases like the Mambilla Power Plant and others have raised serious questions.

To be fair, none of these cases have led to a trial in Nigeria yet, but they have left many questions unanswered.

Atiku’s worst crime may not be financial issues but his constant effort to undermine the government he served. His betrayal of Obasanjo was so severe that I called for him to be removed from cabinet meetings.

I did this twice, and both times Obasanjo had to intervene to keep Atiku in the meeting. Atiku eventually apologized for his actions but never attended another cabinet meeting after that.

This shows how ambitious he was as Vice President, wanting the position of the man who helped him rise in politics.

Atiku has since caused chaos in the PDP and other parties whenever his ambitions are threatened. He destroyed the PDP, once the leading party in Nigeria, by leaving it in 2019.

Today, as the ADC presidential candidate, he promises to restore the oil subsidy to gain votes, even if it harms Nigeria's economy.

It is irresponsible to endanger the future of the people just to become President.

Atiku should remember that paying a foreign company to attack the President is not acceptable. History is against him.

Very few have tried to be President so many times and succeeded. Abdoulaye Wade is one of them, but Atiku is not Wade.

Statistically, he has a low chance of winning this time. It seems that a higher power has set limits on his ambitions.

We will see this in January 2027 when he may lose again and return to Dubai to retire peacefully. I wish him well.