2023: Atiku Abubakar announces 6th run for president
Presently Nigeria is a sinking ship, it must be rescued urgently, says Abubakar
ON POLITICS
Metro News
Former Nigerian presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has announced that he will be running again in next year's presidential elections.
This is the sixth time that Abubakar tries to capture the presidency after having lost in 2019 to President Muhammadu Buhari. Abubakar served as vice president to President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. After falling out with his principal, President Obasanjo, ostensibly arising from the latter's bid to amend certain provisions of the constitution to take another shot at the presidency (Third Term agenda), Atiku ran for president on the platform of Action Congress in 2007 but lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who emerged as the winner in that election and came behind General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
He contested the presidential primaries of the People's Democratic Party during the 2011 presidential election losing out to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. In 2014, he joined the All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2015 presidential election and contested the presidential primaries losing to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2017, he returned to the Peoples Democratic Party and was the party presidential candidate during the 2019 presidential election, again losing to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, Atiku’s declaration may set him on a collision course with stakeholders within the party, especially from the south who have insisted that power must shift to the south since the north has held power for two terms. Besides, the southeast geopolitical zone has declared Atiku’s bid for president as a betrayal of a region that had always given him its unflinching support.
Apart from southern governors who insist on power shift, young Turks in the party from the north have also thrown their hats into the ring, in a bid to checkmate Abubakar’s ambition. Abubakar was the PDP flagbearer in the 2019 presidential elections, which he lost to President Muhammadu Buhari. The contenders from the north include Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, and Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki. The young Turks from the north are decidedly against zoning, insisting it is not in the constitution, thus no one should be precluded from running.
However, Governor Nyesom Wike of River State has promised a “shock of their lives,” for northern politicians insisting on picking the party’s ticket. Wike has been the main financier of the party since it lost out in the 2015 presidential elections. The party’s convention was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in 2019 at the behest of Governor Wike.
Atiku Abubakar, a perennial presidential candidate who has ported severally from the PDP to APC and AC in a bid to actualize his ambition told his supporters, "Presently Nigeria is a sinking ship, it must be rescued urgently. That is why I am happy to announce my candidacy for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the platform of the People's Democratic Party of Nigeria."
Security and the economy are key areas the candidate will focus on as the country grapples with a jihadist insurgency in the northeast.
"Under my presidency, I want to focus on 5 key areas: the unity of Nigeria, security, economy, education and devolving more resources and powers to the federating units" promised Abubakar.
After two terms under Buhari, a Muslim from the north, many southerners say the presidency should rotate back to their region.
Under an unofficial deal among the political elites, Nigeria's presidency is expected to "rotate" between north and south, in a form of power-sharing bid to balance the mostly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.