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FELIX NWANERI writes on opposition against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s presumed 2027 presidential ambition by some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] even though he has not publicly declared interest to vie for the party’s ticket
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has not publicly declared intention to contest the 2027 presidential election, however, his name keeps featuring among those said to be interested in the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Atiku has also not openly associated himself with the various support groups urging him to declare for the 2027 poll, but campaign posters to that effect have been trending on the social media. One of the posters has the inscription: “Be Atikulated 2027. Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again.”
The former vice-president has ran for Nigeria’s number one office six times but only made it to the ballot as a presidential candidate on three occasions – 2007, 2019 and 2023. In 1983, he made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency after placing third behind Chief MKO Abiola and Alhaji Babagana Kingibe in the presidential primary election of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
He was, however, elected as governor of Adamawa State in 1998 but selected before his inauguration by the PDP presidential candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as his running mate and they won the presidential election in February 1999.
After his first term as vice president, some governors elected on the platform of the then ruling party came up with a plot to deny Obasanjo a second term. The plan was to hand Atiku the party’s presidential ticket in the 2003 general election but he opted for a joint a ticket with his principal and both won the election.
Fourth Republic’s presidential bids
The aftermath of the botched plot against Obasanjo pitted him against Atiku, and the cold war that ensued after their inauguration, degenerated to a bitter political battle by 2006, when Atiku declared ambition to succeed his principal.
Obasanjo’s insistence that Atiku will not succeed him forced the then vice-president to leave the PDP for the Action Congress (AC), which handed him its presidential ticket.
This sparked another round of power-play that led to his exclusion from the final list of the 24 candidates published by the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] for the 2007 presidential election.
The electoral commission cited Atiku’s indictment for corruption as reason for the omission but he approached the court to challenge his exclusion. The matter got to the Supreme Court, which in a unanimous decision, ruled that INEC had no power to disqualify any candidate for an election.
The judgement paved the way for Atiku to contest the election, but he came a distant third. The poll was won by the candidate of the PDP, late President Umaru Yar’Adua but Atiku rejected the result and called for its cancellation, describing the poll as Nigeria’s “worst election.”
Atiku returned to the PDP in 2009. While his return was initially resisted by his state chapter of the PDP, he was granted a waiver by the party’s national leadership, which paved the way for him to contest the 2011 PDP presidential primary election.
He was selected by the Northern Elders Political Leaders Forum (NPEF) led by a one-time Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, as the region’s consensus candidate but he was floored by then Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, who went ahead to win the election. The 2011 defeat did not deter Atiku as he surfaced again in 2014 for the 2015 presidency.
He had before then made good his threat of dumping the PDP over what he described as failure of the party’s leadership to return it to the vision of its founding fathers with his defection to the then opposition All Progressives Congress [APC].
While many thought then that Atiku would be the candidate to beat in the APC presidential primary election given his financial strength and political structure, he lost the ticket to a former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, who had the support of party leaders and governors.
The former vice-president came third with 954 votes, trailing a former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso (974 votes) and Buhari (4,430 votes). Atiku accepted the result and pledged to support the party’s choice in the election though some party members later accused him of not showing much commitment during the campaigns.
After the 2015 presidential election won by his party’s candidate (Buhari), Atiku returned to his business, but a rumoured ambition sometime in 2017, prompted political analysts and observers to believe that he has not foreclosed his presidential ambition.
It was alleged then that Atiku hosted political meetings at Burj Al-Arab, Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to revive his political machinery ahead of the 2019 presidential election, but the former vice-president described the rumour as the handiwork of political mischief makers, who were out to draw a wedge between him and President Buhari.
While, it was not long before it became clear that Atiku will take another shot at the presidency, there was an impediment to this quest – President Buhari’s second term bid.
To Atiku, my advice is this, you will be 81 years old in 2027, and you have been contesting for the presidency since 1993. This is the time for you to calm down and act like an elder
This barrier forced Atiku to resign from the APC on November 24, 2017. He hinged his decision on the party’s failure to deliver on its promises to Nigerians, who, according to him, have long been desperate for improved economic interventions.
While the former vice-president promised then to take time to ponder over his next political move, it was obvious that he would be returning to his former party.
With his return to the PDP, the stage was set for him to join the 2019 presidential race and as expected, Atiku defeated 11 other aspirants at the party’s national convention held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on December 7, 2018.
He polled 1,532 votes to beat his closest rival, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who scored 693 votes, while the then President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, came third with 317 votes.
Atiku’s emergence as the presidential candidate of the PDP saw him squaring against President Buhari, who was the standard bearer of the APC. The former vice-president, however, lost the election by over a million votes.
He challenged the outcome of the election but the Supreme Court dashed his hope of turning the table against Buhari. Atiku’s loss of the 2019 presidential election did not deter him in his bid to lead Africa’s most populous nation.
He threw his hat to the ring again immediately INEC blew the whistle for the 2023 general election. What however ensued over the former vice president’s declaration for the PDP’s ticket was infighting over zoning. As expected, the May 28, 2022, presidential primary election of the party was characterised by high level politicking that pitted the aspirants against each other.
The contest was however won by Atiku, who polled 371 votes to defeat his major challenger and the then governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who garnered 237 votes. The PDP’s inability to resolve the pre and post-presidential primary election crisis contributed to Atiku’s loss of the presidential poll.
He polled 6.9 million votes to place second to his APC counterpart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had 8.7 million votes, while Peter Obi, who left PDP at the of its presidential primary election for Labour Party (LP), garnered 6.1 million votes to place third.
Atiku, however, rejected the results and approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which is the court of first instance in presidential election matters, with prayers for it to nullify Tinubu’s victor as declared by INEC.
But the tribunal, in a consolidated judgement, unanimously affirmed Tinubu’s election. He appealed the judgement but it was the same story as the Supreme Court also affirmed Tinubu’s election.
Vow to fight on despite electoral misfortunes
Many had thought that Atiku would quit politics after his bid to upturn President Tinubu’s election was dashed by the apex court but he vowed to fight on for the sake of the country’s democracy, which according to him, is on a life-support.
His then said: “For as long as I breathe; I will continue to struggle with other Nigerians to deepen our democracy. I will continue to work for the return of political and economic restructuring that the country needs.”
The former vice president later called on the opposition political parties to come together and create a more formidable front that will salvage Nigeria’s democracy from sliding into a one-party state. According to him, a formidable coalition is necessary to address the perceived decline in democratic values and to prevent Nigeria from becoming a de facto one-party system.
He also noted that the project of protecting democracy in the country is not about just one man. Perhaps, it is against these backdrops that some political analysts posited that Atiku kickstarted his 2027 presidential bid immediately after the Supreme Court judgement.
2027 stirs pressure to quit the stage
While permutations continue to dominate the political space ahead of the 2027 presidential election, Atiku’s unannounced bid is already facing opposition within his party.
Among chieftains of the party, who have publicly declared their disapproval to the former vice president quest to take another shot at the presidency on the platform of the PDP include Chief Olabode George [a former deputy national chairman of the part], Wike [now serving as minister of the Federal Capital Territory in the APC government] and Ayo Fayose [a former governor of Ekiti State].
Wike, who insisted that Atiku should perish the thought of contesting the 2027 presidential election as candidate of the PDP, said there will be no chance for him. “He (Atiku) is lobbying for another chance, but the chance will not be there,” Wike said, adding: “In which party?
How can we rely on one man for so many years?” But, when countered by one of Atiku’s aide, Phrank Shaibu, that the former vice-president defeated him to pick the PDP’s 2023 presidential ticket, Wike, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, described Atiku’s celebration of his “narrow and fraudulent”defeat of Wike in the 2022 PDP primary as funny and childish.
He said: “That Atiku is venerating himself for contesting PDP ticket with Wike and Tambuwal, people who were just a little above 25 as at 1993, when he contested the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential primary and came third, is the more reason he needs to go home and rest and stop acting like the proverbial cock that failed to realize that it is now elderly.”
Olayinka described Atiku as someone not destined to be president of Nigeria, saying: “It is obvious that he (Atiku) is paying the price of betraying the PDP in 2003, 2007 and 2014.
If not, the same presidency he has contested twice and lost, could have been his to just pick if he had avoided being inordinately ambitious while he was vice-president. “It was this desperation that made him to contest for president as candidate of Action Congress in 2007, while still serving as vice-president, elected under the platform of the PDP.
A serving vicepresident joining others to form another party and contesting as candidate of the new party against his own party. That’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar! “Most importantly, Atiku’s conscience will continue to prick him on his roles in Lagos in 2023, and I am sure that even his apology to PDP members in 2018 can never remove from his body, that garment of betrayal.
“Therefore, it is again being sounded to his ears and those of the people lying to him that he is the only one who can win the presidency for the PDP that the ticket of the party will not be for someone like him, who will lose election and run to Dubai, only to come back two years to another election.” Fayose, on his part, urged Atiku to end his ambition of running for the presidency.
The former governor of Ekiti State insisted that at a time when Nigerians are seeking younger leaders, political figures like Atiku should learn to leave the stage when the ovation is loudest. His words: “I am sure, at this stage, with all due respect to him, he would rather want to step away from the politics of contesting elections again.
By the time Asiwaju finishes his term, Atiku Abubakar will probably be 80 or 81. So, what will be the attraction? “We should leave the stage when the ovation is loudest. I respect him, and I think Nigerians are craving for a younger generation now more than ever before.
So, on what basis will Atiku come and contest again?” Bode George, who also advised Atiku to end his 31-year-long bid to be president and assume the position of an elder statesman, told journalists at a press conference, last week, to mark his 79th birthday, that the former vice-president’s ambition may destroy the party if not put in check. Noting that Atiku’s bid to be President dated back to the year 1993, George said it was time the former vice-president retired from such contest, especially in the 2027 election.
“To Atiku, my advice is this, you will be 81 years old in 2027, and you have been contesting for the presidency since 1993. This is the time for you to calm down and act like an elder,” George said.
Age cannot be an automatic qualification or disqualification in politics… If Atiku decides to run, good luck to him. If he doesn’t want to run, no problem. But anybody should muzzle him
Atiku’s camp replies critics
There is no doubt that the former vice-president is not a neophyte to the political intrigues presently playing out within the PDP over his 2027 ambition, which perhaps, explains why has he has not only opted to keep his plans to himself but declared that he would support whoever the PDP agrees to give its ticket to, including Obi.
The mind game, notwithstanding, it is clear that Atiku’s camp appears to be confident that he will pick the party’s ticket if he vies for it.
Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, who gave a hint to this optimism in his response to Wike’s criticism of his principal, reminded him of his unsuccessful attempts to install his preferred candidate within the party since 2019. He said: “If he [Wike] had the power to distribute presidential tickets like party favours, he’d certainly have kept one for himself.
Atiku schooled him and his chosen protégé in his own backyard in 2019 and then handed him a resounding defeat in the 2023 primary election in Abuja.”
Shaibu also questioned Wike’s focus on 2027, given his public support for Tinubu’s potential re-election, suggesting that the FCT minister should prioritize the immediate challenges facing Nigerians.
“People are struggling with rising costs and hunger; these are the issues we should be addressing, not political manoeuvres for 2027,” he noted.
A former presidential aspirant on the platform of the PDP, Dele Momodu, who also pushed back at critics of Atiku contesting the 2027 presidential election, wondered why the critics are scared of his presidential ambition.
Insisting that only God and destiny will determine whether Atiku will achieved his presidential ambition come 2027 or not, Momodu pointed out that those criticising Atiku’s presidential ambition on the basis of age did not support young candidates during the 2023 elections.
Citing Joe Biden and Donald Trump as examples of politicians who became presidents at an advanced age, he queried: “What has been the impact of these younger people who said they have been in politics? Go and check their states. What have they done for the amount of money made available to them?
“Age cannot be an automatic qualification or disqualification in politics. It is up to God and destiny. I am a child of destiny and that is why I have contentment. If Atiku decides to run, good luck to him. If he doesn’t want to run, no problem. But nobody should muzzle him.”
On whether Atiku would be a threat to President Tinubu’s reelection bid, Momodu said: “I’m sure they (the critics) believe so. I know those who believe that he is the only one right now. Atiku will be a threat if he is able to galvanise a mega political party. He will be a threat. The mood of the nation is overwhelmingly opposed to the current leader.”
Support groups join the fray
The National Chairman of Atiku Support Group, Alkhasim Ahmad Dila, who pushed back at Atiku’s critics, particularly told Wike that he cannot stop the former vice president from contesting the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the PDP.
“We are aware that Wike is playing the scripts of APC, but let us assure him that he will fail. We are also aware that his mission in APC is to disrupt PDP’s sanity.
Let the truth be told, Wike is in no position to decide who bears PDP’s Presidential flag, Wike and his allies are nothing but viruses,” he said.
Another support group under the aegis, Face Of Waziri-Nigeria [FOWN], on its part, faulted Bode George’s position that Atilu would be unfit to contest in 2027 presidential election on the basis age.
Director General of FOWN, Mr. Bukky Adeojo, who described the statement as ill-intended, said: “Bode George has played lead roles in sabotaging efforts of PDP stakeholders in time past and therefore lacks any iota of honour to counsel anyone, let alone a well dignified Atiku Abubakar.”
He added that “Bode George has no power or capacity to advice Atiku not to contest on the basis of age, when his kinsman and paymaster, Bola Tinubu is of same age with Atiku…
He should wait for what God has in stock for Atiku come 2027 and I hope he will promise again to leave Nigeria when Atiku assume power come 2027.”
While the debate on whether Atiku should quit the political stage ahead of the 2027 elections rages, whatever choice he will make is not likely to be informed by the wishes of his critics as it will amount to succumbing to blackmail.
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