The 2023 presidential election has come and gone. Eighteen presidential candidates contested for the coveted prize. And a winner has emerged. He is now the President-elect. His name is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and come May 27 this year, he will take over from President Muhammadu Buhari as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Two of the other candidates who contested the presidency with him are still sulking. They have taken the result in bad faith. It is expected that any moment from now, it will be official that they have taken INEC to court to challenge the results of the election. The two candidates who wish to seek redress in court are the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
Atiku is very bitter about the outcome of the election. He insists the election was marred by irregularities and massive rigging. The former vice president is embittered and totally shattered by the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect by INEC. He has been so angry that he, along with several others, took to the streets to protest in front of INEC’s Abuja office. He has threatened to embark on more protests until INEC declares the election cancelled. At the press conference organised by Atiku a few days before the protest, the man was simply disenchanted. He cut the picture of a completely forlon and frustrated man who knew his political journey had not just hit a brick wall, it has also reached the end of the road.
No doubt, Atiku’s anger and frustrations are understandable. If you knew him from way back and understand where he’s coming from, then you will sympathise with him because you know exactly why he is a terribly shattered man right now. Political pundits have also expressed same sentiments about this illustrious son of Adamawa state. And the conclusion is that he may never be able to contest for presidency again, much less become the president of Nigeria. This could very well be his last shot at the presidency.
For starters, Atiku is 76 years of age right now, by the end of Tinubu’s first term, he will be 80 years old. That age will be a hard sell for him. Already, as it is right now, a lot of Nigerians have insisted the country must do away with the old order. And the old order includes Atiku. They want men in their mid sixties down to seventies and above to steer clear of politics and leave it to the younger ones. This is the reason why the youths preferred Peter Obi to Tinubu and Atiku. And that is why they voted massively for Obi, galvanising votes for him through their Obidient movement. Tinubu and Atiku enjoyed very little support from the youth. They wanted them out of the system. So, the question is, if it was tough for Atiku to attract any support from the youths during the last elections, how in heaven’s name will he get anything from them by the time he turns 80 years old? That would be most unlikely.
Many have also wondered how possible it will be for an Atiku to beat Tinubu in the next four years when he, Tinubu as the President, will be conducting the elections? Of course he will enjoy absolute power of incumbency and use to his fullest the entire fedeal might at his disposal. While under President Buhari, he enjoyed no special privileges, despite that he was the candidate of the ruling party. There was no power of incumbency to back him up and there was no federal might for him to fall back on through out the election process. Buhari had created a level playing ground for all the contestants to compete and slug things out among themselves. There were no special privileges for Asiwaju or anyone for that matter. Yet, Tinubu braved all the odds and went on to win the election. Is that the man Atiku wants to beat in the next four years when he would have everything he needs to win the election right within his grasp? That will be an almost impossible feat to achieve. Tinubu has proven that indeed, he is the Master Politicial Strategist, and sadly, for Atiku, Asiwaju has just dealt his political career the final blow that will send him to his inevitable retirement.
For those who do not know, Atiku has been contesting for the presidenbcy for a long while now. The February 25th presidential election is his 6th shot at the presidency. Abubakar first ran for the presidency in 1993 under the Social Democratic Party but lost to Moshood Abiola in the primary. However, Abiola’s mandate was truncated when the military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), annulled the 1993 elections, popularly termed Nigeria’s freest and fairest election to date.
Due to protests that followed the cancellation, Babangida hurriedly handed over to Ernest Shonekan as the head of the constripted Interim National Government. However, the ING was sacked by General Sani Abacha; ending the Third Republic. Abacha’s five-year dictatorship meant that no political structure could rear its head, and therefore Atiku and many politicians went underground.
Some, such as the winner of the annulled elections, Moshood Abiola, were swallowed by the regime laced with flagrant violations of human rights and political assassinations. However, Abacha’s sudden death in 1998 and the eventual return to civilian rule tossed Atiku back into national politics. He joined the Peoples Democratic Party and was selected as the running mate to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who won the presidency in the 1999 and 2003 elections.
Although he retained his seat throughout Obasanjo’s eight years in office, 1999 to 2007, their relationship was fraught with tension and conflict during the second term. About two decades later, the former President would describe choosing Atiku Abubakar as his vice as a “mistake.”
Meanwhile, prior to his selection as Obasanjo’s running mate, Atiku had won the governorship election in Adamawa State, but had to give up the seat before inauguration so he could join Obasanjo at the federal level. Eventually, their relationship went sour close to the end of their tenure.
“One of the mistakes I made was picking my number two when I wanted to become the president. But because it was a genuine mistake, God saved me,” Obasanjo told students at a National Exhibition and Awards organised by Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship in Abeokuta.
Among many reasons for Obasanjo’s statement was the former VP’s vehement resistance to his third term ambition. By December 2006, the relationship between both men had deteriorated so much that Obasanjo declared the office of the Vice-President vacant.
Consequently, Atiku, who wanted to succeed Obasanjo, could not secure the latter’s endorsement under the PDP during the 2007 election season. Obasanjo however opted for Umaru Yar’Adua, who is now late. However, in September 2007, Atiku looked elsewhere to realise his ambition; he clinched the Action Congress presidential ticket months after he defected to the party.
However, he was defeated by the PDP’s candidate, Umaru Yar’Adua. Although Abubakar challenged the result of the 2007 election in court, the Supreme Court eventually dismissed his case. Yar‘Adua had also admitted that the election that brought him into office was flawed, but the apex court upheld his election. In 2009, Atiku returned to the PDP and contested for the party’s presidential ticket in 2011 but lost to Goodluck Jonathan, who went on to win the presidency.
Not one to give up, Atiku, in 2014, dumped the PDP and joined the All Progressives Congress, a party that had newly emerged from the fusion of the Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party, Congress for Progressive Change, and an arm of the All Progressives Grand Alliance. He contested the party’s presidential ticket in 2015 but was defeated by the current President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who went on to win the presidential election.
The Waziri Adamawa went back to the PDP, his former political base, in 2018 and contested the party’s presidential ticket in 2019. This time, he emerged as the party’s candidate. However, despite the endorsement by Obasanjo who had serially opposed his ambition, Atiku lost again to the incumbent president, Buhari. Following his 2019 loss, Atiku seemed to have overcome his urge for “party hopping.” Since 2019, he stayed put in the PDP, galvanising his structure ahead of the 2022 presidential primary elections.
This time, he went head-to-head with 16 other aspirants vying for the ticket. They include governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State; Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State; as well as investment banker and economist, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi; and former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim.
Others were former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose; ex-President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa; a United States-based medical doctor, Nwachukwu Anakwenze; Publisher, Ovation Magazine, Chief Dele Momodu; former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Cosmos Ndukwe; Charles Ugwu and Chikwendu Kalu. Before the primary, Obi eventually pulled out of the contest and joined the Labour Party where he emerged as the party’s presidential candidate.
On May 28, 2022, Abubakar polled 371 votes to emerge as the presidential candidate of the PDP. He defeated major contender and Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who scored 237 votes. But in the end, he lost the 2023 presidential election to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC. When asked if he would contest for president again in four years time if the court fails to upturn Tinubu’s victory, the Waziri Adamawa answered in the affirmative. But it remains to be seen if he will be able to actualise this goal. The obstacles in his path come 2027 will be much more insurmountable than what he has had to face in the last election. And of course, his greatest challenge will be how to explain to Nigerians that, at 80, he is the most suitable person to become Nigeria’s next president.
-WALE LAWAL
(08037209290)
