Politics

Will Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku, be 6-time lucky as he joins 2023 presidential race?

Published

1 year ago

March 23, 2022

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar will for the sixth time contest to be Nigeria’s president as he officially declared his intention to run for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Atiku’s declaration comes a week after he solicited the support of members of the Board of Trustees of the PDP last week for his ambition to become to grab the presidential ticket of Nigeria’s main position and hopefully become Nigeria’s next president.

The official declaration was held on Wednesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power at the International Conference Centre.

The presidential hopeful stressed the state of insecurity in Nigeria and vowed that his administration would not tolerate insecurity. “The most fundamental right of every Nigerian is the right to life. But the APC has failed to protect the life of her citizens… under my Presidency I will not tolerate insecurity.

He also emphasized other critical aspects of Nigeria that he believes the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) hasn’t met up to expectations.

“They said we should go back to farms. How can Nigerians return to the farms when they have not secured the farms?

“When the APC came in 2015, they met a debt profile of N12tn. But now we have more than N32tn in debt. Under my watch, I will reduce borrowing.”

“Nigeria is in dire need of visionary leadership. Presently Nigeria is a sinking ship that must be urgently rescued. That is why I am announcing my candidacy for the President

Since his entry into politics in 1993, Atiku Abubakar has unsuccessfully contested to be Nigeria’s president five times. In 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. Today’s announcement put him in the ring for the sixth.

In 1993, he contested the Social Democratic Party presidential primaries losing to Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. He was a presidential candidate of the Action Congress in the 2007 presidential election coming in third to Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP and Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP.

He contested the presidential primaries of the Peoples 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.

It remains to be seen if Atiku will get lucky in his sixth push for Nigeria’s top job. His first hurdle will be to grab his party, PDP’s presidential ticket amidst competition from other candidates notably among which are former Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state who are both from the same region as him.

There are possibly other contending voices within PDP from the other parts of the country who seem interested in grabbing the presidential ticket also, but none has declared an interest. One of them is Atiku’s running mates in the last presidential elections, Mr. Peter Obi who has hinted that he would contest for Nigeria’s top job if the PDP zones the position in his region.

After the internal party hurdle will be the actual height to scale, to defeat the party of an incumbent president is not a common feat in African politics. But then, nothing is cast in stone in Nigeria, not even being a Northern candidate contesting against a Southern candidate as some have argued. Previous presidential elections in Nigeria proved that.

Aside from the North/South divide of Nigeria’s presidential election race, Atiku can also draw motivation from the fact that current President Muhammadu Buhari defeated a sitting president Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Hence, there is all to fight for. I wish him luck.

Related Topics:2023 elections ATIKU Featured Nigeria

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Politics

Bola Tinubu sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th president

Published

11 hours ago

May 29, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President on Monday, May 29 at Eagle Square in the country’s capital city, Abuja.

Tinubu and his deputy, Kashim Shettima took the oath of office at exactly 10:28 AM and 10:38 AM respectively, administered by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.

Shortly after being sworn in, the Nigerian President promised to solve terrorism and criminality. “Security shall be top of our administration,” he said, adding that he would reform security architecture, invest more in security personnel, providing better training and equipment.

Additionally, he pledged to transform the economy in order to spur expansion and increase the Gross Domestic Product through job creation, fighting extreme poverty, increasing food production, ensuring the inclusion of women and young people, and combating corruption.

On the controversial subject of fuel subsidy removal, he took a firm position, announcing that the fuel subsidy regime was over. He also stated that, on the monetary policy side, he would work towards a unified foreign exchange system.

He was declared the winner of the presidential elections held on February 25 in which the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were won equally by the three leading candidates, twelve states each.

The ceremony was attended by some notable leaders from across the continent. Some of them are South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, the new Prime Minister of Gabon, Billy By-Nze, President of the Republic of Cote D’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara; Ghana President, Nana Akufo-Addo, and Rwanda President, Paul Kagame.

Tinubu garnered about 37 % of the total votes cast to become president. His experience includes being governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, and a prior career in finance with top financial companies like Arthur Andersen, Deloitte and GTE Services Corporation. Nigerians will hope he will use his experience to transform the economy which critics believe performed below par under the outgone president, Muhammadu Buhari.

He is faced with the challenges of high foreign debt, unemployment, soaring inflation, unstable multiple exchange rate system, and insecurity, amongst other challenges.

Politics

Embattled Senegalese opposition leader, Sonko arrested

Published

13 hours ago

May 29, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Embattled Senegalese opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko was arrested on Sunday by the police during a march across the country.

Last Friday, Sonko set off on a march back to the country’s capital, Dakar which drew a crowd, mainly of young supporters, and was marred by clashes between youths and security forces, in which one man was killed in the south of the country.

The Minister of Interior, Antoine Diome claimed that the arrest was a result of clashes between Sonko’s supporters and the police during his return to Dakar, in which one man was killed.

Diome stated while addressing the media that the politician should have requested prior authorisation before organising what he called a “freedom caravan”.

He added that “a man was killed in Kolda. Is the state going to stand idly by (…) The answer can only be no”.

“We were, therefore, able to escort the leader of the Pastef (party) (Mr Sonko) to his home (in Dakar) where he was dropped off”, he said.

The politician who is battling with a libel suit against him is also charged with rape and making death threats against an employee of a beauty salon in Dakar but has denied all wrongdoing and insists that his legal travails are politically motivated and aimed at scuttling his bid for the 2024 presidency.

Sonko finished third with 687,523 votes, narrowly behind President Sall and Idrissa Seck in second place in the 2019 presidential election. He is hopeful of another try at the poll in the December 2023 elections.