Nigeria’s former VP Atiku Abubakar eyes presidency

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar campaigns for votes during the presidential primaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja early January 14, 2011. has declared his intention to contest for the presidency in the 2019 polls. PHOTO | PIUS UTOMI EKPEI | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Abubakar, 71, returned to his former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) earlier in the year after dumping President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC.
  • He accused the national government of creating an atmosphere of insecurity and alarming unemployment rates.

Abuja, Sunday

Former Nigerian vice-president Atiku Abubakar has declared his intention to contest for the presidency in the 2019 polls.

Mr Abubakar said he would address insecurity, fix the economy and unite the country if elected president. He said the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) had failed to unite the people.

"The APC government only succeeded in dividing the people and (has) destroyed the economy more than ever before,’’ he said during a rally held in Yola, North East Adamawa, on Sunday.

Mr Abubakar, 71, returned to his former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) earlier in the year after dumping President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC.

He accused the national government of creating an atmosphere of insecurity and alarming unemployment rates.

UNITE NIGERIA

“In 1999, I took Adamawa State to People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Today, I have returned to reclaim what rightly belongs to the party. The government of APC has failed in uniting Nigeria and has destroyed our economy.

“Today, we are divided more than ever before in the history of Nigeria. We are witnessing the most insecure atmosphere since our existence as a country.

“More people have died in Nigeria during the reign of APC than the number of people killed in Afghanistan. We have more than 10 million unemployed youths.”

The former vice-president urged PDP supporters to embrace the party for success in the 2019 General Election.

During the rally, PDP national chairman Uche Secondus said they would accord a level playing ground to all Nigerians.

 CREDIBLE CANDIDATE

Earlier, Adamawa PDP chairman Tahir Shehu, pleaded with the national delegates to pick a presidential candidate from the northeast.

He said unfulfilled promises of APC made the people to look for Mr Abubakar whom he described as a credible candidate for the presidency.

Mr Abubakar served as the second elected vice-president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, with President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He ran for the office of governor in the Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba States) in 1991, and for the presidency in 1993.

In 1998, he was elected Governor of Adamawa State, and while still in office, he was selected by the PDP presidential candidate, Mr Obasanjo, as his running mate.

STORMY RELATIONSHIP

Mr Abubakar's second term as vice-president was marked by a stormy relationship with President Obasanjo.

His bid to succeed Obasanjo did not receive the latter's support, and it took the Supreme Court to allow Mr Abubakar contest after he was initially disqualified by the Independent National Electoral Commission on the grounds that he had been indicted for financial misconduct by an investigating panel set up at President Obasanjo's behest.

He ran on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), having quit the PDP, but finished third after Mr Umaru Yar'Adua and Mr Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.

Mr Abubakar is a co-founder of Intels, an oil servicing business with extensive operations in Nigeria and abroad.