Atiku’s first attempt to run for president was in 1993 when he contested as a Presidential aspirant of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but came third after MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe.
The former Vice President again ran for the position, where he clinched the presidential ticket of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007, but took third place, behind PDP candidate’s Umaru Yar’Adua, who later emerged President with 70% of the vote (24.6 million votes) and All Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
In January 2011, Abubakar contested for the Presidential ticket of the PDP alongside President Goodluck Jonathan and Sarah Jubril, and lost the primary, garnering 805 votes to President Jonathan’s 2736.
Atiku left the PDP to the join All Progressives Congress (APC), where he ran in the 2014 Presidential primaries of the APC. He again lost to President Buhari who polled 3,430 votes, as against his 954, to get the ticket.
But Atiku who is now 72years old beat 11 other aspirants, to emerge winner of the PDP primary which held on Saturday and Sunday in Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt.
Atiku clinched 1532 votes out of 3221 to merge as the PDP standard bearer and will be running against President Buhari, who re-emerged as the consensus candidate of the ruling APC in the February 2019 presidential bout.
But many political observers say Atiku’s victory at the PDP National Convention, will be one of many battles the Waziri of Adamawa will have to wage as 2019 approaches.
Although Atiku is not new in the game, THE WHISTLER will try to x-ray three big hurdles he will have to overcome to accomplish the dream he has been chasing since 1993.
NO. 1
The first hurdle to overcome is to make sure that the 11 aspirants he defeated at the PDP presidential primaries, work for him.
The 11 aspirants amongst who are Senate President Bukola Saraki, Governor of Sokoto Aminu Tambuwal, and former Governor of Kano Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Other presidential aspirants who tried their luck during the contest were former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi; former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, former Senate President, David Mark; former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; former governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang; and founder of Baze University Sen. Datti Baba-Ahmed.
However, while some of the aspirants have congratulated Atiku and showed the willingness to work for him, many are still mute and are yet to publicly state their stance ahead of the election.
Perhaps Atiku will have to grasp the available time and seek to make sure that all 11 aspirants who were his opponents during the contest work towards the actualization of his dream to be President.
He may already have it in the kitty going by the pledge Saraki made, after the PDP Convention and Governor Nyesom Wike’s statement after the event.
“We are one family. You may support aspirant A or B, but once a candidate emerges, you owe it a duty to make sure your party returns to power,” Governor Wike said while rallying support for Atiku.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that we don’t give APC any gap. They have failed Nigerians and we will take over in 2019,” Wike added.
NO 2
The other hurdle for Atiku is to secure the confidence of the Northern base of Buhari, who see him more as an elite politician who cares less for the common man.
NO 3
He also must be able to penetrate the South-West to achieve his dreams. All the five states in the region are currently under APC governments, and he will need to find a formula to penetrate the zone. But with friends like former Governor of Ogun State, who is the Director General of his campaign organisation, Atiku’s hopes of getting votes from that region could be tied to who he chooses to be his Vice.
By Emmanuel Ike.
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