Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar
Like Buhari, former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, is not a stranger to contests for the Nigerian presidency. His first attempt was in 1992 when he participated in the presidential primary of the defunct Social Democratic Party, which was eventually won by the late Moshood Abiola. With Nigeria’s return to democracy, Atiku contested for and won the governorship of Adamawa State on the platform of the PDP in December 1998, but was picked by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as his running mate for the presidential election.

Following his estrangement with his boss over the Third Term agenda, Atiku defected to the now-defunct Action Congress, AC, in 2007 and contested the presidency in the 2007 general elections on the platform of the party. He fought attempts to disqualify him from participating in the election based on allegations that his name was on a list of persons indicted for corruption by a panel set up by the federal government, up to the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled that INEC had no power to disqualify candidates.

This paved the way for the former vice-president to eventually participate in the election, coming third, behind PDP candidate Umaru Yar’Adua and ANPP candidate Muhammadu Buhari, with about 2.6 million votes in the poll described as the worst in Nigerian history.
Atiku returned to the PDP and in 2010 announced his intention to contest the presidency on the platform of the party. Atiku joined those clamouring that President Jonathan should not run in the 2011 general election on the platform of PDP based on the rotation agreement of the ruling party. The former vice-president was eventually selected as the northern consensus candidate by a Committee of Northern Elders, over former military president, Ibrahim Babangida; former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau, and then governor of Kwara, Bukola Saraki, in November 2010. With this, Atiku contested against President Jonathan on January 2011 for the presidential ticket of PDP, but lost to the incumbent by 805 votes to 2,736.

When INEC registered the Peoples Democratic Movement in August last year, many Nigerians had, based on the fact that most members of the party are associates of the former vice-president, speculated that Atiku may contest the 2015 presidency on the platform of the party in case the PDP shut the door against him. Atiku however said in a statement that though PDM was registered by his political associates, he remained a member of the PDP. But this changed in February this year when, based on the invitation of leading members of the opposition party, Atiku announced his defection to APC. The former vice-president was the first to indicate his intention to seek the ticket of the opposition party to run for the 2015 presidential election.

Atiku Abubakar had, during his declaration on 24 September in Abuja, described himself as the most experienced for the job of the Nigerian presidency. He also promised that creation of jobs, security of life and property and fixing the economy would be top on his agenda if he was given the APC presidential ticket and wins the general election. “We need strong, dynamic, decisive competent and visionary leadership that can halt the current drift of state, fight corruption, create jobs, rebuild our infrastructure, provide social services and tackle insecurity in a decisive, robust, multi pronged way. This is the change we want and deserve and this is the change APC is primed to offer… I have what it takes to bring people together and turn things around for the better…” Atiku had declared at the event attended by many chieftains of the opposition party. Even before the declaration, he had embarked on extensive consultations with stakeholders and various power blocs within the APC across the country. It was also gathered that he already has in place a road map designed to actualise his 2015 presidential ambition with his campaign organisation, the Turaki Support Group, already going round states of the North-East zone to drum up support for him.

Analysts believe that the real fight for the APC ticket is between Atiku and General Buhari. But analysts posit that Atiku is more acceptable to all parts of the country and may be more in tune with modern trends than the former head of state. A key distinguishing factor between the two is in terms of resources. Indeed, the ongoing controversy over the appropriate method to be adopted for choosing the presidential candidate of APC is over fears of what Atiku could do with his financial muscle. The argument is that bringing the delegates together in a place, as is bound to happen if the indirect primary option is adopted, could offer the candidate with a huge war chest the opportunity of buying them over.

Mallam Garba Shehu, media adviser to Atiku, however said in a recent statement that Atiku will abide with the choice of the party on the issue, provided it is democratic. “Our candidate is a democrat. What he is opposed to is any undemocratic process going by the name of consensus, imposition or anointment.” He explained that Atiku’s support for modified direct primary is not borne out of seeking to take advantage of other aspirants but for its practical applicability. “If you say you want direct primary, how can you get all 18 million registered APC voters to take part? That would mean you will be setting up a vote in every polling booth, doing the same thing as INEC is doing. It will be the same thing as a general election. Where do you have the resources, the manpower, the time and the security support for this?” he queried.

Garba added that the direct primary is also susceptible to manipulation by governors, who will be in control of the process. “The Modified Direct Primary cannot on the other hand be faulted as being undemocratic because the delegates coming forward, as proposed, are all elected officials. There is no dispute concerning their status as elected officials. For this reason alone, they are credible because they are representative of their wards. We support it because we believe it is broad enough to make for popular representation,” the media adviser said on his principal’s preference. Just like Buhari, Atiku has indicated that he is not desperate for the PDP ticket, but will insist that the process of choosing the eventual candidate is democratic.