A professional presidential contestant, who is reputed for sagacity and unwavering capacity in mobilising for political action, Atiku Abubakar, former vice president to President Olusegun Obasanjo, from 1997 – 2007, is presently engaged in the last battle for the nation’s presidency.
His ambition to be Nigeria’s president dates as far back as 30 years when he threw his hat in the ring on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under the transition programme of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. With the ban on General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua from participating further in the IBB’s transition programme, Atiku became the favoured inheritor of the Yar’Adua’s political machine that unleashed deadly defeat on Chief Olu Falae in the South-west zone in the race for the SDP’s presidential ticket in 1992.
When General Abdulsalami Abubakar unlocked the gates of democracy in 1998, ahead of the return of democracy in May 1999, the former Customs officer was back to the…
Source: Leadership Newspaper
