The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections ,Atiku Abubakar, has said he does not know if he would contest for the 2027 president election.
He gave his reasons, “I don’t know because there has to be, first of all, a viable platform, more than any other time in the political history of this country, particularly since the return of democracy.”
Atiku stated this in a yet-to-be-aired interview for a television show, Untold Stories, with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, scheduled for broadcast Wednesday but exclusively obtained by Daily Trust.
Having run for the presidency six times, Atiku said he could still contest again in 2027.
According to him, “I have not seen Nigeria in dire need of, you know, an experienced and credible leadership than this time.
“We had a similar, you know, what would I say, merger in 2014. About four of us or is it three? We all ran for president and one of us emerged, and we all supported the one who emerged, and he won,” he said.
He said Nigeria’s democracy is deteriorating, saying the situation is “very dire.”
“No doubt about that,” he said, adding that he is disappointed with the country’s political leadership.
“The next generation after me, many of them had been governors, had been senators. Instead of me to see an improvement in the level of governance at the state level and so on and so forth, I don’t see it. So I feel a little bit distressed.”
Atiku condemned the National Assembly ratification of the state of emergency in Rivers State, saying “I am not surprised,” he said, just as he accused them of being corrupt.
The former Vice President also said he did not regret not picking FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike as his running mate in the 2023 election.
Atiku revealed that having been accused of not consulting widely before he picked Peter Obi as his running mate in 2019, in 2023 he asked his platform, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to set up a committee to pick three candidates from which to choose one.
He said the committee came up with three names – former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the first choice, Wike as the second, and then-Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel as the third.
“So I picked number one,” he said, adding that his decision not to pick Wike was simply because he was the second choice on the list.
The former Vice president recalled events prelude to the 2019 general elections, saying when he won the ticket he consulted with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“He asked me, ‘from where is your running mate going to come from?’ I said, of course, it’s either South East or South West. He said, ‘no, leave South-West because I was there for eight years. Go to the South-East.’ I said, ‘Okay, sir.’
He said Obasanjo asked for a nomination, and the former president suggested Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the current Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), who had previously served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance.
“So I told him Ngozi was not a member of our party. I believe if I forward the name to the party, they will reject it. He said, ‘Okay. What about Soludo?’ I said Soludo too was not a member of our party, so they will not accept.
“And he said, ‘What about Peter Obi?’ I said Peter Obi is a member of the party. So that was it. So I came back here in this very same building, very same room, and it was a morning meeting of the party leaders—Uche Secondus and others, including Wike himself and Tambuwal. I remember there were about seven of them. I said, ‘look, I have been to my boss, and this is what he said. Do you have any objection? You are leaders of the party and also leaders of the governors’ forum.’”
Atiku said they said they had no objection, adding with that done he asked them to announce Obi as his running mate. However, he later came under criticism for supposedly failing to consult widely.
“They said I did not consult with the party enough. So in 2023, I threw the whole thing to the party. I said, ‘Okay, set up a committee and recommend three people for me to pick as running mate.’”
