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Atiku needs to transcend perennial presidential ambition 09 Jun 2026

Atiku Abubakar has enjoyed front-row positions in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. From its inception, he served as Vice President for eight years (1999–2007). Since leaving office, he has transitioned into a serial contender, seeking the presidency in five subsequent general elections. His record across these decades remains mixed. He was the second-in-command when the country experienced a democratic and economic renaissance during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. However, that administration made more symbolic than substantive gestures in fostering democratic leadership ethics and accountability.

After his tenure, Atiku enlivened Nigeria’s multi-party democracy and opposition politics. He could have strategically aligned with the ruling elite permanently. Had he done so, opposition vibrancy may have diminished. However, his perennial presidential ambition has become an obstruction to the emergence of a new generation of leaders, arguably since 2019, when agitation for a youthful president ended in a fiasco.

Going into the 2027 race, Atiku’s legacy has, sadly, become harmonised as a negative influence on the country’s politics. First, the nation stabilised its regional power rotation in 2015 when a Southern incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, was defeated. Power then rotated back to the North, with Muhammadu Buhari serving two four-year terms. In 2023, power shifted back to the South. According to the elite consensus on power rotation, which facilitated the current democratic dispensation, the upcoming 2027 cycle is meant to sustain a Southern presidency before power returns to the North in 2031.

When Jonathan constitutionally inherited the presidency in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, he opportunistically sidestepped this rotational pact by contesting and winning the 2011 election. This caused significant setbacks for the nation across the economy, inter-ethnic relations, and national security. It appears Atiku would not mind forcing the nation to relive that unfortunate, destabilising experience, which would inevitably be the fallout from a northern challenge to a recognised Southern tenure.

Second, Atiku’s relentless pursuit of the presidency has become an exceptionally costly project. It has seen him deploy hefty sums of money to purchase his presidential nomination forms every four years. The humongous sums that he and other established political heavyweights pay completely crowd out younger aspirants who lack, or are unwilling to deploy, such high levels of transactional capital. Atiku has further accelerated the monetisation of Nigeria’s presidential politics by funding expansive national patronage networks to secure his quadrennial tickets.

For a leader whose financial fortunes rose significantly while in public service, Atiku continuously reminds the nation of its failure to address unaccountable wealth and how this capital distorts democratic choices. The sense of self-disrespect projected by someone who should otherwise be a preeminent elder statesman has fuelled deep national cynicism about leadership accountability. Concurrently, it perpetuates a negative incentive structure for pursuing high public office.

Third, the partisan political durability of the former vice president has become a glaring emblem of the structural incongruity between an ageing political elite in their late seventies and eighties and the country's hyper-young majority. Atiku is well aware of this chasm and therefore routinely promises that, as president, he would mentor young leaders and eventually transition power to them. In my book, Youth Breed: How Generations of Nigerian Youth Impact Their Country, released this month, I shed light on how this specific paternalistic disposition is a ruse. It inadvertently delays national progress by keeping aged leaders at the helm while a suffocating youth population groans under the weight of socioeconomic and security crises. Whatever the structural advantages of the transition Atiku promises, he clearly believes they must wait until his personal ambition is satisfied.

The reality of old elite rivalries has trapped Nigeria in a cycle of political gridlock. This leaves virtually no room for meaningful policy debates on the real economy, national ethos, or the country’s strategic positioning in a hyper-competitive global landscape. Indeed, since the 2023 cycle, policy thinking among frontline presidential contenders has frozen around entirely discredited ideas.

There is a clear, dignified alternative role for Atiku. He was actively in office when his U.S. counterpart, Vice President Al Gore, decided to place the interests of his party and country above personal ambition after narrowly missing the presidency under agonising legal circumstances in 2000. Gore voluntarily stepped away from the 2004 race and all subsequent cycles. He rightly realised that his continued presence would turn the political landscape into a retrospective grievance campaign, suffocating the emergence of fresh talent and new ideas within his party.

By that single decision, Gore transitioned from a politician to a statesman. He channelled his passion into environmental protection and won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He has since remained a globally respected figure, proving that an individual can achieve immense national and global influence without holding executive office.

Today, Atiku's specific strengths in the sociopolitical landscape are well known. They include his vast political network, his identity as a cross-regional builder, and his investments in education. Leveraging these commitments, his post-electoral statesmanship could see him fund independent policy institutes and expand the youth civic space. He can act as a premier convener to broker peace across hostile geopolitical zones and forge durable partisan consolidation. He can also channel his vast resources into expanding access to quality higher education. This alternative path will undoubtedly earn him lasting, uncompromised national respect.

Jide Akintunde, Managing Editor of Financial Nigeria publications, is the author of the forthcoming book Youth Breed: How Generations of Nigerian Youth Impact Their Country, due for release on 14 June 2026.