Atiku Abubakar, former Vice-President of Nigeria, has declared that his bid for the 2027 presidential election will be his last. Speaking in a television interview last Wednesday, Atiku confirmed his eighth attempt at the presidency, stating, "Certainly yes. Because the stakes are higher, because I believe that will be my last outing. So, that's incontrovertible." He has previously contested under various party platforms, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with his most recent run in 2023 as the PDP candidate. Atiku lost the 2023 election to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He served as Vice-President under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007. Over the years, he has positioned himself as a proponent of restructuring, economic liberalisation, and private sector-led growth.
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga has publicly opposed Atiku's 2027 ambition, calling it a "self-serving" move that violates Nigeria's informal North-South power rotation arrangement. Onanuga stated on his verified X account that the South should not produce the president again, arguing that President Tinubu must be allowed to complete his tenure after former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, served eight years. He accused Atiku of attempting to "disrupt Nigeria's power rotation arrangement" and claimed his 2023 candidacy fractured the PDP, leading to his defeat. Onanuga dismissed Atiku's argument that the South has held power longer than the North since 1999 as "dubious political arithmetic," citing the death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and the subsequent ascension of Goodluck Jonathan as exceptional circumstances. Despite the political controversy, Atiku's candidacy remains within constitutional bounds.
Atiku claims 2027 will be his final presidential run, yet frames it as a high-stakes battle rather than a farewell, muddying the sincerity of his retirement pledge. If this is truly his last attempt, then his repeated defiance of party and regional consensus may leave no lasting political legacy, only further fragmentation. Nigerians who have followed his eight-year vice-presidency and seven previous presidential bids must now question whether this final push is for national change or personal closure. His constitutional right to run does not erase the pattern of ambition over alignment.
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