FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar said that he had yet to decide if he would contest the presidency in 2027.
He disclosed this in a yet-to-be-aired interview with Arise TV, scheduled for broadcast later today, Wednesday, March 26.
In the snippet of the interview aired Wednesday morning, Abubakar said, “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.”
Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, added that Nigeria urgently needed experienced and credible leadership.
He noted that the country’s current situation is more dire than ever.
He also referenced the 2014 merger, where multiple presidential aspirants came together, and one emerged as the winner with their collective support.
Additionally, Abubakar concurred with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s assessment that Nigeria’s democracy is deteriorating, describing the situation as “very dire“.
He expressed doubts about the credibility of the current legislative leadership, particularly regarding the National Assembly’s swift approval of the state of emergency in Rivers State.
He alleged that the Senate leadership was corrupt, stating that its actions didn’t surprise him.
The former vice president defended his decision not to choose Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike as his running mate in the 2023 election.
According to him, he has no regrets about picking former Delta state governor Ifeanyi Okowa instead.
The ICIR, in a special report after the 2023 election, reported that after six unsuccessful attempts, Abubakar became the only politician in Nigeria who had sought the presidency the most times and had yet to win it.
The report titled “Hope dims for Atiku’s presidency bid after six failed attempts” revealed that the former vice president had had two more shots at the country’s most exalted office than former President Muhammadu Buhari, who ran four times before winning it.
Abubakar, 78, has contested for the top office for 33 years and has had his hopes dashed.
He vied for the presidency on the PDP platform in the election conducted on February 25, 2023.
He came second with 6,984,520 votes, trailing the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu, who polled 8,794,726.
He was one of the 18 presidential candidates in the election.
He vowed to challenge Tinubu’s victory declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in court but lost at the Supreme Court.
While Abubakar has failed all six times he has contested for the seat since 1992, Tinubu only contested once and won.
The ICIR reports that Atiku came into politics about the same time as Tinubu.
A reporter with the ICIR
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