Fani-Kayode questions Atiku’s latest presidential bid

Femi Fani-Kayode has criticised Atiku Abubakar’s latest presidential bid, describing it as the former vice-president’s seventh attempt to become Nigeria’s president. In an opinion article, Fani-Kayode listed Atiku’s previous efforts, including his 1993 Social Democratic Party primary contest, his 2007 Action Congress candidacy and unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. He said Atiku lost the 1993 primary to Moshood Abiola, finished third in the 2007 general election, and later lost party primaries to Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.

Fani-Kayode also said Atiku lost the 2019 and 2023 general elections to Buhari and Bola Tinubu respectively. Fani-Kayode compared Atiku’s record with that of politicians who had contested presidential elections several times. He said Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal was the only person among six cited examples to have eventually won, doing so on his fifth and sixth attempts before losing on his seventh.

The writer argued that Atiku’s record of changing political parties showed that he was a “political wanderer”. He said Atiku had belonged to seven parties since entering politics in 1991 and four parties since 1999, including the PDP, which he left and rejoined twice. Fani-Kayode acknowledged that Atiku had the right to continue seeking the presidency but said the persistence could also be viewed as an obsession.

He further criticised Atiku’s political conduct and said the former vice-president differed from Wade in loyalty, discipline, humility and patriotism. The article is an opinion piece and presents Fani-Kayode’s assessment of Atiku’s political career and current ambition.