Atiku: I contested governorship election 4 times

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a presidential aspirant of the platform of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said that he contested for the governorship position four different times before he finally won in 1999.

Atiku won the governorship of Adamawa in 1999 on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but did not assume the position as he was chosen as the Vice President to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

But speaking with leaders of over 200 support groups championing his 2023 presidential ambition across the country on Tuesday, Atiku said he was delighted that more young people were participating in politics today.

He added that that his dream is to mentor the young generation and handover his political structure to them.

He urged youths to be consistent and be courageous in pursuing their aspirations.

“It is encouraging that these days I see many young people come to me declaring intentions to run for various political positions, some state assemblies, some national assembly and even some aspiring to be governors.

“The beautiful thing is that this shows that our democracy is being strengthened. I also started early like many of you.

“I started in my late 30s. During our time, our direction was to fight the military and return the country to civil rule.

“In joining politics, you have to be focused, principled and courageous. For example, I contested for the governorship position four times before I was finally elected. That is politics for you. You have to be determined and be courageous,” he said.

Atiku expressed gratitude to leaders of the support groups for the roles that they played during the 2018/2019 election and commended the groups for their discipline and their determination to be better organised than the last outing.

“We are more organised now; it is a reflection of the fact that we are now more experienced and with experience comes more knowledge.

“What that means is that if there was any mistake that we made last time, we are in a better position to avoid such mistakes now”.

Earlier, the National Coordinator of Atiku Abubakar Technical Support Team, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, challenged the members of the group to tour round the country and meet all the stakeholders in the party.

He encouraged them to engage in all necessary lobby to ensure that the aspiration of the Atiku comes becomes a reality.

Governorship election four times?

It is possible that Abubakar was misquoted that he ran for the governorship election in his state four times.

His political record did not support this statement.

The first known governorship election that Atiku contested was that of 1999. He won.

In 1993, he ran for the post of president under the Babangida political transition. He lost the ticket to MKO Abiola.

He had since made four other failed attempts to become president.

He contested in 2007, he failed.

He attempted to win the PDP ticket in 2011, he also failed. He lost to President Goodluck Jonathan.

He slugged it out with President Buhari for the APC ticket in 2015. He also lost.

In 2019, he ran for the presidency on the ticket of the PDP and also lost to Buhari.

He is now making another fifth pitch in 2023.