Atiku Abubakar

Atiku Abubakar (born 25 November 1946) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. He ran for the office of governor of Adamawa State in 1990 and 1996 unsuccessfully, but won in 1998. Before he was sworn in, he was selected as running mate to former military leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, during the 1999 presidential election and was re-elected in 2003.

Atiku Abubakar ran unsuccessfully for President of Nigeria six times, in 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023. He ran in the Social Democratic Party presidential primaries in 1993, losing to Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. He was a presidential candidate of the Action Congress in the 2007 presidential election, coming in third to Umaru Yar'Adua of the PDP and Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP. He contested the presidential primaries of the People's Democratic Party during the 2011 presidential election, losing to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. In 2014, he joined the All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2015 presidential election and contested the presidential primaries, losing to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2017, he returned to the Peoples Democratic Party and was the party presidential candidate during the 2019 presidential election, again losing to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari. In May 2022, he was chosen as the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate again, this time for the 2023 general election after he defeated Nyesom Wike in the primaries. He came in second in the general election, being defeated by Bola Tinubu, though Abubakar joined other opposition candidates in demanding a revote. In 2025, Abubakar left the PDP to join the African Democratic Congress, alongside his former rival Peter Obi, uniting opposition fronts for the 2027 presidential elections.

Atiku Abubakar was born on 25 November 1946 in Jada, a village which was part of the British Cameroons—later joined by Nigeria after the 1961 referendum. His father, Garba Abubakar, was a Fulani trader and farmer, and his mother, Aisha Kande, was a Fulani woman. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Atiku Abdulqadir, from Wurno, Sokoto State. His maternal grandfather, Inuwa Dutse, migrated from Dutse, Jigawa State, to Jada. He became the only child of his parents after his sister died at infancy.

In 1957, his father drowned while crossing a river to Toungo, a neighboring village. Despite his father’s opposition to Western education, Abubakar enrolled in Jada Primary School in 1958. He completed primary school in 1960 and was admitted to Adamawa Provincial Secondary School. He graduated in 1965 with a grade three in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Following secondary school, he briefly studied at the Nigeria Police College in Kaduna but left due to lack of O-Level Mathematics results.

He worked as a Tax Officer in the Regional Ministry of Finance and later enrolled in the School of Hygiene in Kano in 1966, graduating with a Diploma in 1967. In 1967, he enrolled for a Law Diploma at the Ahmadu Bello University Institute of Administration on a scholarship. He graduated in 1969 and was employed by the Nigeria Customs Service during the Nigerian Civil War. In 2021, he successfully completed a master’s degree in International Relations at Anglia Ruskin University.

Abubakar worked in the Nigeria Customs Service for twenty years, rising to deputy director. He retired in April 1989 and began full-time business and politics. He started in real estate, building houses in Yola and later ventured into agriculture, though his first maize and cotton farm closed in 1986. He later engaged in trading, buying and selling goods like rice, flour, and sugar. His most significant business venture was NICOTES, later Intels Nigeria Limited, which he co-founded with Gabrielle Volpi. Abubakar also founded Adama Beverages Limited, an animal feed factory, and the American University of Nigeria (AUN), the first American-style private university in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Abubakar’s political career began in the early 1980s with the governorship campaign of Bamanga Tukur. He later joined the People’s Front of Nigeria, a group that included Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and other politicians. In 1989, he was elected National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Front and represented his constituency in the 1989 Constituent Assembly. The group merged into the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and he ran for Gongola State governor in 1990, though the state was split into Adamawa and Taraba by the military government.

In 1993, Abubakar contested the SDP presidential primaries but was disqualified. He later ran for vice president with Moshood Abiola but withdrew after Yar’Adua’s intervention. In 1998, he joined the PDP and won the governorship election of Adamawa State. Before he could be sworn in, he was selected as running mate to Olusegun Obasanjo for the 1999 presidential election, becoming Vice President. His first term was marked by his role in privatization efforts, while his second term saw tensions with Obasanjo over constitutional amendments.

In 2005, Abubakar was involved in a bribery scandal with U.S. Congressman William J. Jefferson, who was later convicted of corruption. Despite denials, the controversy strained his relationship with Obasanjo. In 2006, he left the PDP to join the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the 2007 elections. He was disqualified due to corruption allegations but won the Supreme Court case to contest the election, finishing third. In 2010, he ran for the Northern Consensus Candidate in the PDP primaries but lost to Goodluck Jonathan. In 2014, he joined the APC, lost the presidential primaries to Buhari, and returned to the PDP in 2017.

In 2018, Abubakar secured the PDP presidential nomination and campaigned widely, promising to privatize NNPC and grant amnesty to looters. He lost the 2019 presidential election to Muhammadu Buhari. In May 2022, he was re-nominated as the PDP presidential candidate after defeating Nyesom Wike in the primaries. He came second in the 2023 election, again losing to Bola Tinubu. In 2025, he left the PDP to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC) with Peter Obi, uniting opposition fronts for the 2027 elections.

Abubakar advocates for true federalism, encouraging states to manage their resources and compete for investments. He has praised the idea of decentralizing power to states, particularly in the South-South and South-East regions. He is also a vocal supporter of improving Nigeria’s educational system, founding the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, which emphasizes critical thinking and problem-solving. His educational initiatives include scholarships for Chibok schoolgirls’ escapees and donations to the Peace Corps.

Abubakar is a businessman with seven properties in Dubai. He has four wives and twenty-eight children. His first wife was Titilayo Albert, with whom he has children Fatima, Adamu, Halima, and Aminu. He later married Ladi Yakubu, with whom he has six children: Abba, Atiku, Zainab, Ummi-Hauwa, Maryam, and Rukaiyatu. He married his third wife, Princess Rukaiyatu, daughter of the Lamido of Adamawa, and they have children Aisha, Hadiza, Aliyu, Asmau, Mustapha, Laila, and Abdulsalam. He divorced Ladi to marry Jennifer Iwenjiora Douglas, with whom he had children Amina (Meena), Mohammed, and twins Ahmed and Shehu, as well as twins Zainab and Aisha, and Hafsat. Jennifer Douglas later confirmed their divorce in 2022.

In 1982, Abubakar was given the chieftaincy title of Turaki of Adamawa by his father-in-law, Alhaji Aliyu Mustafa. In June 2017, he was given the title of Waziri of Adamawa, transferring his previous title to his son, Aliyu. In 2011, he was honored with the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award by the National Peace Corps Association for his contributions to higher education in Africa. He donated $750,000 to the association, the largest individual donation in its history.

Abubakar has faced accusations of conflicts of interest due to his business dealings while a civil servant. He has defended his involvement, stating it was limited to share ownership and not day-to-day management. He has also been implicated in international bribery scandals, including allegations against him and William Jefferson, though he has denied wrongdoing. Despite these controversies, he remains a prominent figure in Nigerian politics and a vocal advocate for democracy and true federalism.