Atiku Abubakar - Presidential Run

Presidential Run

On 25 November 2006 Abubakar announced that he would run for President; he did not announce immediately which party he would represent, although he inaugurated a presidential campaign committee.

On 20 December 2006, he was chosen as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC).

On 15 March 2007, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the final list of 24 aspirants for the 21 April presidential election. Abubakar's name was conspicuously missing even though he is seen by many as the only 'credible' opposition candidate to the powerful ruling PDP party in the election.

In a statement released by INEC, it states that Abubakar's name was missing because he is on a list of officials indicted for corruption by a panel set up by the ruling government. The creation of this list is seen by many as a tool to weed out opponents of the PDP who may have a strong showing in the forthcoming polls. This school of thought is supported because officials like Andy Uba, a former presidential adviser to Obasanjo, is being allowed to contest in the polls despite a history of well publisised fraudulent activities, i.e. fake educational certificates and money laundering charges in the USA. INEC disqualified Abubakar even though there is a court judgement which states that INEC doesn't have the power to disqualify candidates. INEC appealed this court decision and this move cast doubts on the neutrality of INEC as an umpire in the 2007 elections.

Abubakar headed to the courts on 16 March to get his disqualification overturned despite a statement from the INEC chairman which says it will be impossible for him to contest even if he gets a judgement in his favour as it will be logistically impossible to reprint ballot papers and distribute them round the country before the April polls.

According to reports on 26 March on a Nigerian newspaper run website, Professor Iwu, the chairman of INEC may be prepared to adhere to a court ruling in the case of Abubakar but with the caveat that it has to be a ruling by the supreme court. His words “Yes, he (Abubakar) will run if the Supreme Court says so. This is where the logistics issue actually comes in. We must have our own fallback preparation. I am not the type that makes plan without having plan A, B, and C. If the Supreme Court decides that, we will obey the Supreme Court.”

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on 16 April that INEC has no power to disqualify candidates. The ruling allowed Abubakar to contest the election, although there were concerns that it might not be possible to provide ballots with Abubakar's name by 21 April, the date of the election. On 17 April, a spokesman for INEC said that Abubakar would be on the ballot.

According to official results, Abubakar took third place, behind PDP candidate Umaru Yar'Adua and ANPP candidate Muhammadu Buhari, with about 7% of the vote (about 2.6 million votes). He rejected the election and said that it should be cancelled and held again, describing it as Nigeria's "worst election ever".

He said that he would not attend Yar'Adua's inauguration on 29 May due to his view that the election was not credible, saying that he did not want to "dignify such a hollow ritual with my presence".

Atiku returned to the People's Democratic Party, a party he was a founding member. Since his return, the former Vice President has declared his intention to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On 22 November, the Ciroma Committee selected Atiku as the Northern Consensus Candidate over former Military President Ibrahim Babangida, former National Security Adviser Aliyu Gusau and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State.

Atiku contested for the Presidential ticket of his party alongside President Jonathan and Sarah Jubril. He was defeated by Jonathan in what many described as "strategically rigged" primaries.