Atiku
As Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari get ready for a showdown in
2019, The Economist, an English-language weekly magazine-format
newspaper, has written a new article about the two men.
Titled “An ugly beauty contest; Nigeria’s presidential election pits a wheeler-dealer against a soldier” the article tries to examine what the outcome of the presidential election will be like.
Read below:
An ugly beauty contest; Nigeria’s presidential election pits a wheeler-dealer against a soldier
And then there were two. After a long night of intrigue and
counting in primary elections in Port Harcourt, the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition, chose Atiku Abubakar as its
presidential candidate for the elections in February. At the same time,
the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), more predictably,
unanimously backed the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari, for a second term.
Both candidates are boringly familiar to voters. Mr Abubakar has
been in every election since 1999; Mr Buhari every one since 2003. Oddly
for a country where half the population is younger than 18, both
candidates are in their 70s. Both face the challenge of energising an
electorate that is growing disenchanted by extravagant promises that
bring little change.
Equally striking is that both are northerners, Muslim and belong to
the Fulani ethnic group. That ought to be of little consequence. But it
counts for much in a country where people often vote along ethnic and
religious lines, and where parties usually ensure that candidates from
the north and south take turns standing.
For all their outward similarities, the two are quite different
characters. Mr Abubakar, a wealthy former vice-president and
customs-service chief, is a politicians’ politician, a gregarious
character who masterfully outflanked his rivals in Port Harcourt. He
campaigns as a business-friendly candidate who will get Nigeria’s
economy going. By contrast President Buhari, austere and introverted, is
a former military ruler who does not hurry to make decisions and is
suspicious of Nigeria’s corrupt political and business elite. Mr
Buhari’s aides say his administration can claim successes in the fight
against jihadists in the north-east and in diversifying the economy away
from its dependence on oil, which once accounted for 90% of government
revenues.
Corruption is likely to be a prominent issue. Mr Abubakar was
singled out by America’s Senate in 2010 in a report on money laundering.
It said he had channelled substantial funds of uncertain origin into
America through proxy accounts. Mr Abubakar is backed by Goodluck
Jonathan, a former president under whose chaotic rule between 2010 and
2015 corruption proliferated. Mr Abubakar’s supporters note that their
candidate is the most investigated politician in Nigeria’s history, and
that no charges have ever stuck.
Mr Buhari’s extraordinary victory in 2015 challenged the long-held
view that it was impossible to unseat an incumbent in Nigeria. A key to
his success was his ability to hold together an awkward coalition of
parties to defeat Mr Jonathan. To repeat the trick, Mr Abubakar will
need to win the full-throated support (and financial resources) of
rivals he has just trounced for the nomination.
Mr Buhari’s challenge is different. Although his nomination was
uncontested, the party has been tearing itself apart over which
candidates will run for state governorships and seats in the senate. The
first lady, Aisha Buhari, said on Twitter that some of the APC’s
primaries had been rigged. She criticised party managers for sanctioning
a culture of “impunity”.
Her husband will need to impose discipline on the party. Turnout in
2015 was just 43%. In more recent state elections it dropped to 20%. In
a system where the party machinery is needed to turn potential support
into actual votes, it is the battle within that may determine the
outcome of the presidential election.
***
Source: The Economist