1. Alh. Atiku Abubakar
The recently installed Waziri Adamawa has never hid the fact that he deeply covets the top job in the land. After his stint as Vice President ended rather unceremoniously, Atiku has become more or less a perennial Presidential candidate. At the age of eight, the young Atiku enrolled in the Jada Primary School where he performed well. In 1960, he was admitted to the prestigious Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in Yola. He graduated with a Grade Three WASC/GCE Certificate in 1965. Atiku studied a short while at the Nigeria Police College in Kaduna. He worked briefly as a Tax Officer in the regional Ministry of Finance, from where he gained admission to the School of Hygiene in Kano in 1966. Atiku Abubakar was admitted for a Law Diploma at Ahmadu Bello University on a scholarship. He graduated in 1969 and got employed in the Nigerian Custom Service that same year.
He was posted Idi-Iroko, a border town between Nigeria and Benin Republic. His assignments was to be in charge of the Lagos Airport, Apapa Ports, Ibadan Customs Command between 1974 and 1979. Later he moved to North and served in the Kano Command in 1976, then to Maiduguri ( as Area Comptroller) in 1977, from there to Kaduna in 1980 and back to the Apapa Ports in 1982. In 1987 Atiku was promoted to the post of a Deputy Director in charge of Enforcement and Drugs. In April 1989, aged 43, Atiku voluntarily retired from Customs. In the early 1980’s, while still working for the Customs, he worked behind-the-scenes on the governorship campaign of Bamanga Tukur, who at that time was managing director of the Nigeria Ports Authority.
He canvassed for votes on behalf of Tukur, and also donated to the campaign. Towards the end of his Customs career, he met Shehu Musa Yar’Adua with whom he worked with down the years. In 1992, Atiku contested the Presidential election Primaries with the backing of his mentor Shehu Musa Yar’Adua against MKO Abiola. Atiku stepped down for Abiola, asking his supporters to cast their votes for Abiola. In 1998 Atiku won election as the Governor of Adamawa State but before his swearing in he was called by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to serve as his Vice President.
After his time as Vice President ended bitterly, he went on to contest for President in 2007 as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC). In January 2011, Atiku contested for the Presidential ticket of People’s Democratic Party against then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. He went on to contest in 2014 under the All Progressive Congress and lost to Muhammadu Buhari who emerged the party’s presidential flag bearer. Like many of his contemporaries, Atiku’s time in public office has been riddled with accusations of corruption. The real source of his stupendous wealth is still something of a mystery, for someone who served in the customs his financial might seems a bit disproportionate to the offices he held prior to politics.
Atiku’s name has been fingered in various shady deals, the Transcorp shares saga, the Malabu Oil deal, the Haliburton case among others. His time as Customs officer-in-charge of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport has also been questioned. Time will tell if one of these gladiators on our list will eventually land the coveted job.
Source: buzznigeria
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