Who Will Fund Atiku’s Presidential Elections?

He’s run for Nigeria’s presidency almost as many times as Nigeria has held democratic elections since 1999. Six tries, six flameouts. Yet Atiku Abubakar, the indefatigable former vice president, is back on the starting block, again.

But this time, the question is not whether he’ll run, it’s who will pay for the privilege.Atiku is rich. Of course, he is. A man who once helmed Nigeria’s customs and built a sprawling logistics empire doesn’t come cheap. But even for a wealthy septuagenarian with a vault of political IOUs, financing a Nigerian presidential campaign in 2027 is no solo sport.

In 2023, insiders whispered that former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was not just Atiku’s running mate but also one of the financial contributors. With Okowa’s clout dimmed and governors defecting faster than umbrellas in a harmattan storm, the PDP looks more like a drying river than a party with presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile, rumours abound: some say more governors are eyeing the ruling party. Others claim Atiku, Peter Obi, and even Nasir El-Rufai have quietly settled on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a vessel for a grand opposition coalition. Still, the question of money hangs over it all like dust over an Abuja expressway.

In the age of billion-naira billboards and vote-charming caravans, Nigeria’s elections are not run on goodwill alone. The APC’s war chest is swollen. Obi’s Labour Party has grassroots fervour and diaspora dollars. But Atiku? He has political breadth, yes—but breadth doesn’t write cheques.

And yet, he might just be the establishment’s last, best fallback: not too radical, not too risky. A northern elder with southern reach. The only man who can thread 25% of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria’s states without setting off elite panic.

Still, even a familiar face needs new financiers. The stage is set. The players are restless. And in a country where loyalty shifts like Lagos traffic, who bankrolls Atiku may well determine if his seventh act ends in history or in quiet retirement.