Atiku Abubakar (born November 25, 1946) is the former vice president of Nigeria. He has four wives from three different ethnic groups in Nigeria, and 27(?) children.
Early Years and Education
Atiku Abubakar was born in Jada, Adamawa state of northeast Nigeria, to Garba Atiku and Aisha Kande Abubakar. Despite the death of his father who was the breadwinner of their home, Atiku was determined to get an education. He attended Jada Primary School from 1954 to 1960. He thereafter attended Adamawa Provincial Secondary School, Yola, from 1961 to 1965 where he graduated with Advanced Level Certificate in Economics, British Economic History, Government and Hausa language. From 1966 to 1967, he attended the School of Hygiene, Kano, graduating with the Royal Society of Health Diploma. He then proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 1967, graduating with a Diploma in Law in 1969.
His interest in leadership began at the School of Hygiene in Kano, where he was elected President, Students Union, during the radical students’ union politics of the 1960s. At the ABU, he was elected Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Institute of Administration, Kongo Campus, Ahmadu Bello University Students Union.
Career
On graduation, Atiku joined the Customs and Excise Department in 1969, serving in Kano, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Seme, Ibadan and Lagos. He rose to the rank of Deputy Director before retiring meritoriously in 1986. During and after his service, he acquired additional training and education. He attended courses in Leadership Management, Drug Enforcement and Control, in Finland, Egypt and United States of America.
On retirement, he went into private business, with interests in Oil Services, Agriculture, Food and Beverages, Print Media, Banking, Insurance and Pharmaceuticals.
Atiku employs thousands of Nigerians through his businesses, and is the second largest employer of labour in Adamawa State after the State Government.
Politics
Atiku embraced active politics in 1989 under the influence of soldier-turned-politician, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. One of Nigeria’s loudest opponents of military rule, Atiku played a prominent role in the pro-democracy movements of the 90s. He was elected into the National Constitutional Conference of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Ganye/Mayo Belwa constituency in Adamawa State from 1994 to 1995. His insistence on the exit of the military led to an assassination attempt during the brutal military regime of Sani Abacha. Having survived that, Atiku was harassed and chased into exile in 1995. He lived briefly in the United States and tried to ensure that his businesses stayed afloat despite the military regime’s attempts to ruin them.
He contested and won the Governorship Election of Adamawa State in 1999. However, just before he could be sworn in as Governor, he was nominated as the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. He was thereafter elected Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and sworn in on May 29, 1999. He was re-elected for a second four year term as Vice President and sworn in on May 29, 2003.
Holding both a Royal Society of Health and a Law degree, he was an early promoter of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), the progenitor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as he pursued a career both in public and private life, culminating in his being twice elected as Vice President of Nigeria, always refusing to serve in Nigeria’s military dictatorships.
Frustrated with the inability of the PDP to enthrone internal democracy as an integral party policy, Atiku parted ways with the party he had helped found to pitch tent with the progressives under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Having lost to President Muhammadu Buhari and conceded defeat in the contest for the party’s presidential primaries, Atiku Abubakar has left no one in doubt as to why he is a democrat par excellence. He deployed his assets to the then Buhari presidential campaign, working in concert with other stakeholders in the APC to a resounding electoral victory. Long after that historic election, his support to the success of President Buhari is unassailable.
Philanthropy
Atiku Abubakar is well-known across Nigeria for his generosity. He has built hundreds of schools and mosques across the country, regularly provides scholarships for Nigerian students to study at home and abroad, and finances medical care for indigent Nigerians. In May 2018, he donated 10 million naira towards the medical bills of victims of a Boko Haram bomb blast in Mubi, northeast Nigeria. He has also provided regular support to the millions of people displaced by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria.
Atiku Abubakar is particularly passionate about education. He established a Professorial Chair at the Oxford University, U.K, to promote scholarship in African History. His most significant investment in education has been the American University of Nigeria in the northeast Nigeria town of Yola. With the help and cooperation of American University in Washington, DC, the American University of Nigeria in Yola was set up. The AUN has arisen in only thirteeen years from the empty fields of rural Nigeria to become an institution of 1500 students with a faculty from 40 countries, a focus on sustainable development as Africa’s first “Development University,” and most recently the winner of an award from the American Library Association for its pioneering work in the development of one of the world’s most sophisticated e-libraries. It is the only American-style University south of the Sahara and is already recognized as one of the leading universities of West Africa.
Atiku personally provides 60 percent subsidy by his own direct intervention to students of the AUN. This affords both the children of the rich and the children of the poor access to world-class education. Specially gifted children, regardless of their parental backgrounds are also afforded the opportunity to better their future through this first-class university. Even the vulnerable, among them the Chibok girls who escaped Boko Haram captivity, have found accommodation in the academy operated by AUN.
To help foster unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence in northeast Nigeria, the Adamawa Peace Initiative (API) was set up at his prompting by the American University of Nigeria (AUN). The API is vehicle for promoting and maintaining peace in Adamawa State and indeed the North East region of Nigeria. Today, the API initiative is getting more than cursory look as a viable model for dealing with strife in multi-religious communities.
Honours
In 1982, at the unusually young age of 36, Atiku was appointed to the enviable position of Turaki Adamawa, a position of honour, and a position of high responsibility. Since then accolades have been bestowed on him from various monarchs across the six geo-political zones of the country. He holds the following titles:
- Sardauna of Ganya
- Maiyedero of Lagos
- Ekwueme of Anambra
- Atayese of Ijeshaland
- Zanna Zantaelma of Borno
- Zege Mule U of Tivland
- Shettima of Biu
- Suka of Ogoniland
- Unuamani of Adamawa
- Baagbile of Oke Ona Egba, Egbaland
- Omekaojuora of Igbuzo
- Otun Balogun of Mopaland
In June 2017, he was elevated Waziri Adamawa, second in command only to the Lamido of Adamawa.
Rotary International and American National Peace Corps Association have recognised the former Vice President for matching his passion with his purse. In 2012, the American National Peace Corps Association honoured him with the Harris Wofford award. “No private business man in Africa has worked harder for democracy or contributed more to higher education than Atiku Abubakar,” his citation at that event read.
Atiku has also been honoured by a number of Nigerian universities:
- PhD Honoris Causa, Universities of Maiduguri
- PhD Honoris Causa, University of Calabar
- PhD Honoris Causa, Igbinedion University, Okada
- PhD Honoris Causa, Federal University of Technology, Yola
- PhD Honoris Causa, Imo State University, Owerri
- PhD Honoris Causa, Bayero University, Kano
- PhD Honoris Causa, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun