Demola Olarewaju, a former aide to Atiku Abubakar, says Nigeria risks prolonged stagnation without the former vice-president emerging as president.
Olarewaju made the assertion while reacting to recent debates within the activist community over whether Atiku should be supported ahead of the 2027 election.
He said some activists remain unwilling to back Atiku because of his long history in government and perceived association with Nigeria’s political problems.
According to Olarewaju, the position overlooks Atiku’s central role in what he described as Nigeria’s most successful reform period since 1999.
He said the eight years of Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration marked a “golden age”, with Atiku driving key domestic reforms that aligned Nigeria with global best practices.
Olarewaju said Atiku spearheaded reforms that led to Nigeria’s debt relief, including the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after international partners demanded stronger anti-corruption measures.
He added that the original plan was for Obasanjo to hand over to Atiku in 2007 to sustain the reform agenda, but the effort collapsed following the failed third-term bid.
According to him, the reversal of major reforms under subsequent administrations ended Nigeria’s reform momentum.
Olarewaju argued that transformative change in Nigeria often comes through sustained institutional reforms rather than dramatic political revolutions.
He said Atiku possesses the national clout and political base, particularly in the north, to push through difficult reforms that others have failed to implement.
The former aide said Atiku has repeatedly paid a political price for nationalist positions, including opposition from his own region over constitutional and federalist principles.
He added that Atiku remains one of Nigeria’s most investigated politicians, yet no administration has secured a conclusive indictment against him.
He added: “Someone younger than Atiku can barely command the political trust Atiku can command as President to carry out revolutionary policies in a multiethnic and multicultural Nigeria.
“Jonathan tried to do it but even our fiercest activists turns against him as well as the North, speaking of which – Atiku is probably the last national federalist that will come from that region, seeing as an ethnocentric Buhari is more likely to sway Yoruba ideologues if he partners with a Bola Tinubu for elections.
“I understand the intellectual difficulty or public perception issues or immense frustration of political courage that some may have in supporting an Atiku Abubakar but you only need to interrogate his record more thoroughly, consider the alternative danger of a Tinubu second term and look further into the future to see the prospect of an unbroken 12 or 16 years of continuous ideological reform to know that Atiku is without exaggeration the last hope that Nigeria has before they turn into a Banana Republic.”
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.