Atiku Abubakar GCON born on the 25th of November 1946 is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. Atiku Abubakar was born in the village of Jada, which at the time was part of the territory that was governed by the British Cameroons. This territory eventually became a part of the Federation of Nigeria as a result of a referendum held in 1961 by the British Cameroons.
His Fulani father, Garba Abubakar, was a trader and farmer, and his mother, Aisha Kande, was from another Fulani tribe. He was given the name Atiku Abdulqadir after his paternal grandfather, who was originally from Wurno, Sokoto State but later moved to Kojoli village in Jada, Adamawa State. His maternal grandfather, called Inuwa Dutse, was originally from Dutse, Jigawa State but later moved to Jada, Adamawa State. He was the only child of his parents after his only sister passed away when she was an infant. His father passed away in 1957 after falling into a river while attempting to cross to the neighboring village of Toungo from Jada.
Profile Summary of Atiku Abubakar
| Born | 25 November 1946 Jada, British Cameroon (modern-day Adamawa State, Nigeria) |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Political party | People’s Democratic Party (1998–2006; 2007–2014; 2017–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Spouse(s) |
Titilayo Albert
Ladi Yakubu
Princess Rukaiyatu Mustafa
Fatima Shettima
Jennifer Iwenjiora Douglas
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| Children | 28 |
| Education | Master of Arts degree in International Relations |
| Alma mater |
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Education
Atiku Abubakar’s father was against the concept of his son receiving a Western education and did everything he could to keep him in the local educational system. When the government found out that Abubakar was skipping the required schooling, they sent his father to jail for a few days until Aisha Kande’s mother paid the fine. After that, his father was released. Abubakar attended the Jada Primary School in Adamawa after enrolling there at the age of eight. In 1960, when he had finished his primary schooling, he applied to and was accepted into Adamawa Provincial Secondary School along with 59 other students in that same year. After achieving a grade of three on the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, he received his secondary school diploma in the year 1965.
After completing his secondary education, Abubakar attended the Nigeria Police College in Kaduna for a brief period of time. After being unable to present an O-Level Mathematics result, he left the College and worked for a brief period of time as a Tax Officer in the Regional Ministry of Finance. It was through this position that he was able to gain admission to the School of Hygiene in Kano in the year 1966. In 1967, he was awarded a Diploma after having completed the requirements for the position of Interim Student Union President at the institution. On a scholarship from the local government, he enrolled in the Law Diploma program at the Ahmadu Bello University Institute of Administration in 1967. He graduated with a law diploma. Following his graduation in 1969, he found work in the Nigeria Customs Service during the conflict that was taking place in Nigeria at the time.
At Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, United Kingdom, Abubakar earned his Master’s degree in International Relations in 2021, having successfully completed and passing all of his coursework.
Marriages and personal life
Abubakar is the father of twenty-eight children and has four wives. Atiku explains: “I had the ambition of bringing more people into the Abubakar family. When I was a child, I often felt like I was all by myself. I was an only child and had no siblings. I did not want my children to experience the same feelings of isolation that I did. For this reason, I decided to marry more than one woman. My wives are not only my sisters but also my friends and advisors, and they complete each other in these roles.”
In 1971, he went to Lagos and married Titilayo Albert behind her family’s back. This was necessary due to the fact that her family was against the marriage in the beginning. Fatima, Adamu, Halima, and Aminu are his children from his relationship with her. In 1979, he wed Ladi Yakubu, making her his second wife in the process. He has six children with Ladi: Abba, Atiku, Zainab, Ummi-Hauwa, Maryam and Rukaiyatu. Later on, Abubakar got a divorce from Ladi, which opened the door for him to wed Jennifer Iwenjiora Douglas as his fourth wife (which was the maximum number of wives he was allowed to have as a Muslim). Princess Rukaiyatu, daughter of the Lamido of Adamawa, Aliyu Mustafa, became his third wife in 1983. The wedding took place in Adamawa. Aisha, Hadiza, Aliyu (named after her late father), Asmau, Mustafa, Laila, and Abdulsalam are the names of her children who are the result of her pregnancy. In 1986, he wed Fatima Shettima, making her his fourth and final wife. Amina (Meena), Mohammed, twins Ahmed and Shehu, twins Zainab and Aisha, and Hafsat are her children. Her other children are twins Zainab and Aisha.
Jennifer Douglas issued a statement to the press on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, confirming her separation from Abubakar. According to her account, the couple was unable to salvage their marriage due, among other long-standing issues, disagreements regarding her decision to remain in the United Kingdom.
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Business career
Customs
After twenty years of service in the Nigeria Customs Service, during which time he rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Director, which was the title of the Service’s second-highest position at the time, Abubakar retired in April 1989 and has since devoted his full time to working in business and politics. During the early stages of his career as a Customs Officer, he launched his career in the real estate industry. In 1974, he submitted an application for a loan of 31,000 naira and was approved for it. With this money, he built his first house in Yola and rented it out.
Real estate
In 1974, he submitted an application for a loan of 31,000 naira and was approved for it. With this money, he built his first house in Yola and rented it out. He bought another piece of land and used the money he received as rent to construct a second home. He persisted in this manner, gradually accumulating a significant portfolio of real estate in Yola, Nigeria. In 1981, he made the transition into agriculture by purchasing 2,500 hectares of land close to Yola in order to establish a cotton and maize plantation. The company was unable to weather the storm and went out of business in 1986. He stated in a blog post that he had written in April 2014 that “My first foray into agricultural, in the 1980s, ended in disaster.” After that, he went into the business of trading and would buy and sell truckloads of rice, flour, and sugar.
Transportation
The most significant step that Abubakar took in his professional career took place while he was working as a Customs Officer at the Apapa Ports. The Italian businessman Gabrielle Volpi, who was already established in Nigeria, extended an invitation to him to establish Nigeria Container Services (NICOTES), a logistics company that would operate within the ports. In the future, NICOTES would evolve into Intels Nigeria Limited, which would bring Abubakar an incredible amount of money. Abubakar is one of the people that started Intels Nigeria Limited, an oil maintenance company that has a significant presence both in Nigeria and in other countries. Atiku’s other business interests are centered in Yola, Adamawa, and include the American University of Nigeria (AUN), the first private university in the style of the United States to be established in Sub-Saharan Africa, an animal feed factory, and the Adama Beverages Limited, a beverage manufacturing plant in Yola. In April of 1989, he took his retirement and then went on to work full-time in business and politics.
Involvement in business
Since then, allegations of a conflict of interest have followed him as a result of his involvement in business while working as a civil official, in which capacity he held supervisory responsibility. Abubakar, for his part, has defended the decision by stating that his engagement in the company was confined to the holding of shares (which was permissible by government regulations), and that he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. His company, NICOTES, would later be renamed INTELS and would go on to play a key role in the allegations of money laundering made against n Abubakar by the United States government while he was serving as vice president. These allegations were made while n Abubakar was in office.
Political Career
He was elected governor of Adamawa State in 1990, 1997, and 1998 before becoming Olusegun Obasanjo’s running mate in the 1999 presidential election and being re-elected in 2003. Since his introduction into politics in 1989, Atiku Abubakar has attempted to run for the office of President of Nigeria five times, but he has been unsuccessful each time. These attempts took place in 1993, 2007, 2011, and 2019. In 1993, he ran for the presidency of the Social Democratic Party but was unsuccessful. Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe were the candidates they supported. In the presidential election of 2007, he ran as a candidate for the Action Congress and came in third place, behind Umaru Yar’Adua of the People’s Democratic Party and Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria People’s Party.
During the presidential election in 2011, he ran as a candidate for the presidency on the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party, but he was defeated by the sitting president, Goodluck Jonathan. In preparation for the presidential election in 2015, he joined the All Progressives Congress in 2014 and competed in the presidential primaries, but he was ultimately defeated by Muhammadu Buhari. He rejoined the People’s Democratic Party in 2017, and he ran as the party’s candidate for president in the election that took place in 2019, but he was once again defeated by the currently serving President Muhammadu Buhari. In May of 2022, he was selected to be the candidate for the People’s Democratic Party to run for president of Nigeria in the 2023 election.
Atiku Abubakar Net Worth
It is estimated that Atiku Abubakar’s net worth is $ 2 billion, and he possesses a variety of valuable assets. He has a personal luxury Embraer Phenom 100 plane worth $4.1 million as well as a chateau close to Potomac, Maryland, in the United States that costs $2.95 million. Atiku drives a variety of extravagant automobiles, including a Range Rover, a Mercedes S550, a Lexus 570, a Toyota Land Cruiser, and a few others.
