VOX POPULIQUES.
A Series on Power, People, and the Nigerian Moment
In every nation’s life, there comes a season when history pauses, listens, and asks a quiet but demanding question: who understands this moment well enough to lead it? These are not moments for noise or novelty. They are moments for depth, memory, and moral stamina. Nigeria stands precisely at such a threshold, and it is here that the name Atiku Abubakar asserts itself not as an echo from the past, but as an answer demanded by the present.
There is something unmistakable about societies at this stage of their journey. The slogans lose their shine, the spectacles grow tired, and the people begin to crave seriousness again. Hunger sharpens memory. Insecurity forces reflection. Economic strain strips politics of illusion. At such moments, nations instinctively begin to search not for entertainers, but for custodians; not for experiments, but for experience; not for loud promises, but for steady hands. This is the psychological climate in which Atiku Abubakar returns to the centre of national conversation, not by force, but by historical gravity.
Djuna Barnes once wrote, “One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.” Barnes herself lived much of her life misunderstood, dismissed as difficult, and pushed to the margins of literary fashion. Yet time, the most honest of critics, returned to her work with renewed reverence. What her age could not fully grasp, history reclaimed. Politics often treats its most consequential figures in similar fashion. Atiku’s long journey reflects this Barnesian irony: contested in his time, questioned in his prime, yet persistently summoned by history because nations eventually rediscover the value of experience, foresight, and endurance.
When the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua discerned in Atiku an uncommon ability to relate naturally with people, he was recognising more than political promise. He was identifying a temperament suited for leadership in a plural society, a gift for mediation rather than domination. That instinct has never left Atiku. Across regions, classes, faiths, and professions, he has practised a politics of engagement, not intimidation; persuasion, not coercion; inclusion, not exclusion. In a country fractured by suspicion and hardened by disappointment, this instinct alone is no small asset.
Isaac Newton, reflecting on the source of his discoveries, offered one of history’s most humbling confessions: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Newton understood that progress is cumulative, not impulsive. Atiku’s leadership philosophy belongs squarely in this tradition. He does not insult Nigeria’s history by pretending it began with him, nor does he promise reinvention without understanding. He knows that nations advance when experience is refined, not discarded; when institutions are repaired, not ridiculed; when knowledge is applied, not abandoned.
This is why his political convergence with the African Democratic Congress, ADC, feels less like an alliance of convenience and more like a meeting of ideas. ADC represents correction without chaos, reform without rage, and democracy without imposition. In Atiku, the party finds not a messiah, but a stabiliser; not a wrecking force, but a bridge-builder capable of holding together diverse ambitions under a shared national purpose. This convergence reflects maturity on both sides, the party’s readiness to govern and the candidate’s readiness to unify.
Atiku’s economic vision is grounded in productivity, decentralisation, and opportunity. He understands that poverty is not theoretical; it is lived daily in empty shops, idle graduates, and households stripped of dignity. He knows that slogans do not create jobs, and propaganda does not grow industries. His insistence on private-sector vitality, educational expansion, and a truly federal structure reflects a mature understanding of how modern economies function and how federations survive.
Barnes also warned that “Life is painful, nasty, and short… in my case it has only been painful and nasty.” Yet she persisted, producing work that outlived the cruelty of her era. Atiku’s political life bears a similar mark of persistence without bitterness. He has absorbed betrayal without surrender, defeat without despair, and distortion without retreat. This resilience is not obsession; it is preparation. It is the quiet discipline of a man who understands that leadership is a marathon, not a moment.
Through VOX POPULIQUES, this series seeks to capture precisely this convergence of people, memory, and moment. It is a chorus of collective reasoning rather than a solitary shout. And within that chorus, Atiku Abubakar emerges not as the loudest voice, but as the most grounded one, shaped by time, tested by adversity, and tempered by responsibility.
As Nigeria confronts economic fatigue, institutional erosion, and social anxiety, the question is no longer who entertains or provokes. The question is who understands the weight of history and the patience required to repair it. In this season, Atiku Abubakar stands not as a gamble, but as a considered choice; a man the times require.
Aare Amerijoye DOT.B
Director General,
The Narrative Force
