Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives, has said that familiarity and age could be a disadvantage to Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambitions.
Rewane said the the former vice president of Nigeria was only a few years younger than incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, who is 75.
Abubakar, 71, joined the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party in a bid to challenge Buhari at the polls in 2019.
“To upset the Buhari candidature, you need something different: someone young, energetic and charismatic. You need something distinct from the current leadership,” Rewane said in an interview with Reuters.
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Abubakar lacked Buhari’s popularity in northern states and at 71, just four years younger than the president, would struggle to generate “inter-generational appeal”, he added.
Buhari, who took office in 2015, and whoever becomes president next will face challenges ranging from weak economic growth to communal violence between semi-nomadic herdsmen and farmers, as well as the Boko Haram insurgency.
