Successful at business, Atiku has been vying for the office of President of Nigeria long before millions of my readers got out of their diapers. He has just lost another presidential election.

And he's only 72.

Atiku contested the presidential primary election alongside Chief MKO Abiola on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1992. 

27 years and five attempts after, Atiku is still hustling to become President of Nigeria. You've got to admire his never-say-die spirit and doggedness, after all Buhari was a serial presidential contestant until fate smiled on him in 2015.

Sometimes, it's almost as though the gods have conspired to prevent Atiku from getting hold of the keys to Aso Rock, hard as he tries. 

Atiku has thrown everything into becoming president. He became a Shehu Musa Yar’adua understudy, fell out with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, swapped political parties in desperate fashion, returned to prostrate before Obasanjo, begged Obasanjo to endorse him and even flew all the way to the United States to prove a point—all because of a burning presidential ambition.

Atiku has arguably also spent the most money trying to realise a burning, unbridled presidential ambition. 

“I am a democrat”, Atiku said, after casting his ballot in Yola, Adamawa State, on the morning of the February 23 presidential election, when asked if he would accept the outcome of the election.

But Atiku is currently singing a different tune after losing the election to Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.

“If I had lost in a free and fair election, I would have called the victor within seconds of my being aware of his victory to offer not just my congratulations”, Atiku says.

He adds that he has never seen “our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday, February 23, 2019. I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court”.

It must be tough being Atiku at the moment, and you can understand where he is coming from. There should be a medal for him at least, for trying.

Atiku has every right to pursue a reversal of the electoral outcome in court if he thinks he has a strong case. He also has every right to feel hard done by.

However, what becomes of Atiku now that he has lost his fifth presidential election? What becomes of his political future if he is unable to have the courts reverse the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)? Are we going to see Atiku running for president again in 2023? Would he be too old for another presidential run? Should the Turakin Adamawa make do with mentoring or backing someone younger to run for president in 2023 instead and give this whole presidential dream a rest?

Atiku will be 76 years of age in 2023. That means he’ll just be as old as President Buhari currently is. Not too old to run perhaps?

Sometimes, it’s scary just thinking about how badly Atiku wants to be president and the length he’s gone. If he chooses to run again in 2023, we’d have no choice but to conclude that he probably sees something the rest of us do not. And that’s perfectly fine.