20100816
africanews

Nigeria's former vice president Atiku Abubakar has announced he's running for president in the oil-rich nation.

Abubakar told reporters that he wanted to run as the candidate of the People's Democratic Party, the nation's ruling political party. The party would have to accept Abubakar as a member before he could run.

Nigeria's presidential election could be held as early as January.

Abubakar, 63, who served as vice president under President Olusegun would need the People's Democratic Party to again accept him as a member before contesting the primary as he ran unsuccessfully as a presidential candidate for an opposition party in 2007.

Abubakar was tied to the corruption scandal that brought down Louisiana congressman William Jefferson, whose freezer was stocked with $90 000 in cash at the time of an FBI raid.

During Jefferson's 2009 federal trial, a Nigerian businessman testifying for the prosecution told jurors that Abubakar paid Jefferson $100,000 to help Abubakar make political contacts in the United States. A lawyer for Abubakar denied the allegation at the time.

Orphaned at age 8, Abubakar worked through law school and joined the Nigerian customs service, rising to the second-highest position after 20 years. He left as a wealthy businessman and his support helped ensure Obasanjo's electoral wins in 1999 and 2003.