[2] Arzika contested for and lost the National Chairmanship of the Social Democratic Party to Ambassador Babgana Kingibe in June 1990.
After the failure of the Nigerian Third Republic with the assumption of power by General Sani Abacha, he became a member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) formed in May 1994.
The group later expanded to include other prominent politicians from Southern Nigeria (G34) headed by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme and continued with the agitation.
With the sudden death of Abacha and Abiola, the new Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar announced that the Military will handover power to civilians in May 1999 and political activities resumed.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won Presidential elections in 1999 and its candidate- Arzika's former boss General Olusegun Obasanjo returned to power.
[9] At the opening session of the second Africa Internet Summit in September 2000, Arzika said the Nigerian government had identified access to telecommunications as a critical factor in the development of all aspects of the nation's economy.
[11] Arzika also made a strong case for expanding NITEL to transform it into a "viable, reliable and technologically sound company to enable it to meet the demands of government's deregulation and privatisation policies".
[13] In January 2001 President Obasanjo approved a merger of NITEL and the state-owned mobile carrier M-Tel, and confirmed the appointment of Emmanuel Ojeba as the Chief executive.
[14] In March 2001, Arzika visited the People's Republic of China accompanied by Ojeba and met with his counterpart Mr Wu Jichuan, where they discussed approaches both countries were taking to ensure rapid telecoms growth.
[15] In April 2001 Arzika ordered the removal of Ojeba from his position as managing director of NITEL ahead of his scheduled retirement in June 2001 as part of the "process of reinvigorating the much-criticised national carrier".
[19] After his resignation from the Federal Cabinet, Arzika retired from politics and returned to his farming and commodities business in Sokoto.
[citation needed] Arzika was married to Fatima (Inno) daughter of former President Shagari with whom he had six children; she died in 2007.