Atiku: Dilemma of a political strategist in 2015
The invitation extended to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, by the All Progressives Congress and the appointment of Adamu Mu’azu as national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, appears to have put the famed political strategist in a fix, writes OLUSOLA FABIYI:
A former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar,
is not a new swimmer in the Nigeria’s murky political waters. He has
been in politics for long enough to know how unpredictable Nigerian
politicians could be.
Followers of history would recall how
Atiku was forced out of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party by his
former boss, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, prior to the 2007
presidential election. Desirous of a shot at the Presidency, Atiku
teamed up with politicians in the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria,
where he was handed the party’s ticket.
He lost the final contest to late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who was the candidate of the PDP.
As the race for the 2011 presidential election drew nearer, Atiku dumped the ACN and returned to the PDP.
He was accommodated and allowed to contest for the party’s presidential ticket. This did not happen
without drama.
When it dawned on the northern elders
that President Goodluck Jonathan was keen on contesting the party’s
primaries, they called on their sons to invoke an unwritten power
rotation agreement in an attempt to stop Jonathan. They were schooled on
the need to have a sole candidate who would slug it out with Jonathan
at Eagles Square, Abuja for the PDP’s sole ticket.
Among northerners who showed interest in
the race were a former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; a
former National Security Adviser, Gen. Muhammad Gusau; a former Governor
of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki; and Atiku. The northern elders, led by a
former Minister of Finance, Adamu Ciroma, met and perused the
credentials of all the aspirants. That of Atiku suited them most. Thus,
he became the anointed candidate of the group.
Atiku must have been surprised to learn
that despite his seeming popularity among fellow northerners who chose
him ahead of other contenders from the zone, this did not translate
into victory during the presidential primaries.
When the Returning Officer for the PDP
Presidential primaries, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, announced the results,
Atiku, who is considered a master strategist in Nigeria’s political
circles, lost woefully.
According to Adeniran, 3,542 delegates
voted. Jonathan received the highest number of votes—2,736—representing
78 per cent of the total votes cast while Atiku came a distant second
with 805 votes.
The third contestant, Mrs. Sarah Jubril,
received only one vote which pre-supposes that she was the only person
who voted for herself, 61 votes were voided.
Many northerners who wanted one of their
own on the saddle faulted Atiku’s return to the PDP at the time. Many
believed that if he had remained in the ACN, he would probably have been
the party’s sole candidate for the 2011 presidential election.
However, the ACN was accused of being a
sectional party at the time with its sphere of influence confined to the
South-West geo-political zone. A lot has changed since then. The
decision of the party’s leaders to team up with other opposition
political parties such as the Congress for Progressive Change and the
All Nigeria Peoples Party to form the All Progressives Congress has not
only enlarged its coast, it has empowered it to pose a significant
threat to the dominance of the ruling PDP.
Herein lays Atiku’s dilemma. The APC
delegation led by its Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, felt
the Turakin Adamawa still has a lot to offer in terms of political
capital. Akande and his team pointedly asked Atiku to leave the PDP and
join their fold.
Ever the strategist, Atiku had asked his guests for time to consult his friends and associates before making a commitment.
He said, “I have given them an indication
that I will call a meeting of all my stakeholders across the country
and we will take a decision and tell the press.”
Roll call of the delegation at the parley
include; a former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu; Governor of
Borno State, Ibrahim Shettima; a former Speaker of House of
Representatives, Bello Masari; Senator George Akume, a former minister
of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, a former chairman of
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu and Senator
Kabiru Gaya.
Akande said the party decided to meet
Atiku, against the background that “our country is being rubbished; we
feel that it is necessary to meet people of like minds to rise up and
salvage the country. All of us that met here were comrades in politics
from time to time, we only met today to cement that comradeship, and all
is well cemented and we are moving together to work for this country.”
Atiku recalled that he and some of the
members of the delegation had been in politics together for about
24years. He said,“It is time we realise we have responsibility to our
generation and those yet unborn.”
He referred to the African National
Congress in South Africa, reiterating that “as strong as the ANC is, its
internal democracy is unparallel. I have seen where there is healthy
competition without bitterness. If the South Africans faced apartheid,
Nigeria is facing colonialism, the struggle has been long for the
enthronement of democracy.”
The former Vice-President said he had
started the consultations he promised. In a statement, which he
personally signed, he said, “As we begin the New Year, our nation has to
begin anew. As you are aware, I have been engaged in formal and
informal meetings with Nigerians for a while. And for the next few
weeks, I will be travelling across the country in continuation of the
consultative process.
“I will continue to listen to the hopes
and fears of our people, so that together, we can build a future that we
all can be proud of. The times we are in call for hard work because
Nigerians matter and our country matters, too. I believe that this
consultative process will reinforce our shared values and throw up a new
way forward for our dear country.”
Sources close to the Turaki Adamawa said
that he had met with political associates and key stakeholders in Abuja,
Dubai and London. However, he is said to be skeptical about happenings
in the ruling party just as he is not sure of his chances in APC.
For example, the selection of the new
chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, is said to be drawing him
back. The former governor of Bauchi State, who is said to be his
political son and an in-law, is being considered in his calculation as
an olive branch extended to him by PDP, just as there are hints of high
profile meetings at party and government levels.
It was also gathered that there had been a
directive that his grievances against the party should be studied. In
his letter to the former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur,
Atiku noted that as a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, he was
never invited to board meetings as such he did not attend. He also
complained about not being invited to the National Executive Committee
of the party. Under normal circumstances, by virtue of being a former
Vice-President and a leading party member, he is entitled to invitations
to attend its caucus just like his counterpart, former Vice-President
Alex Ekwueme, who receives invitations and attends such meetings
regularly.
Those in Atiku’s camp believe that there
is a sustained effort by the party’s managers and those in government to
entrench impunity and not to open up the party for democratic
competition. Because of this, a source close to him said Atiku believes
that if “he decides to leave at this point, it is clear that it is the
PDP that left him, in the same way the party left the country.” He is
also said to have expressed worry that the governors who remained in the
party had given Jonathan an automatic ticket for the 2015 election.
In the APC, where he is said to have most
of his friends as members, Atiku has the impression that the party
offers a real chance for change and reform in the country.
He is also convinced that Nigerians are
tired of business- as-usual policy and seem determined to change their
situation for the better. Moreover, he is also said to be angling to be
on the side of the people. One of his aides, who spoke on condition of
anonymity said, “From his days in the Patriotic Front, and the defunct
Social Democratic Party, Atiku is in favour of the social democratic
philosophy. His team sees a real chance for harmony between his personal
goals and philosophy and party politics. There is genuine commitment to
pursue and ensure internal democracy within the party (APC) and
stabilise the Nigerian polity, a value Atiku is passionately committed
to.”
Torn between Mu’azu his
political son and in-law in the PDP and his friends in the APC, only he
can solve the dilemma in which he has found himself.
Source: The Punch
