Former
Vice President Atiku Abubakar has denied the accusation linking him with the
current crisis tearing at the heart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The
factional Chairman of the opposition party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, claimed
the quest for the party’s presidential ticket for the 2019 election was the
main cause of the PDP crisis. He had also alleged that one of the party’s
founding fathers had a hand in it all.
In
a recent interview with African Independent Television (AIT), the embattled
chairman accused Governor Nyesom Wike and former PDP Deputy National Chairman,
Prince Uche Secondus, of plotting to hand over the party’s presidential ticket
to a prominent leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC). “Wike and
Secondus are working to give the party’s ticket in 2019 to a man in APC, a man
that is not even bold enough to leave the APC and join us. He was in the PDP
before. He was a founding father of the PDP,” Sheriff said, adding, “I don’t
have to mention him (his name). Secondus himself told me that he and Wike
always meet this man to strategise on 2019. I told him that it is wrong; if the
man is bold enough, let him come and join us now”.
Sheriff
was apparently referring to Atiku. And the former vice president knows this
that much, which was why he quickly responded to the allegation. He said he had
no hand in the PDP crisis. Sheriff has not provided any evidence yet to
contradict Atiku’s denial. He did not even tender any evidence to back his
statement beyond his claim that Secondus allegedly told him that he (Secondus)
and Wike had been meeting Atiku to strategise on 2019. While it may be true
that Atiku has no hand in the crisis rocking PDP at present, it may not be true
that Atiku has no eye on 2019 presidential race, and the former vice president
has not said so either. Denying Sheriff’s allegation, Atiku, in a terse
statement on his Twitter handle @ Atiku, merely said:”Former VP @ Atiku has no
hand in PDP crisis”.
The
former vice president nurses a burning ambition to occupy the topmost office in
the land. He is a veteran of presidential contests in the country. There is
hardly any race for the nation’s presidency he did n’t enlist in since he first
indicated interest in the job in 1992 on the platform of the defunct Social
Democratic Party (SDP). That year, he ran a tight race with late business
mogul, Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola, for SDP’s ticket, eventually losing the ticket
to Abiola after a second ballot. Atiku’s undying ambition to be president is
widely known. That ambition is believed to have played a part in the ill-tempered
face-off between him and President Obasanjo, which rocked their administration
from the beginning of Obasanjo’s second term in 2003 till the very end of that
regime.
Also,
that presidential ambition has seen Atiku in and out of PDP like Sheriff said.
In 2007, he contested for the presidency on the platform of the defunct Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the party he ran to when President Olusegun Obasanjo
completely annihilated him in PDP and muscled him out of the party, not without
putting up a ferocious resistance though. Four years earlier, the time many
political analysts saw as his biggest opportunity because Obasanjo’s fabled
magnificence was already downhill, Atiku failed to join the race because he was
largely indecisive.
Instead,
he accepted to be Obasanjo’s running mate on PDP platform, even though the
strain was already noticeable in their union. He returned again to PDP in 2011
to contest for the party’s ticket with a sitting President Goodluck Jonathan.
Of course, he lost woefully. In 2015 and as one of the political heavyweights
that birthed the then-opposition All Progressives Congress, Atiku again came
out to contest for the party’s presidential ticket at a time the clamour for
General Muhammadu Buhari to mount the saddle was at its zenith. He came a
distant third, behind Buhari and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa
kwankwanso. Buhari won the ensuing presidential poll, defeating incumbent
President Jonathan.
Now,
will Atiku throw his hat into the ring for the 2019 presidential contest? Big
question! Let me first say that whatever Atiku decides to do in respect of 2019
is his choice. If he decides to run, he will be exercising his fundamental
human right. He is eminently qualified for the office. He knows his onions. He
is articulate and has wide network of contacts nationally and internationally.
He is clear-headed and has outstanding ideas about what he wants to do for this
country if he emerges president.
His
prescription on restructuring as a panacea for resolving the nation’s political
problems, which he unfolded the other day in Abuja, was profound and
insightful. I had argued elsewhere before that I would prefer leaders like
Atiku who over the years had laboured laboriously, fought courageously to be
president and prepared elaborately for the office to mount the saddle some day
as opposed to some others like Obasanjo, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and
Jonathan who had to be goaded into the race and foisted on us when they did not
struggle for the office and appeared ill- prepared for it.
But
my sense is though the present administration is still battling to make the
desired impact and the people are yet to get the ‘change’ they voted for and
also we do not know yet what Buhari will do in respect of 2019 race (whether he
will do a Mandela option), Atiku will be embarking on another wild goose chase
if he ventures into the 2019 presidential race. Buhari’s anti-corruption
crusade, even with its alleged imperfection, is been waged stubbornly and the
president is being applauded at home and abroad for it. That trend seems
irreversible and the crusade may sound the death knell of those who have
corruption baggage in their bid to occupy leadership positions in future. Atiku
is battling the public perception that he is generally corrupt, which may hunt
him in 2019, the same albatross that may hunt former military president,
General Ibrahim Babangida, to his grave.
Obasanjo’s Rare Rejoinder
It’s
not usually in the character of former President Obasanjo to say something and
turn round to deny it. He would say something and would stand by what he said.
So when the former president denied the statement credited to him in the media
that three or four of them from different parts of the country got together and
brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015 (perhaps the same way three
or four Northerners brought him (Obasanjo) to power in 1999 from prison), I
verily believed him. But the statement credited to him is also believable.
Obasanjo was reported to have made the statement at a reception organised for
him in Jalingo, Taraba State capital where he went on a visit. He has, however,
issued a denial, saying nobody can claim glory for Buhari’s election. The
problem, as I indicated earlier, is the statement credited to him is
believable. It is in synch with the former president’s character to revel in
incredulous vain-glory, in moral righteousness.
He
likes to see himself as that super being that knows all the nation’s problems
and the solutions to them. The sad thing, however, is when he was catapulted to
power again in 1999, 20 years after he voluntarily handed over power to a
civilian as a military leader, it was n’t a jolly ride to Eldorado for the
country as many had expected. Obasanjo tried his best but through some
self-conceited decisions and actions, which again was a throw-back to his persona;
his era turned out not exactly a glorious one. It’s all well and good that
Obasanjo acknowledged that Buhari was brought to power by the collective will
of the people, not by any single person or group. A majority of Nigerians voted
for Buhari because they were yearning for ‘change’ from the clueless government
of President Goodluck Jonathan. More than one year after that historic vote,
have the people gotten the ‘change’ they happily voted for? Big question!
