Once again, the nation’s political theatre is getting choked by a motley crowd of presidential aspirants who all strongly believe it is their time to contest for the much-coveted constitutional prize of the Presidency. Because we operate a multi-party pluralistic constitutional democracy, we should always expect a congested field of contestants at every election cycle because it is a part and parcel of their rights as citizens to aspire to any elective position available in the land even though in reality many will never afford to get off the starting block – the non-starters.
The recent passage of the “Not-Too-Young-To-Rule” Act has created additional incentive for more citizens, especially the upcoming digital generation, to also enter the fray. Presently, the political terrain is still dominated by members of the ancient regime. While looking forward to the day when the younger generation will take-over leadership in this country, I am however, today focusing on Atiku’s candidacy mainly because of the long and peculiar history surround it.
Abubakar Atiku, the Turaki Adamawa, an unmistakably towering personality in the crowded presidential race, it however seems as if he has already missed a life-time opportunity to be President because, as they say, “opportunity comes but once”. Atiku himself seems to recognise that fact when he recently said that he is not desperate to become President as he had the chance to grab it in 2003. He was right. He jettisoned it. He was absolutely unbeatable that year due to a combination of several positive factors but he gave it up.
His then boss, President Obasanjo, due to his undue militarism and the arrogant “I-know-it-all” mentality actually lost effective control of the PDP structure; sharp intrigues and endless intra-party crises made worse by the orchestrated impeachment threats that continuously hung over him like the Sword of Damocles, not to mention his debilitating feuds with state Governors over “Resource Control” and other petty schisms. The totality of those debilitative conflicts made him extremely vulnerable, pretty much like a ‘Lame Duck’ president towards the end of his first term. On the contrary, his deputy, Atiku, commanded considerable loyalty nation-wide due to his congenial approach to party issues.
Atiku was fully in charge of the economy which was then undergoing major “Deregulation” and “Privatisation” while Obasanjo was busy gallivanting abroad on an endless Safari. There were persistent allegations that the V-P was greedily enriching himself; disbursing patronages in exchange for the recipient’s political loyalty; making friends and building political structures during the period. When the time finally came for second term declaration and Obasanjo dilly-dallied over naming him as his running mate, it was like the coast was unwittingly cleared for him to enter the race on his own.
What really made Atiku that thick? Well, there is the border-towns saying that there is “no poor Customs man”. And for a man who made his career in the Customs Service, Atiku surely perfected his way around the under-the-table money-making labyrinths of the famous “Long-Room” and to subsequently be named the “overseer” of the nation’s economy in his capacity as VP was an unchecked alleyway to amassing stupendous personal wealth, a financial war chest, large enough to easily torpedo the then OBJ fledging structure.
Some have claimed that Atiku was, in the circumstance, over-ambitious, an allegation that was often buttressed by the fact that he once divorced one of his wives just to create an arithmetical vacancy within the Koranic conjugal prescription of maximum of 4 wives per husband. If he could so easily dispose of a wife in order to marry another, his adversaries suggested, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to also disloyally overthrow Obasanjo for his personal ambition. There were also the lingering allegations that Obasanjo’s travails were largely the surreptitious handiworks of Atiku.
With him in his palace coup plot were several dissatisfied PDP Governors, the so-called “Young Turks”, who were prepared to pour all their States’ Convention Delegates as well as tons of money into the ticket. Then a roving juggernaut, Atiku was emboldened by the powerful late Gen Yar’ Adua’s PDM, a well-oiled and battle-ready political machine. Nothing could have stopped him from realising his presidential dream that year but for the last-minute desperate intervention, some would say, humiliating pleas, of Chief Tony Annenih, the then PDP Chairman and “Fixer” together with a few loyalists who tearfully persuaded Atiku to forego his bid. In the meantime, Obasanjo was, for all practical purposes, politically liquidated and for that unique humiliation, he went berserk well after “the coast has been cleared” and has probably remained bitter ever since.
Atiku’s loyalists were utterly disappointed by the development while Obasanjo and some northern elements who saw Atiku’s meteoric rise as a likely obstacle to their own ambitions were, on the contrary, jubilant. Needless to say, that many of the ‘mutinous’ Governors expectedly became permanent guests of the EFCC thereafter. From that moment on, and in spite of his illustrious pedigree as a former gubernatorial candidate in the old Gongola State (now Adamawa and Yola), a presidential candidate in 1992, Governor-elect in 1998 and finally Vice-President 1999-2007, it became clear that Atiku’s fate lies elsewhere, far from the Nigerian presidency.
Now, some reality check: Firstly, Atiku’s personal credibility level has since dipped while the size of his army has diminished due to his incessant flirtation with so many incompatible political parties, suggesting uncontrollable desperation. Secondly, being out of “lucrative” political offices for that long may mean a low Balance Sheet stock. Finally, after serving as the nation’s Number Two for 8 solid years along with a President who constitutionally cannot go further, isn’t it morally proper that he too should also step aside? Otherwise he could end with an aggregate period of 16 years in office, an annoying prospect in our kind of society, no doubt. My advice to the Turaki, therefore, is that he should gracefully accept that he has lost his presidential opportunity long ago and retire because an elder who joins little children to be hunting rabbit in the bush is only inviting insults upon himself.
IGP And Chief E K Clark Search Saga:
The nation’s police establishment, especially since the coming to office of the present IGP (which in turn caused the compulsory retirements of several layers of duty-ready top-notch officers), has become an unending spectacle of incompetence. The recent various police blunders culminating in the indecorous search of the home of Chief Edwin Clark, the Kiagbodo-born former Minister, Senator and a well-known leader of the Niger-Delta struggles, are evidences of unprofessional mischiefs that are seemingly calculated to embarrass the Buhari government.
The frantic but pretentious efforts to hastily discipline the hapless officers who merely executed “superior orders” come across as farcical administrative after-thoughts being executed in an atmosphere of command incompetence. Sure, no individual is above the legitimate reach of the law, including the processes of search and arrests. But in all decent circumstances, there are strict constitutional requirements of “reasonable suspicion” and “fair hearing”. Sourcing delicate security information from a ghost Taxi Driver, as reported, and acting on it is not only unreasonable, but downright condemnable.
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