Atiku’s Anointment And Matters Arising: Nigerian 2011
Presidential Rece
Writers Articles And Opinions
30 November 2010
By Muhammad Ajah
The battle for
who will lawfully occupy the Aso Rock Villa as the
President of Nigeria from May 29th, 2011
has been interestingly turning and turning like a
widening gyre, with the masses only awaiting who can
bring food to their tables and ensure the safety of
their precious lives and properties. To actualize
these – provision of food, security and social
amenities – Nigeria needs a God-fearing and
patriotic President. Wherefore is this kind of man in
Nigerian politics?
The need to
assess all the aspirants in the race to the presidency
on the duo is significantly demanding because in our
politics of today, there is hardly any with both of
them. Patriotism is a relative quality which any one
can claim and reclaim for a long period of time
without being noticed. But the fear of God is the most
difficult to claim for too long. The activities of
those who claim to be men of God are well-known, but
because their followers are mostly captives of
religious opium they cannot exorcise themselves.
From the onset
in this struggle for 2011 presidential position, it
was clear that the north was ready for a life fight to
actualize its dominance in the Nigerian politics and
to, at least, ensure that it utilized the remaining
four year-zoning arrangement by the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) since the arrangement was born
out of consideration to share power among all segments
of the country, including the minority ethnic and
religious groups. The fight intensified with the
incumbent president’s version of interpretation of the
zoning formula which he claims exclude the
presidential position.
A question
that boggles is what would have the north done if
Jonathan had declined to contest or what will they do
if he suddenly decides to present his vice, Ach.
Namadi Sambo who is from the north? That is if the
power sharing is anything good for the country. This
would have been a good choice if the president should
have a rethink on the sharing formula of the party
which he has worked assiduously from the past to
sustain its supremacy and acceptability by the larger
percentage of the Nigerian society. It is Jonathan’s
defiance to severe this pact that the north seems to
be standing on one footing for their collective deal.
This led to
the Adamu Ciroma led Northern Political Leaders Forum
(NPLF) to search for a consensus candidate for the
North from amongst former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida, former national security adviser
to the president, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, former vice
president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and incumbent Kwara
state governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki to log it out with
President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential
primaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).
Ciroma’s
wise-men group, after several weeks of researches and
wide consultations on the four aspirants, chose Atiku.
Apparently but not quite overwhelmingly, the group
based their choice on certain yardsticks:
acceptability by the Nigerian people, national
relevance in the ruling party, strength of faith,
humility and cooperation. They found Atiku to have met
these qualities. And after this onerous task, all of
the unchosen aspirants have given the assurances to
work together to enable Atiku clinch their party’s
ticket in the presidential primaries.
For Atiku, he
has been humbled by his selection as the Northern
consensus presidential candidate. “I am humbled by
this endorsement, and I accept it wholeheartedly, with
humility and sense of responsibility.I am profoundly grateful to
the other aspirants who were screened by the Consensus
Committee for their commitment to the consensus
process. All three of them are eminently qualified for
the office of the president. Their decision to abide
by the decision of the Consensus Committee is a
further testimony to their patriotism, honour, service
and selflessness. Nigerians will forever remain
grateful to them for their contribution to the peace,
unity and stability of this country.”
He is accusing
Jonathan of overheating the polity by thwarting PDP’s
zoning arrangement, "Our current President Dr Goodluck
Jonathan was present at the extra ordinary exco
meeting where the issue of zoning arrangement was
concluded, it is therefore a rude shock to most
Nigerians including the Northern leaders in PDP when
indication emerged that President Jonathan totally
disregard the PDP arrangement and offered himself to
run for the office of the President in 2011".
Atiku is
insisting that the zoning issue is not a north or
south thing; but for the sake of fairness, equity and
unity. “It
is not a north or south thing; It is about honour,
trust and fairness. We must learn to
respect agreements for the unity of Nigeria. We stand
on the side of the truth, honour, selflessness,
justice, equity and fairness,”
But President
Jonathan seems to be more comfortable with Atiku’s
nomination than if it were any of the trio especially
IBB. Is the coast therefore really clearer for
Jonathan’s presidency in next year presidential
election? According to the Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ima Niboro, the
president’s camp welcomes the decision of the
committee because it has brightened the chance of the
president.
It has been
contestable the possibility of the nation witnessing
free and fair elections next year with the president
being a prominent aspirant. Many political bigwigs in
the country have not only criticized the president’s
decision to run in the presidential contest, they have
asked him to stop making jest of the electoral
processes by insisting that he will conduct widely
accepted polls.
However,
Atiku’s emergence as the north’s consensus candidate
has attracted congratulations from many
socio-political blocs and non-governmental groups.
National Director, Directorate of Media and Public
Affairs of Turaki Vanguard, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze,
says Atiku is the needed man to salvage the nation
from its present sad and unfortunate precarious
condition.
In his usual
manner, he is optimistic that Atiku has been accepted
by Nigerians having all it takes: wisdom, commitment,
selflessness, patriotism and political will to become
the next president of Nigeria. He affirms that Turaki
Vanguard Leadership was among the first political
groups to visit to congratulate Atiku Abubakar because
according to the national coordinator, Chief Hon.
Olademiji Fabiyi, Atiku’s capability to emerge as the
consensus candidate of the north and his eventual
emergence as the flag-bearer of PDP at the primaries
has ever been undisputable.
Eze assures of
the Vanguard’s unflinching readiness and preparedness
to work with PDP, Atiku Campaign Organisation and
entire Nigerians to ensure victory at the 2011 polls.
He said the leadership of Turaki Vanguard has resolved
to absorb and collaborate with more than a hundred
Support Groups of President Jonathan under the
auspices of New Nigeria Project (NNP) led by Alhaji
Abdullahi Maibirigi which has in turn resolved to
support Atiku’s candidature. This strong affinity with
Jonathan’s support groups, he forsees, will surely
play a pivotal role in assisting Atiku Abubakar become
the next President of Nigeria.
On their own
parts, IBB, Gusau and Saraki’s groups have yielded to
work for Atiku in the PDP battle. On behalf of the
other campaign teams, the Director General of IBB
Campaign Organisation, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, said
that all the four groups will form a united campaign
front for Atiku who he views as exceptionally
qualified to lead Nigeria out of its
present predicaments.
Youths for
Nigeria’s Political Revival (YNPR) has applauded the
Ciroma’s forum, saying that Atiku was the only person
from the present northern presidential aspirants who
can wrestle the power that stands against the north’s
desire to complete its remaining four years under the
PDP agreement. National President of YNPR, Mr.
Ogbonnia Amah claims that PDP is a colossal edifice
whose architects are hell-bent to destroy because of
individual and selfish interest. “Truly, PDP is strong
and capable of ruling the nation for a longer time,
but there can be danger if Jonathan manipulates the
primaries”, Amah averred.
Also, an All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential aspirant,
Alhaji Bashir Tofa, who was also the 1993 presidential
candidate of the defunct National Republican
Convention (NRC) has congratulated Atiku and wished
him well, even while recognizing the magnanimities of
IBB, Gusau and Bukola for their maturity and good
sense this respect.
In a swift
reaction to speculations that IBB and Gusau may decamp
to ANPP to actualize their presidential ambitions,
Tofa has urged both not to yield to calls on them to
explore another political platform to contest the
number one citizenship position, apparently because he
hopes to be the ANPP flag-bearer.
But Tofa
speaks of honour and respect as if they were
sacrosanct qualities with Nigerian politicians and
sycophancy as if it was novel in the polity. There is
no perpetual ally or enemy in the nation’s politics of
today. Every politician jumps and jumps and jumps from
one party to another until elections are over. And
advising Saraki on age advantage is like assuring him
of long life – we all wish so. Opportunity comes but
once, and there President Jonathan belongs.
Engr. Muhammad
Ezeh of the South East Muslim Youth Congress (SEMYOC),
is sure that the northern political dominance which
Obasanjo and his group has perfected plans to break by
all means may not be an immediate solution to the
hydra-headed problems facing the nation presently.
According to Engr. Ezeh, it is not good to disallow or
disrespect the power sharing formula because of the
future. The South, he said, should not be the first to
flout this arrangement because it is in their favour
owing to the fact that politics is a game of majority.
But he was quite uneasy over the intention of the
northern Muslim leaders to empower the Southern
minority Muslims despite they have suffered derivation
and socio-political neglect for a very long time.
In the same
vein, a southeast group, Igbo Muslim Women Frontiers (IMWOF),
believes that Nigeria needs a good president whether
it is Atiku or Jonathan. The national leader of the
group, Hajiya Hawwah Ugomma Obiahu scored Jonathan and
Atiku high in their services to the Nigerian nation
but wondered why the north decided to foreclose its
chances so early by voting for a consensus candidate.
She opined that all was not well with the Nigerian
masses, hence the urgent need for them to decide who
presides over their affairs in the forthcoming
elections irrespective of ethnic or religious
background. “We are more interested in who will lead
Nigerians to their desired and hallowed position among
the comity of developing nations”, adding, “We are
tired of religious, ethnic and tribal politics”
She, however,
congratulated the Ciroma’s led forum for attempting to
unite the northern political stalwarts together by
anointing Atiku. According to her, Atiku is a
well-known detribalized Nigerian whose popularity
spans the width and breadth of Nigeria, therefore his
choice heralds his wide acceptability by the north.
Other groups
that see great future for Nigeria and its political
well-being are The Grandeurs, United Leadership Front
of Nigeria (ULFN), The Minority Voice (TMV), among
others who not only pray for successful polls in 2011,
but for God’s guidance for our leaders so that the
electorate will witness great change in their lives
after the elections.
However, even
as it is clearer that the fight for the PDP primaries
is going to be between Jonathan and Atiku, are there
all indications that the PDP will win next year’s
presidential election following the party’s
overwhelming control of the States and the National
Assembly? A direct answer to this stubborn question
may be misleading. Is it possible that IBB would just
recoil into his shell as he did in 2007 or is there a
big surprise waiting the nation? What happens if Atiku
loses the PDP primaries; will all the four Ciroma’s screened
aspirants line up behind Jonathan inside the PDP?
What happens if Jonathan
loses; will he happily hand over to Atiku knowing his
pact with IBB, Gusau, Saraki and the Ciromas? Methink
the political game is unfolding into more difficult
scenes.
Some political analysts claim
that Atiku is not a bonafide member of the PDP since
his expulsion in late 2006, but was only granted a
waiver that would expire probably by the end of 2010.
So, if this is ascertained, what would be his fate in
the PDP primaries now to hold between November ending
and mid January 2011?
An analyst went further to
foresee the possibility of a reunion between Atiku and
his pet party, the Action Congress. Let me conclude
this article with this foot remarks by an analyst, “In
my personal interactions with Atiku leading up to his
failed 2007 presidential bid, I found Atiku personally
to be a very decent individual; a victim of the
mentality in Nigeria that all stinkingly rich
Nigerians are probably corrupt - aided by the vicious
attack on him by a vindictive Obasanjo, who used the
EFCC (under Ribadu) and others to go after him. He
survived them all, and showed his mettle as a democrat
by using his enormous wealth to fight for himself in
court, which I admired, but I have been disappointed
that he is prepared to use his enormous wealth to
fight more for his own democratic rights than those of
others that have suffered from the same 2007
elections, particularly within the AC.”
He continues,
“But unfortunately, it appears that he is now too
overly ambitious to be president of Nigeria that he is
making a monumental mistake returning to his vomit of
the PDP. With Obasanjo still as Chairman of the Board
of Trustees, and Nyako as Governor of Adamawa, Atiku
has to keep his eyes wide open. Nigeria is a graveyard
for overly ambitious persons who want to be president.
I fear that his time may have come and gone - but I
may be wrong, because I think that he would still make
a good president, primarily because he knows his own
limitations (unlike Obasanjo); knows how to recognize
talent, and knows how to make the best use of them.”
Conclusively,
he asserts, “I suspect that he will make a good
president. Atiku's current spat with US law
enforcement - which makes him look like a fugitive
from the law and taints him - does not stop me from
considering him to be a decent man. Not all fugitives
from US law are indecent; not all non-fugitives are
decent. The man may simply not want the hassles of an
American trial, when this is not his country of
citizenship. He can use his American lawyers remotely
to make his case, and show up on American soil when
all plea bargains have been agreed. That does not mean
that he is guilty now, which he is not until proven
so. If perchance he is President of Nigeria, I am
certain that he will be able to come to the US under
sovereign immunity, but he need never come the US
again for the rest of his life if he does not wish to.
That will be he and 6 billion other people minus 300
million. After all, Obasanjo was accused of having
been bribed by Halliburton the other day; yet as we
write he is somewhere in Atlanta, enjoying the
Sullivan meeting or something.”
Nigeria
political game can never be over until it is over. It
is such that the more you look the less you see; the
more you dig deep, the little you find or comprehend.
We can only be assured of a Nigerian president after
three major events in the next few months: party
primaries, the presidential poll and a successful
handover on May, 29th, 2011 by God’s grace.
Muhammad
Ajah is a writer, author, advocate of humanity and
good governance based in Abuja. E-mail: mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk
Save
Add Comments To This Story