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Atiku Abubakar & Bola Tinubu. |
This is the era of political campaigns where all manner of subterfuge are allowed to flourish to confuse and convince the undiscerning mind in a bid to raking up votes for the election. I have listened to, and dissected both personalities of Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Tinubu in terms of experience and capacity to deliver on electoral promises. I worked for the PDP presidential campaign Council when Atiku Abubakar emerged as the candidate of the party in 2018 at the Port Harcourt convention. At that time, I was bound by Party loyalty to play along even though my choice was Aminu Tambuwal, the Sokoto state Governor. We tried to market Atiku Abubakar as a lesser evil than Buhari, the incumbent President. We interrogated Atiku's manifesto which spoke of welfarism and capacity to coordinate all the centripetal and centrifugal forces to drive the type of development we desire as a nation in confronting the challenges that stare us in the face. I had thought Atiku Abubakar will experiment his beliefs and manifesto within the ambits of the campaigns and those foot soldiers who were all over the place marketing him; sadly, as soon as the elections were over, he ran away through the back door to Dubai and stayed there for two full years leaving all of us exposed to the vagaries of Buhari's attack dogs who intimidated us to the tilt.
On
a couple of occasions, I was chased by security goons on my way from Television
stations for reasons only God knows. I survived three close range assaults all
in the name of trying to cow me to back off from sustaining the PDP
presidential candidate's agitation through the electoral tribunal. Atiku Abubakar
ran away like a General would; abandoning his troops in the battle field,
leaving them to their fate, while he enjoyed the oleageneous paeans in far away
Dubai, even reportedly married a new wife to compliment his exotic lifestyle.
We were left rudderless! Not a single telephone call of appreciation came from
a man who desired to become the leader of Nigeria's 200m population. Rather
than be on ground to chart the roadmap, he got PDP executives and chieftains
running to Dubai to pay homage to him. The tribunal ran from the beginning to
the end without seeing the candidate's break light; as is commonly said. As
abandoned troops, Atiku on his return wanted us to go to the battlefield again
with him; even when the PDP constitution supported a shift to the Southern part
of the country in the spirit of zoning. Atiku Abubakar started behaving like a
comedian, warmed his way into the party apparachik of the Ayu-led executive,
and they ended up jettisoning the zoning arrangement. Plot after plot, PDP's
internal conspiracies and contradictions became manifestly embarrassing. The
chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, who ought to be non-partisan became the chief plotter
of a convention that exposed the rotten underbelly of the system.
The
outcome was pre-meditated. Atiku emerged because he wants to be Nigeria's
president by fire, by force! A man who would be a good leader, must show signs
of his abilities and capacities at every given opportunity. For running away at
a critical time of the struggle, and thereby exposing all his foot soldiers was
to me, the lowest level a leader can go. It is all about himself and his
entitlements alone and alone. Fact is, the so-called experience he touts about,
pales into insignificance when you realize that he hasn't held any executive
position in the politics of the nation. He was a Vice President under
tumultuous circumstances as the then president Obasanjo, knowing Atiku
Abubakar's desperation, tried to cut him to size. His plots were unclothed by
president Obasanjo, who as a General, understood the art of war. He was able to
cut Atiku to size before he lobbied his way into the then Action Congress
piloted by Asiwaju Tinubu, to amongst other things rescue the former from the
grip of dictatorial politics of Olusegun Obasanjo. Just in the manner of
Atiku's peculiar politics of self, he granted interview on Arise TV last week,
and assumed the position of a Landlord of a party whose formation he knew
practically nothing about. He said he frowned at the lure to have him paired up
with Asiwaju Tinubu, a muslim in the presidential contest. Such opportunism was
quite expected, because the level of Atiku's desperation presently to get into
Aso Rock is worse than reproachful. But it shouldn't be a matter of telling
lies to score cheap political point. If he lobbied so voraciously to become MKO
Abiola's running mate in 1993, what may have changed in 2007 to refuse to
accommodate a fellow Muslim too?
Politics
they say is full of conspiracies. While Atiku has been contesting for president
since 1992, a period of 30 years, this is the first time that Asiwaju Tinubu
has indicated interest in running for the same office even though he says it
was a life time ambition. Given such background, it is understandable why
Atiku's desperation for the coveted seat has become a matter of life and death.
Asiwaju Tinubu is a team player; unlike Atiku, who wants to be venerated as the
only "good" thing that has happened to Nigeria. Out of desperation,
Atiku left PDP in 2007, ran under Action Congress, returned to PDP, contested
with President Jonathan, he was beaten flat, and later ran to APC at formation
to try his.luck again. President Buhari and the Tinubu camp, demolished him at
the Lagos convention in 2015, where he came a distant third position. Undone,
he exited the APC and joined PDP again to try his luck in 2018. Unable to
strike the right chord, he escaped to Dubai leaving his foot soldiers to suffer
the pains of "war". Tinubu on the other hand, has been disruptor of
military hegemony, fought his way through their self-imposed system, contested
and won as a Senator, before the third Republic became ill-fated. Even in
exile, Tinubu coordinated a well oiled campaign for the return of democracy, at
personal risk and cost, and succeeded in pushing the military back to the
barracks. He returned to the country and emerged as the duly democratically
elected Governor of Lagos state.
As
a Governor, and given his exposure to global affairs and the world of work, he
assembled a pan-quality team that recharted the roadmap of Lagos
administration, introduced a lot of far-reaching reforms that have endured the
test of time and placed Lagos at the epicentre of Nigeria's commercial city.
Not done, he teamed up with other like minds to birth a merger of four
political parties into what is today known as All Progressives' Congress, APC.
Tinubu's political ingenuity was again put to action when the newly registered
party, broke the back of.incumbency to return General Buhari as Nigeria's
president. Rather than for Atiku to remain within the APC and assist the new
president Buhari pursue his electoral promises, he absconded by relocating to
Dubai, and by the time he returned, he jumped ship again to seek refuge in PDP.
In terms of consistency, Tinubu has been one remarkable, consistent, dogged and
rugged political fighter, who also survived Obasanjo's dictatorial politics of
the millennium years. Tinubu stood his ground and delivered Lagos state to his
Action Congress party when President Obasanjo railroaded the entire South-West
to embrace the PDP post 2003. Only Lagos state remained unbowed. Tinubu was not
just the last man standing, he also offered his platform to Atiku in 2007 as a
shield, when he was played out of the power equation of the PDP. Tinubu's
consistency also contributed to his success at the APC convention even when it
became apparent that certain persons wanted to pull the rug from beneath his
feet. His ability to network his array of friends and recruit solid minds to
champion his cause, are some of his credentials that cannot be ignored.
2023
has now become a year and time when the leaderships ability to rally round
forces and persons to set up a solid team for delivering the promises become
more compelling. Tinubu has the cutting edge skill to do that more than any of
the candidates. He has been a Senator and a Governor. That means he has both
legislative and executive experiences more than Atiku. As a Vice President,
Atiku Abubakar was only actively involved in governance for the first four
years. The second term was characterised by brickbats between him and the
president. The plots of who controls the PDP leadership and political structure
caused a major setback in the affairs of state. President Obasanjo admittedly
spoke of how he tried successfully to cage Atiku's vaulting ambition. How he
visited Audu Ogbeh as Chairman of the PDP and asked him to resign his position
before he introduced Ahmadu Alli, who could not be controlled by Atiku
Abubakar. As 2023 draws nearer, a Tinubu presidency will be able to rally round
credible minds with the technical know-how to combat the challenges confronting
the country. Give Tinubu the credit of being able to identify brains just like
General Babangida did; persons who can deliver the responsibility of governance
and make a difference in the affairs of the nation. It is in recognition of
this and other factors that made the APC consider him worthy of her ticket. His
ability to reach out to all is an attribute that distinguishes Tinubu out
amongst all others who are contesting with him.
Kassim
Afegbua is a member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and a former
Commissioner for Information in Edo State.
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