Atiku 2019: Many Are Crossed, And Many Are Tickled

The Peoples Democratic Party was once Nigeria’s most dominant and intimidating party. In its past life, its spread was an electrifying metastasis. Its reach was deep. At a point not long ago, it controlled 18 of the 36 Nigerian states while three opposition parties shared the rest. In states of the federation it did not control, the party was a choke-hold threat. The PDP bigwigs beat their chest about the party’s indomitability. Then, a mass movement hit it like a cyclone. And it became a plague at the polls that fewer men touched. More voters embraced the new All Progressives Congress led by Muhammadu Buhari as over 15 million voters celebrated the leader and his party in the March 2015 election. Today, many of the boastful bigwigs in the PDP are the kingly kahunas in the APC.

It is unfathomable to observe that the PDP which was once a plague and pestilence, a political assemblage that many expected should be long dead and interred into oblivion is now like the deliverer born in a manger and wrapped in a swaddling cloth. Wise men and a few known fools from everywhere seem to be seeking it; and they are doing it quietly without notifying a Herod. In Buhari’s strongholds in the North, there is now suddenly an upsurge. In the South-South, the affection that never waned is still bubbly alive. And in Igboland, the land where Buhari was crowned the Ochi agha Ndigbo, and the Enyioma 1 of Ndigbo, there are resurging tremors of lust and lovey-dovey after the PDP. It is only in the South-West that nothing much has changed. Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu, is jagging and banging well for the APC. We are not yet sure if these are truly signs of changing times; but the PDP’s perceived chances at the polls suddenly now have energised its base because one man dropped the broom and picked back up the umbrella. The man is Atiku Abubakar.

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Politics is a funky and fusty game. It is a sweepstake for the temerarious, a recreational odyssey for hacks and hatchet men. Allow me to set myself at liberty likening it to a heavyweight boxing bout. You climb up the ring a fine and clean man; and you come out bloodied, bruised; foul, and flailing. Dream-killers lurk around in all crevices; and hangmen hanker to drink your blood and eat your flesh. Ugly snarling teeth are often set on edge; and your giggling and jiggling competitors can’t wait to push you off the edge of the cliff into the valley of hungry lions and venomous reptiles.

Nineteenth Century American comedian and writer, Groucho Marx, once described politics better: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” In politics, if you are allergic to the kitchen heat, don’t attempt frying some chicken wings and drumsticks therein.

Atiku was once Nigeria’s Vice President. He is estimated to have a net-worth of a few billions of dollars. He chose not to live quietly enjoying his wealth like Aliko Dangote; or to serenely loom large over his business empire jetting around the globe sipping on white and red wine like Mike Adenuga. Atiku chose politics. For a while, he has longed to be President of Nigeria. He got close once when he became Vice President for eight years. He’s been well-nurtured into becoming a big fish and a behemoth who cannot be easily ignored.

The Turakin of Adamawa was up till last month a powerful member of the ruling APC. But he called it quits branding his old party a total failure. I knew Atiku would one day go back to the PDP, I just didn’t know when. The PDP is his home and comfort zone. The people are his people. And to a big chunk of the PDP members; including many who still hold plum positions in Buhari’s government; Atiku is god.

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But there are many vile voices now on chilling campaigns warning that Nigerians must not touch Atiku even with a long pole. Legendary among them are Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku’s one-time boss. Baba Iyabo has said it many times, both in private and in public, that Atiku cannot be relied upon; a wanted man in America for his alleged involvement in some $40m Halliburton malodorous deal. Nigerians home and abroad who heard and read about this allegation have latched on to the revelation as nothing but the truth. I was one. After all, they were words spoken by a man who was once the President of Nigeria, and the direct supervisor of the man in question.

But when did Atiku become corrupt in the eyes of Baba? Was it when Baba was floating his library project and Atiku surrendered open cheques to support the effort? When did Atiku become corrupt? Was it when he was in charge of the economy and allegedly scooping up everything up for sale during the privatisation initiatives of their administration? If Atiku was factually corrupt, why did his accusers close their eyes to his thieving waves then? How did he manage to escape the calaboose? Is somebody truly worried that Atiku will mop up our treasures if he becomes President; or this is just a deliberately vindictive ululation? Whose ox has Atiku stolen?

Atiku has not travelled to the US in about 10 years because, according to him, he was denied an entry visa because of “administrative purposes”. But his accusers claim that is an articulated Atiku-lie. He is wanted in the US for stealing, they claim. If Atiku has committed an infraction in the US, why has he not been extradited to the US according to the provisions in the US/UK 1931 Extradition Treaty Nigeria is bound to as a former British colony? The US is one of the 192 INTERPOL pool nations; why has the Global Law Enforcement Group not interrupted Atiku’s many trips to Europe and nations that are part of the group?

I don’t know if Atiku is corrupt or not; but these are the questions that many Nigerians are now asking about this man who may likely challenge the sitting President in 2019. Will somebody who has proofs of Atiku’s many iniquities drag the man before a judge and let justice roll like mighty waters? The polity is now revved up with preparation for 2019. I hope Buhari knows that his sole electoral dilemma in 2019 is Atiku running for President? It may be true that if the election was held today; Buhari remains the man to beat. His administration has done a lot of good. But Atiku is slowly winning waning hearts. As many Nigerians are talking Atiku; some are already tilting Atiku despite many ugly things that have been said about him. But Atiku has a strength that cannot be taken away from him. No one has accused the man from Adamawa of ethnic hate and bigotry. He seems to have no heart to hate and harbours no penchant for religious extremism. In a Nigeria sorely divided at this time, this is a mellifluous hymnal in the ears of many.

I look forward to the electoral contest between Buhari and Atiku. If the former VP becomes the PDP’s torchbearer, the US noise will be laid to rest, one way or another. But I assure you that the “corrupt” label on him will not go away easily. Any wealthy man in Nigeria, especially one who has held a political position in times past, is automatically considered a thief and crook. That’s an automatic conferment of a “thieftaincy” title.

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