Basil Okoh
Atiku Abubakar has been the stormy petrel of Nigerian politics in the Fourth Republic, bringing division and disruptions to every political party he chooses to force his membership into in every election cycle.
The roots of that disruptive presence was actually planted in the aborted Third Republic when in 1993, he contested the presidential primaries with Moshood Abiola and Babagana Kingibe in the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He lost that primary election and catastrophe ensued later which led to the annulment of the 1993 presidential election that marked the end of the burgeoning Third Republic.
The fourth republic has witnessed the unceasing back and forth drift of Atiku Abubakar in the major political parties in Nigeria. He leaves chaos behind in the party he egresses from and plants disruption and bad influences in the political party that allows him ingress in his endless search for an illusory presidential office.
Atiku Abubakar exhibits for the public to see, truculent arrogance and unconscionable lack of respect for the governing rules of organizations he enters, usurping positions of the people he meets and disrupting the hierarchies of the party he moves into. He has displayed throughout the politics of the fourth republic, an atavistic sense of entitlement to the highest office with an eagerness to break rules to get the job of president.
He has thus practiced politics in the fourth republic offensively bucking norms, showing disrespect for the rankings and rules of his host party and bringing disruptions and division to previously stable political organizations. Atiku Abubakar has never built or moulded any political organization but has perfected the art of breaking the political parties of the fourth republic.
He showed utter arrogance and disrespect for President Obasanjo as vice-president, disrupting the PDP in 2007 before leaving to run as presidential candidate of ACN. He made sure to cause disaffection and ground the party before leaving. Atiku went back to PDP and championed its breakup, creating the nPDP faction to collaborate with APC and kill Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential reelection in 2015. He quarreled with everybody in APC thereafter and left, returning to the PDP yet again to scatter the house that Nyesom Wike and friends rebuilt.
The irony is that he is doing all these at the time of growing consciousness and resistance to the disruptive old ways which enabled and empowered the success and exploitation of the people by the old guard politicians which he typifies. These politicians exploited and thrived on the divisions of tribe, religion and region to win elections, particularly in northern Nigeria.
The growing rejection of the issues of tribe, region and religion as a talismanic mantra for winning elections across the north has exposed the lack of depth and absence of commitment to bring solution to the socioeconomic issues confronting northern Nigeria.
The fading political influence of old guard politicians in northern Nigeria is breeding frustration among them just as the uncontrollable dissonance in the region is posing unforeseen threat to the sway of the feudal old guard on voting choices in the region.
The real owners of Nigeria, the youth, are now conscious of the deception employed by the old elite using religion, ethnicity and regionalism to cause division between them and the people of the south, exploiting mutual fear and hatred to win elections and thereafter indulging in the plunder of the wealth of both north and south.
The cries of “our tribe, religion or region” is now ringing hollow in the ears of the youth across Nigeria who are now on the street yelling for social justice for all humanity. It is no longer acceptable that a tribesman steals public wealth regardless of his tribe, region or religion.
The unceasing movement of Atiku Abubakar to different political parties typifies the restlessness of the elite to position themselves for maximum benefit from the institutionally corrupt system, migrating from party to party looking for vantage positions for benefit to the self and to no other. Atiku Abubakar is the champion of this insatiable group and he can never be satiated until he gets the presidency for the biggest benefit to himself at the expense of and disadvantage to Nigeria.
In the ensuing disruptions following his back and forth movement, Atiku does not mind how many parties he destroys, how many laws he breaks or what social disruptions he causes for the parties or the nation. He exemplifies a carpetbagger who does not give a hoot for national cohesion or political stability. Me first and me only is the driving rule for him.
Atiku Abubakar will be contesting the presidency for a record four out of the six presidential elections in the fourth republic. In the course of this wanderlust, he has made no proposition and highlighted no vision or governing manifesto for progress of the nation.
Atiku Abubakar is a drifter without a purpose in politics, shouting down every restraining voice to his conscienceless pursuit of entitlement to the presidency of Nigeria. And this is made worse by the sickening fact that he has no redeeming qualities to endear him to the people or to recommend him for the high office he seeks. Atiku’s offending presence in the public space is made possible because we are in Nigeria, where bluster stumps merit in every political proposition.
Atiku Abubakar has never spoken to the fact that 20 million children are out of school, mostly in northern Nigeria or to the excruciating debt burden hanging over Nigeria for generations to come. He has ensconced himself in the pleasure island of Dubai, far removed from the pain, the grime and the vagaries of life of the people he wants to rule. An Atiku presidency will be a curse on Nigeria. The people of Nigeria must reject and reverse that curse in the coming election.
@basilokoh.
EZENWO NYESOM WIKE STRIPS PDP NAKED IN THE PUBLIC ARENA
Basil Okoh
Nyesom Wike has taken the wind out of the sail of the ship of the PDP and the party is left adrift in the open, hostile sea. Wike’s interview with the cream of the Nigerian broadcast media has promoted a better understanding of the crisis in the PDP and created public sympathy and embrace of Wike and his committed cause for justice and equity for Southern Nigeria. It has also highlighted the PDP and it’s presidential candidate as ruled by disdainful arrogance. Other major points can be taken out of this interview:
- Atiku Abubakar betrayed the constitution and norms of PDP on the constitutionally sanctioned rotation of the presidency by running for and winning the presidential primaries through ethnic conspiracy.
- Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state was allowed to illegally disrupt and perhaps change the outcome of the presidential primary by the National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu in a conspiracy concocted before the presidential primary.
- Iyorchia Ayu agreed, with the emergence of a Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, to step down as PDP National Chairman after the presidential primary election for a southern candidate but later reneged on that commitment.
- Atiku Abubakar himself in a meeting in London agreed that Iyorchia Ayu should step down and will report back to the Wike group within a week but also failed to do so.
- Iyorchia Ayu has been penciled down for the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation. This is a payback for his services leading to the nomination of Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate.
- Other key Government offices and positions have been shared out to Atiku’s allies even before the presidential election.
- Wike expressed knowledge and awareness of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council plan to sideline him even in Rivers state and stated his readiness to meet them in the campaign field.
PDP has been hollowed out and emptied for the public to see it’s nakedness. The obvious predation and subjugation of Southern Nigeria by the Atiku Abubakar northern caucus and the campaign group has been laid bare by Nyesom Wike in this interview.
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