Atiku’s Roaring Port Harcourt Declaration

Following the declaration of his ambition to contest for the presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), how far can the Turakin Adamawa go? Can the Waziri Adamawa clinch the PDP ticket? Can he beat President Buhari who last week declared his intention to re-contest in 2019?

Although, the former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido and the former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the All Progressives Congress, APC, had earlier visited Governor Wike, at government house, Port Harcourt, ostensibly to solicit for his support in furtherance of their presidential ambition, the visit of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar , the Waziri Adamawa, to Wike, on March 27, in government house, Port Harcourt, has spiked public debate because he chose to publicly declare his presidential ambition in Rivers State, rather than in Adamawa, his home state, or at the seat of power in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. Atiku declared that he was offering himself for the presidency because he wants to return Nigeria to the pathway of growth from the serial failure that he claims has become of the current APC-controlled federal government under President Mohammadu Buhari in the past 2 years and 10 months since it assumed the reins of power on May 29, 2015.
Atiku said he chose to declare his presidential ambition in Port Harcourt, Rivers State because Wike has through his supportive efforts to reposition and re-invent the party become the “live wire” of the PDP, reminiscent of the role he, too, played while in the PDP in 1998/1999. Atiku has remained the most powerful vice president that has occupied that office since Nigeria returned to elective civilian participatory democracy in 1999. Atiku’s visit raised eyebrows because of the expansive gathering of stakeholders that the state government arranged for Atiku to interact with during his political sojourn to Rivers State.
The former vice president addressed federal and state lawmakers, including caretaker committee chairmen in the state. Instructively, the category of the politicians Atiku addressed essentially constitutes the bulk of delegates from Rivers State that will vote during the presidential primary of the PDP that will elect its presidential flag bearer for the 2019 election. He maintained that the problem of Nigeria was the abject lack of leadership and the willpower needed to make conscious decisions required to give proper and adequate direction to steer the country forward and not the lack of resources and skilled manpower which are abundant in Nigeria.
Atiku took a jab at the APC, saying the party has destroyed the foundation of unity and cohesion of the country. He lamented: “I have never seen Nigeria so divided along religious, ethnic and regional lines. This division is as a result of the mismanagement by the APC. Since 2015 the percentage of budget allocation for education has been falling year by year. The allocation in the health sector has also fallen. We have not seen 100 kilometers of road that has been constructed by the Federal Government since 2015.”
Mindful that other presidential hopefuls angling to vie for the presidency in 2019 under the aegis of the PDP will still navigate their political compass towards Rivers State to solicit for his support, Wike gave Atiku a guarded response to his request aimed at garnering delegates from Rivers State to shore-up his chances of emerging as the anointed candidate of the party.
Governor Wike in his response said the Atiku was qualified to contest for the Presidency because he has the requisite experience which is required to govern the country.”God will make sure that the right candidate emerges. When the right candidate emerges, we will team up and remove this bad government. There is no benefit that Rivers State has gotten from this APC Federal Government. All the APC is doing is plotting to rig the 2019 elections.”
Governor Wike counseled: “Every presidential aspirant must see himself as a member of the larger PDP family. We must do everything to ensure that PDP returns to the presidential villa in 2019. Only one aspirant will become a candidate. We will do everything to ensure that the party comes out with a candidate that has a track record to upstage the APC. ”
So, it was instructive that Atiku visited Rivers State and declare his intention to vie for the presidency in 2019, at government house, Port Harcourt, for a number of reasons. On Thursday, December 7, 2017, two days to the PDP’s national convention at the Eagle Square, in Abuja, that produced Prince Uche Secondus as national chairman of the party, Atiku visited former military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, at his Minna hilltop mansion for consultations.
To give the visit the colouration of a top-heavy political endorsement by some undeniable power brokers within the PDP in Minna, Niger State, Atiku who flew into Minna in his private jet, T 7 AAA, was received by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso; Chairman of the Niger State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Tanko Beji; Deputy Chairman, Aminu Yussuf; Senator Zagbayi Nuhu and the Secretary of the party in Niger State, Alhaji Umar Santaliu. In the team that welcomed Atiku at the Minna airport was the former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu. The welcome party left the airport straight to retired General Babangida’s residence for a closed-door meeting.
The closed-door meeting, which lasted for about 45 minutes, had former President Babangida; former Governor Aliyu and Atiku, the presidential hopeful. According to reports, Aliyu left Babangida and Atiku to explore for about 1.45 minutes, the chances of Atiku in clinching the PDP’s presidential ticket for the 2019 election. A source who was privileged to the details of the meeting that was held in Minna, had disclosed that: “all arrangements for the declaration have been completed”, adding that “Atiku will declare to run for president on the ticket of the PDP after the convention of our party.”
No one knew exactly when and where Atiku will declare, considering the fluid political terrain of the PDP as it emerged from one of its devastating political skirmish over the leadership of the party that was fiercely contested between Sheriff and Makarfi. Sources privileged to the deliberations at retired General Babangida’s residence, in Minna, stated that Atiku pleaded with IBB to speak to Wike and other PDP governors who had refused to acknowledge his defection to the party. Atiku according sources with privileged insight into the Minna parley, specifically urged Babangida to put a word in his favour to Senator Makarfi to get some of his delegates into the four strategic party positions in the PDP’s National Working Committee.
To elicit attention, Atiku embarked on a scathing criticism of the Buhari’s administration, canvassing for the need to restructure the country, even trumpeting at every media opportunity that he will trump Buhari in the 2019 election.
Atiku, a political tactician chose December 3, 2017, to defect to the PDP, six days to the party’s national convention. He vaunted: “I will definitely beat him this time. He has wasted a lot of his massive goodwill. A lot of people are disgruntled but they are keeping quiet and lying low. Our youths are suffering terribly. They are even now being sold into slavery. Everyone knows my track record of inviting and attracting a good team and giving them the opportunity to work professionally. Nigerians are tired of leaders who cannot think big and work big.”
Clearly, Atiku is leaning on IBB and in some ways, former President Goodluck Jonathan to assist him get the endorsement of, specifically, Wike, Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose and other PDP governors whose influence in the PDP was amply manifested at the December 9, 2017, national convention, when they conspired to snatch the position of the national chairman of the PDP from the South West to which the party has earlier zoned the position.
On Friday, March 30, four days after Atiku had visited Governor Wike in Rivers State and formally declared his willingness to vie for the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the PDP, the former vice president routed his political consultation, again, to Minna in Niger State, just has he did on December 7, 2017, two days to the national convention of the PDP in Eagle Square, on December 9, 2017. This time, Atiku was represented by thousands of youths from the North Central geo-political zone under the aegis of the “Coalition for Northern and Southern Youths Assembly,” North Central chapter.
To score significant political mileage, the youths who staged a mini carnival of some sort at the Abdulsalami Abubakar Youths Center in Minna, made sure their presence and message was not unnoticed as they “brought both business and government activities to a standstill in Minna.” They message: Youths in the North Central geo-political zone should massively support Atiku’s presidential ambition in 2019. Convener of the event, Comrade Patricia Ogar, assured the youths in her welcome address that the way forward for the millions of Nigerian who are currently jobless is to support the presidential ambition of Abubakar in 2019.
Ogar declared: “Atiku Abubakar is the only one for now that has identified and share the problem of the Nigerian youths. He is passionate with the plight of the Nigerian youths. As it is today, we the youths account for 80 per cent of the country’s population and that is why any government that ignores the youths does that at its own peril.”
For good measure, the PDP’s December 9, 2017, national convention will remain a talking point in the annals of the internal dynamics of party politics in Nigeria because of the subterranean dexterity with which Wike and his co-collaborators, essentially sitting PDP governors, even including Governor Fayose of Ekiti State, from the South West where the position of national chairman had been zoned, turned full-circle to jettison the party’s zoning formula to support Prince Secondus, Wike’s anointed candidate from the South South geo-political zone, which had produced the immediate past President in Goodluck Jonathan.

Clearly, Atiku’s presidential ambition is racing towards a very formidable bulwark and the former vice president will need more than the overt support of Babangida and Jonathan to clinch the ticket of the PDP in 2019. This is so because the questions are germane: how many delegates can IBB and Jonathan sway in Atiku’s support during the PDP’s presidential primary? For sure, IBB will snap the delegates from Niger State to vote for Atiku, considering the loyalty of the PDP structure in Niger State to IBB, led by former Governor Babangida Aliyu, and the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Tanko Beji,

As it is, the electoral structure of the PDP in Bayelsa State, Jonathan’s home-state is firmly in the hands of Governor Seriaki Dickson. And it is unlikely that Dickson will bow to any pressures from Jonathan to align the delegates from Bayelsa State in support of Atiku’s candidature if the PDP governors, who are now the undisputed power brokers in the PDP, prefer another candidate to fly the party’s flag at the 2019 presidential election. Without doubt, the sitting PDP governors are in-charge of the party’s electoral structures, and consequently, the delegates in their respective states.

The emergence of a “Unity List” at the December 9, 2017, PDP’s national convention, at Eagle Square, Abuja, is a stinging reminder that the PDP governors have already zeroed their mind on those they have in mind to lead them into the 2019 presidential election. The outcome of the national convention is a pointer that concessions have been made and political pacts and deals have also been struck by the PDP governors. Is it not surprising that Senator Makarfi who did not hide his willingness to become the national chairman of the PDP, suddenly, cooled his desire for the position just days to the convention?

Some of those who witnessed the horse trading that took place; days to the convention say that some influential figures in the PDP promised Markafi that he would be handed the PDP’s presidential ticket on a gold-platter in 2019. However, the former governor of Kaduna State would not have fallen flat for that, knowing full well that such promises are rarely kept in the slippery terrain that has become the forte of Nigerian politics. Without doubt, the “Unity List” was to attain a futuristic purpose in the 2019 general elections. And having astutely put the structure at the national working committee in place, it is unlikely that the PDP governors will allow Atiku to reap where he has not sown.

Atiku’s most auspicious presidential ambition was in 2003, when he had a major control over the PDP governors in the country, considering the fact that former President Olusegun Obasanjo allowed Atiku to play the politics while he concentrated fully on the formulation and implementation of state policy. That faux pas almost cost Obasanjo the second term ticket, and the feud that Atiku’s presidential ambition spewed up between Obasanjo and Atiku has continued to haunt Atiku and will still come to bear in 2019. Obasanjo has not forgiven Atiku. And Atiku will continue to rue the day he magnanimously, after much pressure and pleas from notable traditional rulers and influential figures from the South West, including the heartfelt pleas of late First Lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, abandoned his willingness to offer himself for nomination at the PDP presidential primary in 2003.

Could Governor Fayose of Ekiti State had worked against the emergence of a South West candidate as the national chairman of the PDP to which the position had been zoned by the party without securing an assurance that he would be handsomely compensated with a juicy political position in 2019? Not unlikely, though! Although, Fayose had earlier publicly declared his intention to contest for the 2019 presidential election, his political theatrics was essentially to position himself for the vice presidential slot of the PDP.

No one can say for sure what agreement Fayose had entered into with Wike, Secondus, and the PDP governors. Whoever will emerge as the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019 needs to have the unalloyed support of the governors of the PDP from the South South and the South East where the party appears to have the bulk of its grassroots supporters.

There are well-heeled politicians who defected to the APC in November 2014, who are currently considered as tilting heavily towards the PDP: Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal who is a close ally of Governor Wike; former Governor of Kaduna State, Rabiu Musa Kwankaso still in the APC; former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; former Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, who are PDP members.

Atiku played no role in the emergence of Secondus as the national chairman of the PDP. And so has no political agreement with the current chairman who with the PDP governors, the real power brokers in the PDP, who will collectively determine the PDP presidential candidate in 2019. Tambuwal’s chances are truly blurred in the South West having betrayed the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, when he worked against the emergence of Femi Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in 2015, after Tinubu had sacrificed the Speakership slot zoned to the South West by the PDP. Tinubu had asked the APC members in the House of Representatives to vote for Tambuwal, then of the PDP, against Mulikat Adeola-Akande because he did not want a Speaker that would be controlled by former President Obasanjo.

Tambuwal had gone to Tinubu’s residence in Abuja to apologise for the betraying Tinubu’s trust in breaching the 2011 agreement entered into with Tinubu. But a visible enraged Tinubu had told Tambuwal: “By your action, you have finally severed the umbilical cord that joined you and the South West.” Clearly, Tambuwal would perform poorly in the South West should he emerge as the PDP presidential candidate in 2019. Tambuwal’s unsavory political relationship with the South West will be to the advantage of Atiku, whose wife, Titi, is from Ogun State. But such filial connection failed to work in Atiku’s favour in 2007, when he contested for the presidency on the platform of the defunct Action Congress, AC, against late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007. Upon his defection from the AC back to the PDP, his filial connection to the South West still did not work in his favour in the 2011 PDP presidential primaries against Jonathan in 2011. And it also did not work for him in 2014 against Buhari when he decamped to the APC to contest the presidential primary.
As it is, Atiku’s latest defection to the PDP may turn out to be a political albatross, depicting him as a serial defector whose sole aim is to become the president of Nigeria, unmindful of the programmes, manifesto or political philosophy of the party in question. His current effort to become the president of Nigeria is anchored on the restructuring of the country; youth empowerment; economic and industrial revolution aimed at re-directing the pathway of Nigeria to growth and development. So, why didn’t he push for these reforms and agenda in the APC where he was an influential member like he was in the PDP and AC, from whose ranks he had also previously defected?

Atiku explained that he made efforts to reach out to Buhari through the office of the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, but would do nothing unless the president gives his approval. The Waziri Adamawa said he then put together 18 influential members of the APC to brainstorm on ways to reposition the party and galvanise towards fulfilling its electoral promises but President Buhari was uncomfortable with the motive of the group, so most members pulled out for fear of being victimised by the presidency.

Now that Atiku has again defected from the APC to the PDP on whose platform he became vice president in 1999; a party he played a formidable role in its formation in 1998; a party he played the role of a “live wire between 1998/99,” (and even beyond) considering his role as one of the major financial muscles that sustained the PDP at its teething stage; Wike, Fayose and the PDP governors who were farther down the political ladder when Atiku held sway in the PDP in the past are those who will now determine the course of his presidential ambition in 2019.