Peter Nwasike
07037946858
In the Punch Newspaper of Friday, May 12, 2023, page 11, the former Vice President of Nigeria, 1999 – 2007 and Presidential Candidates of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 General Election, Alhaji Atiku Abubarka GCON, lamented the diminishing fortunes of his party, the People Democratic Party (PDP). Atiku made the comment in Abuja, on Thursday, May 11, at the reception organized for returning and newly elected governors on the event, Atiku said: “We have a number of challenges, we started as a dominant political party in 1999, but since then, we have been receding. It is time to take stock and find out why we are receding and how we can make sure that our position as the leading political party in the country can be regained.
“This is a very important challenge that requires a whole day seminar so that we can, as a party, regain eminent position in the country”, Atiku said.
The former Vice President also urged party leaders and members alike to be hopeful of the favourable outcome in the presidential election petition, saying, “We all know that the PDP did not lose the last election. We should be determined and focus on retrieving our mandate that has been stolen”.
An Igbo adaga says that “A greedy hunter who refused to allow other hunters to participate in the hunting, so that he will eat alone, creates escape route for the animal”, (Ka nanim chuta, rie nani m, ka anu ji agbanaga).
In 1998, the then leader of G.34. a political pressure group that admonished the Army to hand over Government to the civilians, Dr. Alex Ekwueme from South East (Anambra State), knew that the North would abuse their notorious population monstrosity and majority, and dominate the Presidency to the detriment of the whole Nation, and bastardise leadership with their ignorance and mediocrity. Ekwueme advocated for rotation of the Presidency among the six geo-political Zones, so as to enthrone justice, equity and fairness in Nigeria. He knew that the monopoly of the North, would antagonize other ethnic groups into resentment. Alhaji Atiku was among the delegates from the North and agreed to Ekwueme’s vision and wisdom. Zoning principle was incorporated into the Constitution of PDP.
Atiku was privileged to be in the top leadership of the party, and was the Governorship Candidate of PDP, in his State, Adamawa State, in 1999. The Army anointed his party, the PDP, as the favourite party to succeed them. The Army, wittingly or unwittingly, knew that the North has been monopolizing the Presidency since Independence in 1960, and continued to dominate it in the Military Regime, up to 1999. So, the North had monopolized the Presidency for 39 years.
In 1993, a Southerner, (South-West), M.K.O. Abeola, contested the Presidency, won, but the Army, dominated by the North, goaded and blinded by nepotism, tribalism, fanaticism, had the temerity to cancel the election. Had it been that the Northerner, Alhaji Tofa Bashiru, who contested the election with Abeola, won the Election, could the Army, dominated by the North, had the effrontery to annul the election?
So, the Army, in order to mollify the South-West (Yoruba), implemented the zoning principle, and brought a southerner, (Yoruba South-West), Retired General Obasanjo, to succeed them, and enthroned him as the PDP Presidential Candidate. They maintained the balance, and brought a Northerner (North-East, Fulani), to be the Running mate of Obasanjo, and the luck went to Atiku Abubarka. The Army carried PDP Candidate and Running mate, like a baby and enthroned them in Aso Rock. Atiku then became the Number Two Citizen of Nigeria, with the title of Grand Commander of Order of Niger (GCON).
When Obasanjo finished in 2007, the zoning system continued and went to the North, with Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua 2007 – 2010. It went to South – South, with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan 2010 – 2015. After the turn of the South, it went to the North again, with the incumbent General Buhari from North-West, 2015 – 2023.
Why did Atiku not respect this sacrosanct zoning principle? He violated the virtues of justice, equity and fairness, and bulldozed his way into the presidency, just to appease his insatiability in ambition, and foster the notoriety of North monopolizing the Presidency, to the detriment of the rest of Nigeria. As an old man at 76, who had been angling for the presidency since 1993, and have achieved the pinnacle of his political, social and economic ambition, he is the proverbial sadistic adult who stayed in the house, and the pregnant she-goat neglected to give birth while tied to the that her.
He could not apply the sagacity and magnanimity required of an old man, and support the zoning principle, for the unity, peace and harmony, in Nigeria.
When he swore oath as Vice President of Nigeria, he pledged to place the interest of the whole Nigeria, before his personal interest or that of his ethnic group. But he betrayed the oath and wanted to be President, to appease his inordinate and insatiability in ambition.
He is deceiving himself that the outcome of the Tribunal Judgment would favour him. If the Tribunal Judges, could do justice to their sworn profession, and count and re-count the votes, accurately, it will be proved that Peter Obi of the Labour Party, won the election, and not Atiku, nor Tinubu. But if the Tribunal allow themselves to be misled by nepotism, ethnicism, paracholiasm, money-bags, and apply nonsensical technicality, then the despicable verdict of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), could erroneously stand. Then, when Labour Party (LP) or All Progressives Congress (APC), came to Power, where shall Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of Atiku Abubarkar, be, to regain his so-called eminent position? PDP will be erased out of world map. It will be dead and the culprit of the demise of PDP is Atiku Abubarka with his ethnic fanatics of former Senate President Dr. Olusola Saraki, former Speaker of Housing of Representatives, Hon. Amiun Tambuwal, Chairman of Northern Elders Forum Prof. Ango Abdulahi, and their fellow perpetrators of injustice and inequity.
Atiku Abubarka will portray the adage that the greedy hunter who insists to hunt alone, grab alone, so that he will eat alone, creates escape route for the animal. He will continue to salivate, hunger and thirst for the elusive animal indefinitely. He will continue to lick the wound of his self-inflicted agony and disappointment, as the price of his greed, insatiability, egocentricism and nepotism, and so, his crocodile tears shall soak his face in shame. A man of insatiability who refused to be satisfied with anything, shall one day jam the carcass of an elephant, and in his feeble attempt to carry it, shall collapse under its heavy weight. This is the despicable and ignoble portion of Atiku Abubarka. He must know that he cannot eat his cake and have it back.