With emerging signals that the odds are against him in the All Progressives Congress, APC, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, may dump the opposition party for the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM.
PDM was registered by his associates as part of the political permutation to create an alternative platform for him to realise his ambition in the 2015 presidential election should the need arise. Atiku left the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, when it was clear to him that he might not get the party’s presidential ticket for next year’s election. He pitched tent with the APC, which is believed to be favouring the North-West Zone to present its presidential candidate for the 2015 race. The former Vice President hails from Adamawa State in the North-East Zone.
In what political analysts see as heightened efforts to mend fences with his former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku yesterday described him as the best leader Nigeria has so far had.
Atiku had on September 22, 2014 formally declared his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of APC with a vow to fight corruption and nepotism, if elected. He seized the occasion to also denounce the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, alleging it was leading Nigeria on the path of decline.
However, following the declaration for same ticket by former Head of State and fellow chieftain of APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari penultimate week, top leaders of the opposition party are allegedly shifting in their rating as to who should fly the flag of the party.
According to sources close to the APC leadership, only a consensus arrangement that would throw up Buhari as the party’s flagbearer would save them from the likely consequences of an Atiku victory which in their thinking “may be a hard sell for now.”
They added that Atiku would be an unpopular candidate in several states of the South, Middle Belt and the North West.
“We should be more comfortable with an aspirant like Buhari. And many of our leaders are rooting for him. Even our respected leaders, Bola Tinubu, Senator Bukola Saraki and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi support Buhari. We do not want any problem after the primary that could cause us grave electoral damage should the wrong candidate emerge. That will be a distraction which could follow us into the main election. So, consensus is it; and Buhari should be the one,” one the sources said.
A source in Atiku’s camp agrees that the former president could be very assertive and courageous. But he does not agree with the view that Buhari is the preferred candidate and neither did he confirm the politician’s move to dump APC.
Already, an extra-ordinary national convention being convened by the APC to ratify the party’s manifesto and amend its constitution, well intended as it is, the convention is seen by Atiku’s camp as a design to further strengthen the emergence of Buhari as the consensus presidential candidate.
PDM to the rescue
On October 23, 2014, the PDM announced its intention to hold the party’s national convention on October 31 and November 1, 2014, a development observers say is to prepare the ground for a possible switch by Atiku at the right time.
“The Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) will hold its inaugural National Convention on October 31 and November 1, 2014 at International Conference Centre, Abuja to elect National Officers of the Party, according to the time table released by the PDM National Secretariat on Thursday October 23rd, 2014. This follows a resolution of the National Executive Committee of the Party at its meeting of Thursday, October 16th, 2014 held at the National Secretariat in Abuja.
The National Convention will be preceded by zonal congresses earlier on Friday, October 31 at the same venue at which delegates are expected to elect a National Vice Chairman from each of the six geo-political zones,” the statement said.
It was learnt that Atiku would tag along with the APC till after the party’s national Convention. “If he does not get the ticket, he will simply move to PDM on the party’s invitation to fly their flag,” said one PDM source.
Obasanjo still Nigeria’s best leader, says Atiku
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday described the form of democracy being practised in Nigeria as patrimonial democracy as against durability democracy.
At a press conference during a Policy Review Summit held at Green Legacy Hotel Conference Centre, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Atiku declared Chief Obasanjo’s eight-year administration was the best the country ever had.
Represented by the Director-General of Atiku Campaign Organisation, Prof. Babalola Borisade, he said that Nigeria is practicing patrimonial democracy which limits the extent at which the government could be pressed to be responsive and accountable to the citizenry.
He observed that Nigeria had been gravitating from presidential system of government to presidentialism, whereby the political power is being controlled by an individual or a cabal.
Atiku said: “A deductive observer will not fail to notice that the nation has been gravitating from the presidential system of governance stipulated in our constitution to ‘presidentialism’. This means the systematic concentration of political power in the hands of one individual or a cabal. As a result, effective accountability and representation through popular democratic participation is giving way to personal rule and single party dictatorships rooted on politics of clientelism.
“Clientelism,” he said, refers to the awarding of personal favours among patrimonial cronies. These favours take the form of public sector jobs, appointments, distribution of resources through licences, contracts and tax waivers. In return, the cronies mobilise political support and loyalty for their patrons. “The Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN Spectacle.”
No fewer than 50 distinguished Nigerians from diverse fields and competences were in attendance to analyse and review Atiku’s policy document which, according to him, centered on 8-points agenda on how he make the country work again.
Atiku said the summit was a product of wide consultations across various demographies in Nigeria adding that who is who in the country have inputs on the policy formulation.
He explained that Nigerians deserve democracy which would address the socio-economic demands and improve on their standards of living, adding that the patrimonial democracy had eroded civil liberties of citizens by creating a culture of political apathy and disenchantment.
“In essence, what we have now in Nigeria is a form of Patrimonial Democracy. This is posing serious threats to the durability of democracy. Not only because it erodes civil liberties of citizens, thus creating a culture of political apathy and disenchantment among them, it also severely limits the extent to which government can be pressed to responsive and accountable towards the citizens. Thus, for both of those who are inside and outside the network, the future is bleak.
“Nigerians need democracy of substance that will respond to their socio-economic demands and bring about improvements in their living conditions. The yearn for a democracy that has dividends.
“Elections should therefore no longer be just about the right to vote but must also provide opportunities to choose between candidates who compete not on primordial sentiments, but on what they will do for Nigerians,”he added.
The presidential hopeful insisted that the country needs re-valuation of its socio-economic status, lamenting that the indices on ground does not conform with the fact that the nation’s economy is the largest in Africa.
He maintained that the country had been subdued with high unemployment status, poverty, crippling economy conditions, collapsing infrastructure, decadence in the education sector, kidnapping and Boko Haram insurgency among many other problems.
Addressing questions on why he can not absolve himself from the current state of rot in Nigeria, the former Vice President maintained that Obasanjo’s administration remains the best, so far in the country.
According to him, Obasanjo’s era was one of an experimental leadership when first years of government were used to learn, adding that Nigeria need an experienced leadership.
“We’ve done a lot of experimental leadership and that is why we have some of this problems. If you look back when Obasanjo came calling in second term, he was very sad because he said when he was leaving as military Head of State for example in aviation, there were 48 aircraft that belonged to Nigeria Airways, when he came back, he has only one.
“Nigeria has a shipping line with seven ocean liners when he came back after 20 years, there was none, so, it is correct to say that Obasanjo 8-year tenure was virtually the best political democratic rule that has happened to this country, Atiku was part of that and they had retinue of achievements that is attributed to them but then that is when this experimentation started, leaders that are being persuaded to run, who were not prepared and spend their first two years trying to learn because nature does not allow any vacuum.
“The man we are calling is not the only one governing, there is usually behind the scene cabal whose interest are being pushed and if you are not a strong president, you can easily get succumbed into that and those are the cabals and they don’t have to be politicians,” he said.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
