ATIKU-OBASANJO PARLEY: GOING BEYOND SENTIMENTS
BY: SENIOR FYNEFACE
Different shades of opinions have been flooding the discourse on the visit of the former vice president Atiku Abubakar to his estranged boss, former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Majority of the arguments are as interesting as they are shocking, few are outrightly foolish.
Taking a cue from our highly esteemed Senate on its peculiar way of deciding critical national issues, it would be very apt to say those in support of Atiku’s reconciliation with Obasanjo say “I” and those against say “Nay.”
At this point, neither the “Ais” nor the “Nays” have it because there are serious issues to consider in the debate before the final hammer.
While the former vice president insisted that the meeting was purely informed by national interest rather than personal political gains, an aggrieved section of the political class especially within the Action Congress party (AC) has continued to insist that it was not well thought-out, as Obasanjo was responsible for the series of persecution suffered both Atiku himself and the party in the events leading to the 2007 election.
Though the feelings within the AC could be understood going by their unpleasant experience in the hands of the Obasanjo Presidency, most of the arguments so far seem to be beclouded by selfishness even on the side of those calling for Atiku’s head.
Interestingly, a particular section of the Action Congress party is trying to brand Atiku as a naïve and self-centred politician saying that the move to meet with Obasanjo portrayed him as a man who is blinded by inundate ambition. According to this group, credibility and honour should be more important in the way politicians relate with one another within and outside their own camps.
There are some very critical questions: At what point did Atiku became a naïve and self-serving politician? Could it be during his tenure as the vice president and throughout the period of his disagreement with Obasanjo or when he left the PDP to form AC?
Is Atiku no longer man enough to think for himself that everybody feels they are thinking for him? Could he have taken such an initiative without first weighing the consequences especially in his political life?
It is very crucial to ascertain the point he deviated as this will help the Nigerian electorate situate in proper context the decision of the former vice president to mend fence with his former boss.
Another very interesting development in the unfolding drama is the report indicating that leaders of this same aggrieved section of the AC have gone ahead to fashion an alternative political platform should Atiku’s depart the AC.
This move in itself is very funny because the man in question had maintained that he is still in AC and have not considered the option of leaving the party to either PDP or a new conscription.
Why has it suddenly become very difficult for this section of the AC majority of whom were very close associates of the former vice president to take their leader (Atiku) by is words?
According to media reports, “the fear that Atiku will leave the AC for the PDP immediately became real to this section of AC leaders and they were said to have immediately commenced a review of their strategies.”
One of such strategies as reported was their resolve to do whatever was necessary to bring the Alliance for Democracy (AD) under their control and then start rebuilding a new political platform that should be purely a regional conscription.
The plan as reported is for this section of AC to finally dissolve into the AD, which won the six governorship seats and an overwhelming majority of the state and national assembly seats in the southwest area between 1999 and 2003.
From obvious indications, the plan by this group to dissolve this section of the AC they control into the Alliance for Democracy seems to have been going on underground even before Atiku decided to cause the upset of mending fence with his estranged former boss.
In essence, this section of AC concluded its plans even before the Atiku’s heat- generating visit to Obasanjo to narrow down to regional politics as opposed to the present bogus national politics as obtained in the AC.
Though this interpretation may be wrong, but from emerging details, Atiku’s move to mend fence with Obasanjo may have even been a preemptive attempt to beat this loyal AC saboteurs to their own game.
From his experience in politics both pleasant and unpleasant, Atiku must have thoroughly weighed the pros and cons of such alleged suicidal move especially as pertains to his political survival and continued relevance. And it is very surprising that almost every person that has commented on this issue- from AC, PDP and even the apolitical class believes that they can think for Atiku better than the man can think for himself.
The reaction by the Presidency was another very interesting dimension to the entire Atiku-Obasanjo reconliation drama.
Though it may have sounded like a bold-face statement, the presidential spokesperson was actually very correct when he said the Presidency was not rattled by the recent reunion of Obasanjo with Atiku. This is because President Yar’Adua has never been uncomfortable with anything as clearly shown in the last two years of his Presidency.
Agreed that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is not in anyway rattled by the reunion of the two former leaders as insinuated by his aide, the Presidency may soon wake up its ideas as the quarrel between Obasanjo and Atiku was the only qualification that gave Yar’adua the PDP presidential ticket for the April 2007 election.
SENIOR FYNEFACE: ELELEWON STREET GRA II, PORT HARCOURT ( senior_fyneface@yahoo.com )
