Posted by By CHRISTIAN ITA on
Vice President Atiku Abubakar Wednesday night, made what could perhaps be regarded as his most audacious political statement ever.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar Wednesday night, made what could perhaps be regarded as his most audacious political statement ever.
Addressing a gathering, which included former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, some state governors and members of the National Assembly opposed to President Olusegun Obasanjo's alleged third term bid, Atiku not only expressed his opposition to tenure elongation but also said he was ready to take on the president on the issue.
When the going was good, Atiku who is now regarded as a ‘rebel' by the Presidency and the PDP used to be affectionately referred to as "my handbag" by Obasanjo.
However, for those privy to the politics of the presidency, Atiku's Wednesday night outburst was long over due. This is because the presidency had been polarised by Atiku and his principal since 2002 following Obasanjo's decision to seek a second term in office.
Before then, Atiku was everything any president could wish for from a Vice President. Not only was he fiercely loyal to the president, he also showed tremendous respect for the president.
Often was it told how Atiku would prostrate in difference to the president whenever he was in his presence. Then Atiku was of the expectation that Obasanjo would play the Mandela option by serving just a single term of office, thus, allowing him (Atiku) to succeed him in 2003.
Relations between the two became strained when Obasanjo decided he would be seeking a second term office.
Incidentally, the choice of Atiku as running mate to Obasanjo at the Jos Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 was recommended by his established acts of loyalty to superior authorities. His being a protégé of the late Shehu Musa Yar' Adua was an added advantage.
Yar' Adua, as second in command to Obasanjo as Head of State between 1976-1979, was a loyal ally of his principal.
In the list of possible vice presidents that was drawn by the party leadership, Atiku was said to have come a distant fourth with the likes of Prof. Jubril Aminu, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Alhaji Bamanga Turkur being the more favoured.
Chief Tony Anenih, it was gathered, however, succeeded in convincing Obasanjo to settle for Atiku if what he needed was a loyal Vice President.
Atiku\Anenih
While Atiku's conducts may have informed Anenih's support, the former chairman of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) may have used the opportunity to return a favour Atiku did for him.
After Obasanjo had decided he was running for the presidency in 1998, Dr. Iyorcha Ayu was appointed the national coordinator of his campaign organisation. Somehow, his campaign failed to fly.
Atiku took Anenih to see Obasanjo with the view of having him replace Ayu. At the first meeting, Obasanjo was said to have vehemently refused to have anything to do with Anenih whom he accused of "dumping June 12."
Atiku kept at it, insisting that though Obasanjo may not like Anenih's tactics, the Edo State born ex-cop turned politician was good at political organisation.
Obasanjo finally succumbed to Atiku's unrelenting pressure and named Anenih as Ayu's replacement. And in no time, his campaign organisation was running full throttle.
1999
With his inauguration as president in 1999, President Obasanjo put Atiku in charge of the economy. He also made Atiku the chairman of the National Council of Privatization, a position some observers said, was used to maximum advantage by the Vice President.
The cordial relations between the President and Atiku subsisted until late 2002 when Atiku was suspected of nursing a presidential ambition.
The Vice President was also accused by some hawks in the Presidency of sponsoring the many attempts by the National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives under Ghali Na'Abba to impeach the president.
Obasanjo reacted by opting to seek re-election in 2003 without Atiku as his running. Indeed, apart from his alleged presidential ambition, Obasanjo was said to have bowed to pressures from the likes of General Ibrahim Babangida to drop Atiku.
It was their reasoning that another four years of Atiku as Vice President would give him under advantage in the race to the 2007 election. There was no contemplation of a third term then.
However, the awesome Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) within the PDP dissuaded the President against dropping Atiku as running mate.
Things however, came to ahead a few days to the National Presidential Convention of the PDP. Obasanjo was challenging astute politicians such as Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme and Abubakar Rimi for the PDP ticket.
The Vice President, who many believe was in custody of the convention funds, was no way to be found by the President. He was also said to have cut off communication links. The next time the President would hear from his Vice President was on the British Broadcasting Service (BBC). He informed the BBC that most of the 36 state governors had just presented with three options; either seek nomination as presidential candidate, run with Ekwueme or stick with Obasanjo and sink. He said he was unsure of running with Obasanjo.
Before now, their campaign organisation, the Legacy House, was divided, culminating in a parallel leadership.
Given this development, Anenih was said to have gone cap in hand, soliciting for funds from some major players in the nation's economy and captains of industry. With the funds coupled with the incumbency factor, the President was able to tide over to emerge victorious at the convention.
2003
After his victory in 2003, President Obasanjo set about deliberately to whittle down the influence of Atiku and clip his wings. He approached this by first, removing the economy from under Atiku's control.
He also sidelined his Vice President in the decision making process of the government's political and economic policies.
While this was on-going, the fiasco in Anambra State was to further add frost to their relationship. The failed attempt to abduct the former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, it was believed, had the backing of the President. Incidentally, it was Atiku who saved Ngige from his abductors.
The genesis of the face-off in Anambra began when the PDP cancelled the gubernatorial primaries in the state, which was won by a pro-Atiku politician.
As the story goes, Ngige on assuming office in 2003 was beholden to the Vice President, a development, the President frowned out.
So, when some policemen who were led by the late AIG Raphael Ige abducted him, Ngige was said to have been able to place a call to Atiku, intimating him of his ordeal.
On receiving the distress call, Atiku was said to have swung into action, leading to Ngige's release.
The Anambra debacle led to the forced resignation of Chief Audu Ogbeh, a pro-Atiku man, as chairman of the PDP.
Atiku was to play into the hands of Obasanjo's hawks in the Presidency when in 2005, he granted an interview to Thisday Newspaper, where he said the President swore to him that he would not seek a third term in office.
The President reacted by branding Atiku a liar on national television. He also accused the Vice President of disloyalty. With the president having set the tone, several calls from the presidency and the party were made, urging the Vice President to resign.
Moves to get the Vice President impeached by the National Assembly were also reported. Resisting pressures to speak up, Atiku rather maintained a stoic silence.
But towards the last quarter of 2005, he began taking pot shots at the Obasanjo administration.
During a lecture series, which coincided with a national strike called by labour to protest fuel price increase, Atiku accused the government of not listening to the people.
As the cat and mouse relationship continued, there was a deliberate clamp down on Atiku's investments.
Intel oil services, an oil servicing company belonging to Atiku and said to be his major financial mainstay was shut by government under circumstances that is not quite clear.
Atiku's outburst, Wednesday night and his subsequent declaration of intent to contest the 2007 presidential election, is therefore, merely bringing a battle which has been raging in the background to the fore.
This much Atiku confirmed when he said " I do not think I am going to face anything less than what I have faced in the last three years."
Again, it also signifies a shift in the manner he would engage in the battle. No longer is he prepared to pretend in public that all was well between him and the President.
Perhaps, he also has come to the realisation that not joining issues with the President over the years has not changed his standing with the President and was therefore, counter-productive.
The question then is, what could have emboldened the Vice President to say what he said on Wednesday night?
It is no longer a matter of speculation that major political actors in the North have closed ranks with a view to fighting Obasanjo who they see as "a common enemy."
The recent registration of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have also eased his fears should he be thrown out by the PDP on account of taking on the President frontally.
His supporters people the ACD led by Audu Ogbeh. It is a party formed solely for the purpose of providing him a platform with which he can realise his presidential ambition.
The battle for registration was not as easy as it is being made to look. INEC associated the Atiku loyalists with the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD).
As such while refusing at the first instance to register MRDD which was the better known, INEC granted registration to ACD not knowing it was merely a front for MRDD.
On realising the gaffe, MRDD was hurriedly registered. The aim was to cause a division within the group and this almost worked out as the leadership of the MRDD instructed to collapse its structures and join ACD refused to do so.
The fact that he still has a sizeable support base in the National Assembly perhaps, gives his the assurance that he would on account of criticising the President by impeached.
But for how long will he pick the gaunlet against the President? The heat is already on and only a couple days back, a group whose avowed objective is to seem him become president, the Turaki Vanguard, was declared an illegal organisation by government.
The members of the organisation have already been arraigned for allegedly belonging to an unlawful organisation. Ironically, a similar group, which calls itself the Obasanjo Leadership Forum (OSF), is still going about its business without harassment.