Posted by By CHRISTIAN ITA and CHINWENDU UZOUKWU in Lagos; JAMES OJO in Abuja on
The decision by Vice President Atiku Abubakar to appear at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday in the regalia of a Fulani warrior may have been calculated to make a statement after all.
•Recounts Yar' Adua's exploits as ‘master strategist'
•VP sacked from Privatisation Council
The decision by Vice President Atiku Abubakar to appear at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday in the regalia of a Fulani warrior may have been calculated to make a statement after all.
Speaking exclusively with Sunday Sun at the weekend in Lagos, the Vice President, currently bufetted by allegations of sleaze, dismissed insinuations that he is already overwhelmed.
Asked specifically about the regalia, the vice president laughed and said, 'Well, the Yoruba people also have a warrior's regalia" in what appears a veiled reference to President Olusegun Obasanjo who is the Balogun (generalisimo) of the Owu kingdom.
Earlier at the public presentation of a book, The Writer as Strategist (a compilation of essays on Dele Alake, Lagos State Information Commissioner), Atiku adjudged his late political mentor, late Major General Shehu Yar' Adua, as the most astute political strategist he has come across in his political life.
Speaking at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), venue of the event, the Vice President said it was Yar'Adua strategy that won the late Chief M.K.O Abiola the presidential ticket of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Jos in 1993.
He said despite working for Abiola's success at the primary and the election proper, Yar'Adua had predicted that the election would be annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida and the series of events that followed.
'In my political career, one of the greatest strategists I have met is the late Shehu Yar' Adua who in Jos in 1993 strategised Abiola's election at the SDP primary in Jos. He also predicted the annulment by Babangida. He predicted what was going to happen after the annulment, that Babangida was going to be forced to step aside. He predicted it all," he said.
He ranked Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu as second to Yar' Adua in terms of capacity to read political barometer and make deft moves, while describing Dele Alake as 'dependable, straight forward and a man of ideas."
On his part, the event provided Tinubu with an opportunity to embark on an excursion into the events of 1993, drawing parallel between Atiku's showing as a formidable presidential aspirant then and his current travails.
First, he rubbished the insinuations from certain quarters that the Vice President's current troubles are as a result of his unbridled desire to become president.
Tinubu, who said Atiku is not just a strategist but dependable, gave account how the vice president sacrificed his own ambition for MKO Abiola to emerge the presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993, giving fresh insights into the horse-trading that attended the Jos convention.
The Lagos governor recounted that after stepping down from the primary election to ensure Abiola's victory in the run-off, Atiku was to be announced as Abiola's running mate.
'It got to the time he (Atiku) was to be announced as the running mate to M.K.O in Kaduna. Suddenly, they did not make the announcement. The third day Kingibe was announced. If it were another person he would have worked against the ticket. I know Dr. Doyin Abiola (MKO's wife who was present in the hall Friday) would remember this. Atiku said ‘It is not the end of life. If God says I would be Vice President, I would be one day.'"
Tinubu, who described Alake as the anchor of the media offensive launched by pro-democracy movement against the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babaginda then, recounted how he and a few democrats, including Atiku got the senate, which had been disbanded by the military, to convene at a secret location in Lagos and declare the Shonekan-led Interim National Government (ING) illegal.
Describing that incident as one of the most important political coups they hatched together, he said: ' I used Alake to get the old Senate building (in Lagos) ready for us to reconvene the senate in Lagos. That is why each time they talk about somebody stealing the mace I laugh. Mace is the Coat of Arms. So, if you put Coat of Arms on a walking stick, you have mace and that is what we did." His remarks elicited thunderous laughter and applause from the audience which paraded the cream of the Nigerian journalism.
Alake, he said, is reliable, dependable and a pillar of support once convinced on the justness of a cause.
The chairman of the occasion and former Chief of General Staff, Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe, spoke in the same vein, adding that Alake is worth celebrating 'not because he is a commissioner in Lagos State but because he is a man who has put his best, youthful years in his profession and country.
'We also celebrate him because of his commitment to the well-being of Nigerians. He is an icon, not only of the Nigerian media, but also of the Nigerian politics."
Meanwhile, the influence of Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the Presidency was Friday further weakened with his sack from the board of National Council on Privatisation [NPC].
Atiku's reign in NPC was cut short with a two- paragraph letter announcing the dissolution of the governing council with immediate effect.
The dissolution letter signed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation [SGF], Chief Ufot Ekaette, did not say when a new council would be constituted as privatization of government companies was yet to be concluded.
Embattled Atiku had presided over the governing council of the NPC since inception of the Obasanjo administration in 1999.
Atiku is presently at daggers drawn with his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, over accusations of abuse of office and fraud flying from both camps.
The Vice President had supervised the sales of government enterprises, some which generated controversies, as bidders alleged that his cronies bought over the juicy companies.