If It’s Not Buhari, Why Not Atiku?

By Muyiwa Olayinka

Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has never hidden his desire to become the President of Nigeria. He has doggedly pursued this desire since he first emerged at the primary and convention of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993.

This is the botched transition from military to democratic rule by former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB). Atiku was one of the relatively unknown politician and one of the emerging and rising young Northern Turks. He came a distant third after having an agreement and stepped down for late Chief M.K.O Abiola who won the primary. Abiola eventually went on to win the Presidential election that was adjudged to be the fairest and finest election in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, IBB annulled the election that set a chain of reactions that ended the third republic and swept the general out of office.

In the fourth republic that started in 1999, Atiku emerged, won the governorship election in his home state, Adamawa state but handpicked by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as his running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They won the election and he became the Vice President to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. They were in office for two terms till their tenure terminated in 2007.

His burning desire to become President made him to be too ambitious hence putting him at logger head with his boss, culminating in frosty relationships between the two that almost set the nation on fire. Since then there had been no love lost between Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar after they left office. Obasanjo consistently disparaged and blocked him from any available opportunity to present himself for the office of the President.

Atiku undeterred left his party PDP and joined the opposition party Action Congress (AC) in 2007 where he contested and lost. Undaunted he moved back to PDP in 2011, contested in the primary and lost to Goodluck Jonathan that eventually won the general election.

In 2014, Abubakar left PDP to join All Progressives Congress (APC) with the intention to contest the Nigerian presidency in 2015 on the party’s platform. He contested in the primary against the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and lost. In December 2017, he returned to PDP and declared his candidacy for the Presidential nomination in mid-2018 and won the nomination at its convention on October 7, beating 11 other contestants. This is the closest Atiku will ever get to fulfill his long time ambition.

Atiku and his former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo were recently reconciled.

While many believe the Presidential election will be closely fought between the two leading candidates of President Buhari of (APC) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (PDP), there are other 31 names and parties that will appear on the ballot on February 16, 2019. Curiously, President Buhari and Abubakar Atiku have one thing in common; to become the President of Nigeria. While the former has fulfilled his, the latter is still aspiring.

Just like Atiku, Buhari had contested three times on different political parties and lost before getting the plum job at the fourth attempt. Buhari a former military head of state from 1983 to 1985 had unsuccessfully ran for the office of President of Nigeria in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 general elections.

In December 2014, he emerged the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, beating Atiku Abubakar for the March 2015 general elections. Buhari won the election, defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. This marked the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost to an opposition candidate in a general election.

Unfortunately for Nigerians, this watershed political event does not translate to economic prosperity to many Nigerians in terms of quality of lives. President Buhari and his political party APC promised a lot to Nigerians but were unable to fulfill many. Buhari promised to tackle Boko Haram’s insurgency, fix the economy and fight corruption.

Buhari’s greatest achievements are in areas of improvement of security situations of the country, especially the Boko haram’s murderous campaigns. It stopped these terrorists in their expansionist agenda by recovering many Nigerian lost territories. Peace has gradually returned to north eastern states like Borno, Yobe and Adamawa that were ravaged by Boko Haram’s pogrom.

On the fight against corruption, the government has its modest achievement. Many top politicians, civil servants, the ‘untouchables’ and top military brass (serving or retired) were arrested and charged to court for corruption related cases. Some former governors like Joshua Dariye (Plateau state) and Jolly Nyame of Taraba state have been convicted and jailed. Other high profile cases are at different stages of prosecutions.

In the economic front, Buhari led government implemented the Treasury Single Account (TSA) scheme introduced by his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, to plug loop holes and leakages in management of various Federal government accounts.

Be that as it may, the government performed woefully in the economic sector. It took this government almost eight (8) months to form the federal cabinet. Buhari tarried and delayed some policy thrusts most especially in the devaluation of Nigerian currency (Naira) and the deregulation of oil sector. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the economy slipped into recession.

The economy is yet to recover, as it stands, Naira is exchanging for N360 to a US Dollar against N122 before this government came on board in 2015. The resultant effect of this high exchange rate has made goods and services to hit rooftop prices, mainly because Nigeria is dependent on imported and foreign goods.

Petrol prices is currently N145 per liter against N87 in February 2015, inflation rate is high(11.28%)  and more than 7.5 million jobs have been lost these past three years according to National Bureau of Statistics. According to Brookings Institution, Nigeria is the home to world’s poorest people with 87m.

Many Nigerians are groaning and finding it so difficult to survive the recession, despite the fact the Federal government celebrated the exit of the country. This negates the reality in the country. On daily basis, Nigerians are struggling to earn a decent living, coupled with low income to meet rising costs.

The emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the opposition standard bearer has changed the political calculation. Buhari’s main challenger has promised to revamp the parlous state of the economy.  He offers himself as a better alternative. Atiku a successful business man having investments in port logistics, education, agriculture and manufacturing, vows to replicate his success in private business to the economy of Nigeria.

To show his seriousness, he named former Governor Peter Obi, a practical economist, a man that has investments in banking and financial institutions, and a successful administrator cum politician as his running mate.

The political brickbats have started since Atiku Abubakar emerged.

For example, the camp of Buhari labels Atiku a corrupt man for not being able to travel to United States of America for the past 10 years, because of a hanging indictment against him and his past relationship with a jailed former Congress man  Mr Jefferson. The Atiku camp responded that denial of visiting visa to USA is not an indictment and does make him ineligible to contest for office.

From the foregoing, it is left to Nigerians to choose between the two come February 2019. One believes fighting corruption will fix all Nigerian problems and make it a prosperous state. The challenger believes in taking proactive measures in fixing the economy and restructure Nigeria will return it to sustainable growth.

Atiku is consistently advocating for the restructure of the federating areas in solving the ‘Nigerian question’. Can Atiku be trusted and committed to his views if he wins or is he playing to the gallery? Nigerians are skeptical because many politicians have made this promise and were unable to fulfill it.

This question is relevant, bearing in mind; the manifesto of the ruling party APC is committed to restructuring but sadly no concrete and practical steps had been taken towards its implementation or realization after 3 years in office.

Can we trust these Nigerian politicians with this aspect of true federalism or restructuring?  Fellow Nigerians this is the hour of reality!

So I ask the question again, if it’s not Buhari, why not Atiku?