In the undulating firmament of Nigeria’s troubled polity and politics for the past three decades, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar remains one of the most consistent players and catalysts.
His name has become a reoccurring decimal, a shooting star that refuses to dim or quench. Whether it is for the right or wrong reason, his political resilience lies in his perceived, self-acclaimed and widely proclaimed ambition to occupy the number one seat in his lifetime.
There’s nothing wrong with holding on to a time consuming, financially demanding and an emotionally draining ambition such as that of the Waziri of Adamawa. Above all, it is within his constitutional rights to aspire to the highest position of political authority, as a bonifide citizen of his Country, as many times as he chooses until he gets there.
Atiku Abubakar, over the years, has built monuments to his ambition in terms of structure, influence, a ready manpower, a financial war-chest and a deaf gusto that refuses to back down, no matter the challenge.
Time and space will not permit me to do a run down on his consistent and carefully lubricated arsenal, beginning from his days of the inherited PDM structure of yore, to his beck-and-call political castle of today, having survived several political party platforms over the years. This is the reason he cannot be undermined dismissively as many are wont to do.
But for a human life that’s above three scores and ten, with a political journey of over three decades which one time, culminated into winning a governorship seat and that of the Vice President of a Nation with a population of over 250million people, one should be grateful to God and be less thoughtful about personal ambition than the collective good and aspirations of the larger number.
Whether we like it or not, certain kinds of wisdom do come with age; even if not the biological age but the age and experience associated with the consistency of doing the same thing over and over again, probably deploying the same strategy within the same political space to no avail, et cetera.
It is against this backdrop that the recent call by most Nigerians within and outside the ADC and the general opposition family, should be considered thoughtful and important. The mere knowledge that the Waziri is poised for a showdown for the umpteenth time, despite the hitherto widely circulated rumour of his willingness to allow the younger and more zestfully inclined Peter Obi/ Kwankwaso’s ticket to fly, diverse emotions were let loose.
This is threatening the much needed coalition and collective strategizing expected from the ADC against an opposition as formidable as the APC and its tributaries. The recent fragmentation and formation of the OK ( Obi-Kwankwaso) movement is a painful pointer to the willingness of this bloc to go the separate way which is not good for the overall aim of the coalition in the first place.
Let us jettison the other loudly salient unconstitutional issues as the North-South zoning, which on its own is already tearing ethnic and regional emotions apart while we concentrate on getting the Waziri to back down.
Those who say he has every right to contest are right. Those who say he should play the hero while galvanizing the opposition for a meaningful and a winning slugfest come 2027 are also right. One is premised on the legality of rights while the other is hinged on morality, patriotism and heroism. The latter is louder and more honourable than the former.
However, tact and wisdom should be deployed to assuage the already oiled sensibility of the former Vice President to listen to the compelling voice of reason to step down and not the unwilling voice of ambition to hang on. He must not be bullied. Atiku Abubakar, please don’t go to the polls!