Madagali attack, Gulak’s murder and Atiku’s support for Kanu: Why we must reject ex-VP
By Philimon Apagu
As the 2027 elections draw nearer, the undertakers of our future are once again on the prowl, scavenging for cheap sympathy, weaponizing insecurity, and feasting on the sorrows of victims.
Like vultures circling over fresh graves, they see tragedy as an opportunity for diabolic political gains. And none has perfected this grotesque dance better than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Like the indurate and coldblooded insurgents and militants who murdered innocent people with utter contempt, these soulless and self conceited politicians who hide under the cloak of democracy are openly dancing on the graves of the victims through insensate comments that only compound the grief of the victim’s families.
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For them, anything no matter how terrible is fair game once it will leverage their political fortunes. That is why I found Atiku’s recent narrative supporting the release of Nnamdi Kanu not only in the realm of political desperation but the nadir of human depravity.
It is very clear that politics has afflicted his sense of justice to the extent the monstrous atrocities perpetrated by IPOB, a group of killers enabled and supported by Nnamdi Kanu, who took up arms against the Nigerian state and killed thousands of Nigerians and destroyed their properties in one of the worst cases of treason ever perpetuated against Nigeria, no more matters to him.
One of those Nigerians slayed by the deadly IPOB militants was our own son, Aliyu Ahmed Gulak, a former presidential aide and prominent Nigerian politician. Gulak was killed in cold blood like a common criminal and up till now, nobody was brought to book.
When the villainous Nnamdi Kanu was arrested, the people of Gulak gave a sigh of relief because the person who enabled his murder was arrested but because of political desperation, another son of Adamawa is mounting a campaign of calumny against the government for the release of such a villain. The people of Gulak and history will never forgive Atiku for this major infraction.
In recent times, Atiku seems to have gone gaga, and has been making careless statements unbecoming of a person of his caliber and the office he once occupied. The recent statement he made when insurgents attacked Wagga Mongoro easily comes to mind.
It beats my imagination that Atiku, whose tragic failure at leadership contributed immensely to the current insecurity is now shamelessly using the very monster he helped to create to further his wicked and diabolic plan to destabilize the country.
The cowardly terrorist attack on defenceless villagers in Wagga Mongoro, Madagali LGA, should have been a moment of collective mourning and solidarity. But instead, Atiku saw a window to further exploit the gory incident for self serving reasons.
That callous inhibition only remind Nigerians that remorse has taken flight from the subconscious realm of Atiku whose only concern is to grab power for the perks it will offer him.
The attack offers a good window for leaders with empathy and sense of patriotism to synergize with the government to chart a roadmap out of the predicament. But Atiku saw a different opportunity and chose the low road. He dropped every pretense to statesmanship and rushed to exploit the tragedy, issuing a hollow condolence statement dripping with hypocrisy and double standards.
His intervention was not about the victims but about his blind ambition. Such fuels the desperation of Atiku to use the tragedy to rejuvenate his fading political relevance.
This is a man whose leadership offers nothing but sorrow and tragedy to the people of Adamawa State in particular and North East in general. Under the watch of Atiku when he served as Nigeria’s most powerful vice president for eight years, all roads leading to Adamawa State became death traps. Even the road leading to his home town Jada was in absolute ruins.
Atiku has apparently lost contact with the very people on whose behalf he seems to be losing sleep. That is perhaps the reason why he could not even spell the name of the ill-fated community right. While the name of the community is Wagga Mongoro, Atiku addressed the hapless community as Wagga Mongono. What a tragedy?
But one question that kept popping into my head was Atiku’s recent interest in the welfare of the people whom he neglected for eight years when he has the wherewithal to change their destiny. It was also surprising that Atiku who maintained a deafening silence during the heydays of insurgency suddenly became a willing advocate of victims of latest attacks by insurgents.
Where was Atiku when Boko Haram once held Madagali, Michika, Mubi North, Mubi South, Maiha, Hong, and Gombi hostage? Where was Atiku when IDP camps littered Bajabure, Malkohi, and Fufore? When Adamawa was on its knees, when businesses were ruined, when farmlands lay abandoned, when families were scattered, and even when his own AUN shut down because of insecurity where was he? Silent. Invisible. Missing in action.
Now that the tide has turned, when insurgents have been degraded and pushed into the forests, when farmers have returned to their fields, when traders have reopened their shops, and when Adamawa is enjoying relative peace, Atiku suddenly finds his voice. Not to build, not to encourage, not to unite, but to sneer, to exaggerate, and to dance on the graves of the innocent.
I want to sincerely commiserate with the people of Wagga Mongoro. We share in their pain, we mourn with the bereaved, we pray for the recovery of the injured, and we stand firm in our commitment to ensuring that the remnants of these degraded insurgents are permanently defeated.
Apagu, writes from Abuja.
