Ignoring Atiku in 2023 Was the South east’s Worst Political Mistake – Calculate
In this interview with political forum, FM Radio Abeokuta monitored by our reporter, Adamawa ADC chieftain, Umar Bello Jada regretted that the decision of the South East to ignore former vice president Atiku Abubakar in 2023 and its region’s failure to embrace mainstream national politics was its greatest undoing.
He noted that over the years, the region has alienated itself in a number of ways including its failure to foster robust synergy with other regions, its inability to rally support of all Nigerians and unanimously endorse a unified candidate in general elections.
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He opined that supporting the candidature of Atiku in 2027 is one sure strategy that will ensure the region bounce back into national political reckoning which will facilitate quick power shift to the region which has not tasted power for a long time in Nigeria’s contemporary power equation.
Excerpts:
As the new ADC coalition comes into play, there are concerns that it may face serious storms if Atiku/Obi failed to join forces. The body language of Peter Obi which suggests that he will not play second fiddle is an ominous sign that the coalition will sooner than later run into troubled waters. Don’t you think that a serious danger lurks ahead?
The South East is one promising region with some of the brightest minds in business, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Over the years, it has been dictating the pace when it comes to craftsmanship and business acumen. It is unfortunate that a region that has such human assest always fail to make inroads when it comes to power and politics.
Let me use this opportunity to state that the region has always sabotage itself when it comes to national politics because it has failed to foster robust synergy with other regions. It has also failed to enlists the support of all Nigerians and unanimously endorse a unified candidate in general elections. Such situation has made other regions to lose faith and confidence in the South East.
The region needs to comeback to the drawing table, embrace national politicking, build regional alliances and present a unified candidate. The only way the region could achieve that in the interim is to ensure that it’s candidate aligns with Atiku as running mate so that he could in-turn support his candidature. You know due to some factors, Atiku may serve only one term after which he would return power to the South East particularly to Peter Obi.
In simple political arithmetic, that is the only way the South East could overcome years of failures in getting it right at the national scene so that the region could also taste the perks of power. No one will be ready to give the South East their votes once it did not shelve its present rhetorics of divisions, and subversive tendencies. Power comes with a lot of responsibility, therefore, the South East must reposition itself to grab power not to appeal to crass sentiments and blackmail.
In the build up to the 2023 election, APC rode on the crest of religious identity to power through the Muslim – Muslim ticket. The North succumbed to the bait, don’t you think it will be trite for the North to cry foul for sheepishly allowing itself to be used on the alter of religious identity?
The North acted emotionally, not strategically. We thought Tinubu’s Muslim identity and democratic credentials meant he would protect northern interests. But what we got was betrayal, economic hardship, and rising insecurity. We have every reason to believe that Tinubu will correct Buhari’s past mistakes because of his educational attainment, vast experience across both the public and private spheres, his cosmopolitan posture, his acclaimed achievements when he led Lagos State and other positive political attributes. We thought Tinubu will never fritter away such huge reservoir of confidence on the alter of political partisanship. We also thought that he will serve this country with panache and excellence, that is why we rejected our own to support him.
But with the realities on ground, even the most undiscerning elements know that the choice of Tinubu was the greatest mistake the region made as the travails of the region only get worse during the two locust years of Tinubu, as insecurity, poverty, unemployment have become the lot of our people making us to regret our choices and pledging to reverse the hand of the clock.
Atiku has been around for many years against the backdrop of the clamour for generational shift of leadership don’t you think it will be good for Atiku to allow young and fresh blood to come into the new leadership permutations?
Our reason for backing Atiku is because of the fact that in Nigeria, no one has the reach, track record, and massive backing from all parts of Nigeria to stop Tinubu in his track more than Atiku. We thought it expedient to stop the country from further drift which informed our decision to back him this time in our desire to rescue the country from tipping over.
Atiku Abubakar’s enduring relevance in Nigerian politics, especially in the North can never be overemphasized, his love for youth can never be waved aside. So let us rescue the nation first before handing it over to the youth.
And one proxy that is usually used to measure the political weight and relevance of a given politician is his propensity to win election in his homestead. Since 1999, Atiku has been responsible for the victory of every governor of Adamawa State right from Boni Haruna down to the current governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.
It is instructive to note that when Atiku defected to APC in the build up to the general election in 2015, he wrested power from the PDP to APC making governor Bindow the state governor. And when he moved to PDP, in 2019, he returned power to PDP again on two consecutive occasions making Fintiri a two term governor.
Let me be more blunt here, Atiku don’t just contest elections, he has built enduring legacies and structures. The PDP in Adamawa and other parts of the North drew strength from his loyalty, strategy, and networks. Ignoring him in 2023 was not just a snub to a man, but a dismissal of a proven path to national recovery.
Don’t you think it is rather selfish for Atiku to abandon PDP for another coalition especially against the backdrop of the scenario you put that Atiku has been behind the success story of the party right from time?
Atiku cannot remain in a party that was totally hijacked by the present government. It is a fact that PDP has become an annex of the APC and no amount of efforts can change that as the leaders of the party have become its major undertakers. Without mincing words, I want to say with all sense of responsibility that PDP has completely withered and has been in a state of coma for long. It has been on the sick bed and before December, the oxygen that ensured its survival will be snapped by the very undertakers I mentioned.
So it will be futile for every reasonable politician to remain in an opposition party that has been sold to the ruling government. It is worthy to note that the prime undertaker-in-chief, Nyesom Wike has vowed to ensure that the party lost election in 2027. With that how do you think a purpose driven, goal oriented leader like Atiku will stay in such contraption?
I believe since the birth of the new ADC, the government which has been slumbering because of the belief that it has no potent threat has suddenly wake up. The birth of ADC has hit the presidency like a bullet. Since it’s birth the presidency has lost composure and instead of resetting the country for the better, they went on overdrive calling the forces behind ADC names. Before it lost power, PDP made the same mistake but unfortunately it did not serve any purpose to the APC.
