Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo said on Friday that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar should not
count on him for support in his latest bid to actualise his life-long ambition
of being elected the president of Nigeria.
The former president, one of the
most influential of his living peers, hinged his blistering position on the
unsavoury corruption perception of Atiku while speaking with PREMIUM TIMES
shortly after his arrival from Kigali on Friday afternoon.
“How can I be on the same side
with Atiku?” Obasanjo asked. “To do what?”
“If I support Atiku for anything,
God will not forgive me. If I do not know, yes. But once I know, Atiku can
never enjoy my support,” he added.
Obasanjo rejected all notions
that his remarks could be deemed too personal, coming as 2019 presidential
campaign gathers steam with Atiku amongst the front-runners.
The pronouncement comes barely
two weeks after Atiku declared his intention to run for president, touting his
pro-business credentials and lambasting President Muhammadu Buhari for his
handling of the country’s security situation.
Before then, the former vice
president, who has unsuccessfully run for the top office multiple times, spent
the past few months criss-crossing the country as part of a strategy aimed at
broadening his appeal amongst politicians and the electorate.
It also comes a little over a
month after the two met at an event in Abuja and shook each other’s hands
before photographers, days after reports said Obasanjo was under pressure to
back Atiku.
“I do not have personal grudges
with anyone,” Obasanjo said. “If you do not do well for Nigeria, you do not do
well for all of us.”
“It is not a question of working
with or not working with an individual,” he said. “If you are working for the
good of Nigeria, I am working with you. If you are not working for the good of
Nigeria it does not matter who you are I am not working with you.”
In making his position clear on
Atiku ahead of the presidential primaries in October, Obasanjo has put to rest
several months of speculation about whether he would soften his borderline
disposition to his former vice president of eight years.
Settling old scores
The disclosure also exposed a
fundamental fracture between Obasanjo, who seems hell-bent at ensuring that the
alleged transgressions of the past were not forgotten, and Atiku, who now
appears in high spirit for reconciliation.
The former vice president is
locked in a fierce contest for the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential
ticket with several political bigwigs on the platform of the major opposition
party.
The ever-broadening field already
includes Rabiu Kwankwaso, Sule Lamido, Ahmed Makarfi and Saminu Turaki. While
some of these politicians are already capable of challenging Mr Abubakar for
the ticket, the recent addition of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Governor
Aminu Tambuwal, both of whom are being rumoured as equally running for
president, could further complicate Mr Abubakar’s chances.
Obasanjo did not specifically say
whom he would back for the PDP ticket. Already, the African Democratic Party,
with which he now publicly identifies, has entered into an alliance that would
see it and over 30 other political parties present a joint presidential ticket
with the PDP.
After the former president said
he would not support President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term, widespread
conclusion had been that he would back anyone presented as the major
challenger, even if this turned out to be Atiku.
“Most of you do not understand
the way I operate,” Obasanjo said. “And I thought your own paper will understand
better.”
“I know Atiku very well. And I
have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed,” he said.
On a personal note, he added, “If
my children are getting married, he has sent representatives. If his children
are getting married, I have sent representatives. That is social. That is not
political.
But “on political ground, my
position has not changed. If I support Atiku for a political office other than
the one I supported him in the past when I did not know him,” maybe, but not
“now that I know him, God will not forgive me.”
A spokesperson for Atiku did not
provide a response to Obasanjo’s statement when reached for comments Friday
night, indicating that the campaign was likely going to ignore the former
president rather than engage him openly.
Obasanjo did not offer further
remarks on his grouse with Atiku, but he had repeatedly complained of his
former right-hand man’s alleged sharp practices.
Obasanjo, 81, tapped Atiku as his
running mate in 1999, and both went on to rule Nigeria until 2007. The pair
started on a good note for Nigeria’s democracy, working together to dismantle
the statist political economy imposed by successive military administrations
for more liberal economic policies.
Obasanjo trusted Atiku with key
government initiatives, placing him in charge of the National Council on
Privatisation to midwife the sale of federal assets which were not only
dysfunctional at the time but fast becoming white elephants draining national
resources.
But years into the
administration, Obasanjo started accusing Atiku of corruption, and at a point,
set up a panel to probe his deputy. Anti-graft detectives allegedly came up
with damning dossiers that linked his lieutenant to a slew of financial
misdeeds.
When United States authorities
commenced investigation into the infamous iGate scandal, Obasanjo asked
Nigerian anti-corruption agencies to cooperate fully with their counterparts
from America.
The F.B.I. accused Nigerian and
American officials of running a bribery racket in the award of a broadband
project to expand Internet coverage in Nigeria in the mid-2000s.
Specifically, Atiku was said to
have received kickbacks for his role in helping iGate, an American firm, secure
the contract. Williams Jefferson, an American politician who was a member of
the U.S. Congress at the time, was identified as a political associate of Atiku
with whom the Nigerian leader allegedly connived to inflate the contract and
get illicit payouts for seeing it through.
It was further reported that the
infamous $100,000 cash which investigators found in Jefferson’s refrigerator
was intended as parts of the bribes to be paid out to Atiku. Althoug, Atiku
strongly denied ties to the fraud.
Jefferson was convicted on 11 out
of 16 counts of criminal charges filed against him in 2009 and sentenced to
jail shortly thereafter.
But Atiku was never arraigned,
much less convicted of any crime. During Jefferson’s trial, prosecutors failed
to prove him guilty of allegations of bribing foreign officials, which meant
that there was no evidence to link Atiku to the $100,000 bribe.
Still, the claims that Atiku was
involved in the bribery remained widespread. They were also largely linked to
the mystery surrounding the former vice president’s ability to travel to the
U.S., which was perhaps the biggest of his alleged political baggage until the
position of Obasanjo.
Atiku strongly denied having any
questions to answer in the U.S., and repeatedly said he applied for U.S. visa
but was not granted. The U.S. Embassy in Abuja often declines comments on visa
matters involving Atiku Abubakar.
Obasanjo, whose two terms were on
the platform of the PDP, has since become estranged from the party. In 2015, he
abandoned former President Goodluck Jonathan and threw his support for Buhari,
after years of tension over which direction held better promise for the
country’s future.
Although Obasanjo said he
regretted supporting Buhari, and now said he would work to ease him out of
office in 2019. He also wrote a public letter aimed at the president in
January, urging him not to run for reelection and or risk being disgraced out
of office.
Yet, he felt that Atiku would not
be appropriate as his stand-in candidate next February.
“If Jonathan had performed, we
would not have had Buhari,” Obasanjo said.
Mounting vulnerabilities
Atiku defected from the ruling
All Progressives Congress last November. It would be his third time of leaving
a political party in a quest to actualise his presidential ambition which began
in 1992.
He contested against Moshood
Abiola for the Social Democratic Party’s ticket in the 1993 elections, but said
he stepped down for the late business mogul after being pressured to do so.
After completing his two terms as
vice-president under the PDP, Atiku moved to then-newly-formed Action Congress
after it became clear that Obasanjo will not tip him as his successor.
He won the ticket of the AC, now
defunct, but lost to Umar Yar’Adua in the 2007 presidential polls.
He later
returned to the PDP, in time for his disclosure of interest in the then-ruling
party’s presidential ticket for the 2011 elections. He was, however, beaten to
this by Jonathan, whose status as acting-president following the death of Mr
Yar’Adua in May 2010 placed him in a better position to use the party’s
machinery to his advantage.
In 2014, Atiku again abandoned
the PDP and joined the APC, which was a merger of at least four political parties.
He vied for the party’s ticket and lost to Buhari at the December 2014
convention in Lagos.
Atiku made his way back to the
PDP in November 2017, after it became clear to him that Buhari would seek
re-election and he would be difficult to stop him as an incumbent.
Atiku’s apparent inconsistencies,
the raging controversy around his U.S. visa status and now the unambiguous
position of Obasanjo could all make for a devastating political cocktail, said
political analyst Gbola Oba.
Oba said the short term
consequence of Obasanjo’s comments is two-fold: “One, he is now vulnerable to
easy shots from those contesting the primaries with him. And secondly, there
would be genuine fears amongst the kingmakers within his party that Obasanjo
might work actively against the PDP if Atiku gets the ticket.”
Oba, chief executive at Automedics
in Lagos, said Obasanjo’s statement was not entirely surprising.
“Once you have offended him, you
can never get rehabilitated to the point that he will like you again,” Oba
said, implying that the former president is vindictive. “Atiku is politically
dead if Obasanjo is still around.”
Oba expressed strong doubts that Obasanjo’s
reasons for not supporting Atiku was strictly based on alleged corrupt
personality traits.
“It was because of what Atiku put
him through in 2003 when governors said they did not want Obasanjo to return as
president,” Oba said. “Once Atiku accepted the pleas of his boss at the time,
many concluded that his future in politics would be very tough.”
On Thursday, Nobel laureate, Wole
Soyinka, said Obasanjo “knelt down” for Atiku in 2003 to clinch the ticket of
the PDP.
Speaking during the presentation
of his new book in Lagos, Soyinka was quoted by The Nation as saying he warned Atiku
that he would pay a heavy price.
“Before the PDP primaries in
January 2003, Obasanjo got everyone he knew could reach me on the surface on
the earth including Yemi Ogunbiyi and my son, to get me to help him intercede
when it was clear that (Abubakar) Atiku was in a position to take his job. He
knew Atiku had a lot of regard for me and calls me ‘Uncle’” The Nation
reported.
“The pressure was intense. Of
course, I could not have knelt before Atiku not to embark on a course of action
that would lead to his boss’ disgrace. But I can confirm to you that Obasanjo
as president knelt down before Atiku so that he would not lose his job.
“But I warned Atiku that for
making Obasanjo to kneel down for you, be sure you would have to pay heavily
for that. I guess my warning came to pass if you remember Atiku’s dramatic
change of fortune once Obasanjo was sworn in for a second term of office.”
Still, Oba said Atiku may
continue his campaign, but should be ready to swim against the tide where Obasanjo
is concerned.
“He should not see Obasanjo as a
complimentary force in any way, shape or form,” the analyst said.
Oba described Atiku as “one of
the very few characters who are well-resourced to play the game on the field of
play now,” because to be a president of Nigeria now, “you need a minimum of
between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.”
Atiku is seen as a favourite for
his vast wealth. A former Customs officer, former vice president has
investments in agriculture, education, logistics and even fast-food businesses.
While he is expected to mouth
these credentials throughout the campaign, his major policy thrust is rooted in
the urgent needs to restructure the country. He has since taken the message of
restructuring to Nigeria’s inner corners, describing the current federal system
as unitary and virtually unworkable.
At a time of heavy sentiment and
growing distrust against the federal structure, which critics say concentrates
power at the centre to the detriment of a larger, diverse population, Atiku’s
campaign said his message was resonating greatly amongst Nigerians. But how far
he would be able to go would depend on which support he gets and at what price,
analysts said.
Although Obasanjo currently holds
no position in the PDP, his contacts within the party are still widely deemed
deep enough to influence decisions. The former president has been courted
extensively in recent weeks, and the party’s leadership is still said to be
keen on getting his support in regaining its lost political fortunes.
Only three weeks ago, PDP
Chairman Uche Secondus led other party stalwarts to hold talks with Obasanjo at
his residence in Abeokuta.
But next year’s presidential
ticket would be won largely by a candidate’s ability to convince the delegates
than the domineering influence of a politician, said PDP’s spokesperson Kola
Ologbondiyan.
“There will be a convention and
there will be statutory candidates elected from all the local government areas
in the country,” Ologbondiyan said on Friday night. “It is those who would
participate in the election that the delegates would vote for, and there would
be no internal or external influence.”
A backhanded compliment
Before wrapping up his exchanges,
Obasanjo weighed in on Atiku’s campaign. The former vice president appointed
Gbenga Daniel as campaign director at the end of May, becoming the first of
PDP’s presidential candidate to fully form a campaign structure.
But the former Ogun State
governor also has a history with Mr Obasanjo.
“As for Gbenga Daniel, they are
birds of the same feather” with Atiku, he said. Gbega Daniel had an open
confrontation with Obasanjo over the 2011 governorship ticket in Ogun State. As
GbengaDaniel wound down his two terms, Obasanjo favoured Tunji Olurin, one of
his long-term associates, a proposal Gbenga Daniel rejected, according to those
familiar with the feud.
Although Obasanjo had his way, as
Tunji Olurin got the PDP’s ticket in the election, he strongly believed that
the PDP would have defeated Ibikunle Amosun had Gbenga Daniel not supported
Gboyeka Isiaka in Peoples Party of Nigeria, using his power of incumbent to
split potential PDP votes in the three-way race.
Both Gbenga Daniel and his
spokesperson declined requests for comments between Friday night and Saturday
morning.
Culled: PremiumTimes
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Obasanjo is not God that gives power when God say yes no one can say no. Atiku saved him in 2003 and that is the issue
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