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Atiku still relevant despite polls’
defeat —AC chieftain
By Ben
Kurah _________________________________________________
ALHAJJI A.
R. ABDULWAHAB is an
Action Congress (AC) chieftain who has a tremendous respect for the
immediate past Vice Preisident
Atiku Abubakar
whom he described as his father-figure. In this interview, ALHAJI
ABDULWAHAB spoke extensively on the relevance of the former Vice
President to the country’s politics, how the myth surrounding
Obasanjo’s
anti-corruption crusade was broken by shocking revealations at the
power probe and why he thinks
Atiku could not be
held responsible for the misrule of the last regime. Excerpts:
What is your
relationship with Atiku Abubakar?
Well, in the
first instance, I’m a card-carrying member of Action Congress (AC),
and as you well know, he is the leader and presidential candidate of
the party. So, he’s my party leader. He’s also like a father-figure
to me. I have tremendous respect for him. Also, you will recall that
he was Vice-President of this country for all of 8 years. His
comportment and carriage in that high office endeared him to me and
I consider him a role model of sorts.
What credentials
do you think Atiku possesses to make him relevant to Nigerians?
Atiku possesses
one of the richest political pedigrees in this country today. This
man was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Anyone conversant
with his biography will recall that he lost both parents at a very
tender age. Clearly, we are dealing with a man with an acute sense
of self-preservation, and who by sheer dint of hardwork, industry,
political and entrepreneural avvy lifted himself up to he commanding
heights of Nigeria’s political class. In the public sector, Atiku
retired almost at the peak office in the Customs. Thereafter, he
made a phenomenally successful foray into the business terrain.
He was one of the
founding fathers of the PDM, an association in which he was the
closest associate of Geneneral Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua. We all know
that the eventual birth of the PDP in 1998 was predicated on the PDM
platform. What all these translate to is that in contemporary
Nigeria, Atiku’s political antecedents is one of the richest in the
country. He went to serve as Vice-President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, a role in which he steered the nation’s economic ship
for 4 years. As we all know, things fell apart between him and his
dictator principal, President Olusegun Obasanjo, when Atiku’ s
pre-eminence and influence became glaringly obvious during the
presidential nominatons for the 2003 elections. Atiku could have
gotten the PDP nomination on a platter of gold, but instead opted to
display uncommon loyalty by swaying the PDP governors in favour of
Obasonjo.Obviously, Obasanjo felt humiliated by all these. And then
to add salt to injury, Atiku came out to publicly dissociate himself
from Obasanjo’s third term bid. Atiku’s principled stand against
this potential travesty of the nation’s constitutional integrity
will stand as his singular most significant contribution to the
evolution of the Nigerian nation-state. Against all odds and despite
threats to his businesses and to his life,this man stood firm
against the forces of injustice and anarchy, and Nigerians today
remain grateful for this almost-superhuman effort. So, from all
these antecedets, how can Nigerians forget Atiku in a hurry? Indeed,
can Nigeria’s history possibly cannot be accurate and complete
without a treatise on the man Atiku?
Senator Waku
recently said that with the loss of the Adama wa election, Atiku has
gone out of political relevance. How do you situate this statement
within contemporary realities?
At sixty plus,
Atiku is in his political prime. Earlier, I asked rhetorically, can
Nigeria’s political history ever be complete without substantial
mention of Atiku? I believe that this country is abundantly blessed
because of people like Atiku. Please do not misconstrue that
statement to mean that Atiku is the only good thing that has
happened to Nigeria. My humble submission is simply that his country
should not allow the wealth of experience and the accumulated wisdom
of people like Atiku to go to waste. The patriotic zeal with which
Atiku fought Obasanjo’s third term bid to a standstill is an obvious
indication that he loves this country passionately and if it is the
will of ALLAH, he will still find himself in the proper role in
which he can both articulate and prosecute his vision for this great
country. Do not forget that, subterraneanly, Atiku’s support base is
still formidable and his political family remains intact.
Senator Waku is
quite entitled to his political views. Having said that,it is quite
possible that he is suffering from a case of sour grapes. Dont
forget that some political opportunists will always cry foul when
they fail to squeeze out largesse of one form or the other from
people 1ike Atiku. Let’s ca11 a spade a spade and by no other name.
We all know what happened in Adamawa. I was there. The whole
exercise was rife with electoral malpractices. There was electoral
violence. There was electoral disenfranchisement. The results of the
election did not reflect the true state of affairs. I can
categorically state that, for example, there was snatching of the
ballot box of Ndarakudiya voting unit in Duhu-Shuwa ward in Madagali
LGA just as voting was being concluded. This is just one instance.
There were many more. History will judge those who will hold on to
power at all costs. This country is bigger than anyone single party.
We Nigerians owe
the nation’s judiciary a depth of gratitude. However, just as Audu
Ogbe said, the ultimate solution is for Maurice Iwu to leave INEC.
That in itself will be the starting point for electoral reforms.
What are your
views on the recent revelations on Obasanjo’s administration and how
do you relate all these to his much vaunted anti-corruption crusade?
Obasanjo will go
down in history as the most corrupt leader this country has ever
had. He is a very clever old man. He succeeded in hoodwinking the
international community and Nigerians, using this anti-corruption
crusade as credible platform to deceive everyone. The worms are
creeping out of the rotten wood. Here is a man who should have
retired glorious1y as an elder state man. Instead, he has succeeded
in earning the opprobrium of all well-meaning people. It is a
tragedy. Personally, I am ashamed of the old man. He should be
thoroughly investigated and if found to have contravened that laws
of the land, the full weight of the law should be brought upon him
to serve as a deterent to other people who think they can
fraudulently assume the credentials of a latter-day messiah to
pillage the resources of this country.
Another thing
that must happen to assuage the hurt feelings of Nigerians is that
Nuhu Ribadu must come and publicly apologise to Nigerians for
deceiving them and taking them for a ride on the rollercoaster of
deceit. You wi11 reca11 that Ribadu once insulted the intelligence
of Nigerians by saying Obasanjo was the best thing to have happened
to Nigerian because of his anti-corruption crusade. He stopped short
of calling Obasanjo a saint. Now we all know better. Ribadu should
please apologise to this country.
How will you
respond to allegations of corruption levelled against Atiku?
Well we are all privy to the information
seeping out of the numerous probes going on in numerous sections of
our polity. It is instructive to note that Atiku’s name hardly ever
come up for mention at these fora. It is an incontrovertible fact
that between 2003 and 2007, Atiku was totally isolated trom the
mainstream of governance and Obasanjo singlehandedly ran the
administration. Atiku was not privy to the many underhand deals that
Obasanjo engaged in , Yes, it is true that Atiku is an extremely
wealthy man, but remember that this man was already a
multimillionaire by the time he went into active politics. Those who
are close to Atiku also know that the man is a consumate
businessman. Atiku built up his formidable wealth through very wise
and well tough-out investment strategies, this shrewdness being in
itself a trait that is commonly in most Fulani men. I say all these
because people may be tempted to ascribe his wealth to corruption
while in office. Nothing could be further from the truth. |