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Northern Political Dilemma By Dr. Shehi Ali Abubakar
Despite the present aspirations of many northern politicians to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is evidently clear that the race really narrows down to mainly the present Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
These two aspirants are what we call in the Nigerian political context “political godfathers”. They have carved a sort of political empire over the years they have been opportuned to be near or in the corridor of power in this country.
Political followership in this country or the building of a political empire is totally dependent on your ability to dispense political favours in terms of appointments to juicy posts or the awards of life changing contracts to your various political associates. This will go a long way to ensuring loyalty, wide political be and the creation of an army of foot soldiers who would do your dirty work by proxy.
Both Atiku Abubakar and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida have had their fair share of opportunities in dispensing these political favours and they have not shied away from using them, one as a military president and the other as the Vice President in the last six years.
Former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is regarded as the head of government military or civilian with the highest turnover of appointees, both political and in the civil service in the form of ministers and Director-General. It was during this time that the office of permanent secretary was scrapped and replaced with director general, which was purely political. This created an opportunity for the president to appoint many associates into various post over the eight years he ruled this country in conjunction with the many reshuffling of his cabinet that lead to the creation of sea ministers from both the military and the civilian life. In fact, if the reader ponders why IBB still remains relevant in Nigerian politics despite being out of power in the last 12 years, look no further than this fact.
For the vice president who even though has been in politics but out of power before now, his real opportunity for the expansion of his political base came when he became the vice president of this country. During the first term of this administration, the vice president was given the wide-ranging powers by the president especially in the economic sector in his capacity as the chairman of national council for privatization. During this period, the vice president wielded enormous powers politically, which made him one of the most if not the most powerful vice president in the world under a presidential form of government.
In a presidential form of government, a vice president is as powerful as the president chooses to make him, as his duties are determined by what task the president assigns to him apart from those roles stipulated for him in the constitution.
Vice president Atiku Abubakar utilized this opportunity given to him to build a political base that make the success or otherwise of the president himself dependent on him during the build to 2003 elections, whether this situation has changed or not during this second term of the administration is open to many political speculations depending on where you belong, but this is not the basis of my discussion.
For many years, the north has been in the corridors of power both under the military and the civilian administrations. The present administration headed by a southerner terminates in 2007 and barring unforeseen changes, which are very possible in the Nigerian political climate, it is expected that the pendulum of leadership will swing to the north.
The problem now facing the north is not actually the issue of power shift but rather how to reach a compromise between these two major political gladiators without hurting itself especially if you consider the fact that both belong to the same political party as in Nigeria, it is always more assuring to seek your political aspirations under the ruling party.
The emergence of Obasanjo in 1999 as the president of this country has always been linked to IBB, and I remember vividly sometime in 1998 when president Obasanjo was just released from prison by Abdulsalam administration, I was watching the 9 o’clock news on NTA with a late uncle of mine who himself was a former member of the State House of Assembly in Kano during the second republic, during that news cast, IBB was shown to be visiting Obasanjo at his Ota farm as one if not the first prominent Nigerian to visit him. My late uncle said to me pointblank that Obasanjo could be our next president and I looked at him and said how could somebody just out of prison become the president of this country. He went on to give me his reasons most of which centered on the symbolic visit of IBB to Ota farms. My uncles barely lived to see his prophecy come true, but true it became.
The relationship between Obasanjo and IBB dated back to the period of their years in the military, and whatever pact they may have can only be know to them as I don’t subscribe to speculations, but a relationship there sure is and with the spirit de corps in the military, it is an exercise in futility to even begin to think that these two men to not have some form of bond or alliance in the struggle for the leadership of this country.
The role played by the Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the emergence of Obasanjo as the President of this country is not as clear as that IBB. This is because at the time, the vice president was busy trying to become the governor of Adamawa State or it is just because I am not privy to the inner workings or political moves leading to the Jos convention, which made president Obasanjo the presidential candidate of the PDP.
Whatever the case, it is an undeniable fact that the vice president during the first term of this administration has really played a leading role in stabilizing the polity for the president since the president used the political platform of the late Yaradua, the PDM, to get a strong hold of the loyalty or as a sign of Atiku’s means to achieve his aim of becoming the president of this country remains to be seen.
Whoever emerges as the presidential aspirant of the PDP between these two will lead to the realignment of political forces especially within the camp of the loser as each one of them is convinced of his investment in the present democratic dispensation, directly or indirectly, and would consider his loss a form of betrayal depending on the way you look at it.
Many factors would determine who emerges as the presidential candidate of the party, but one which I consider the most crucial is the blessing of the incumbent president, more so, if we believe that with the recent change of leadership of the PDP, the president has taken firm control of the party.
The failure of these two candidates to reconcile their ambitions will definitely be a loss to the north, especially at this period, when the north is fast loosing its political might couple with its present economic backwardness. There is a need for these two candidates to remember that the north as an entity is greater than both of them and the region was there before them and would remain after them till the end of times.
There are times in the past when the north always act in one voice and manages to rally around a common candidate in period of democracy, which made it a political monolith feared and respected by all. Presently, the ambition of individuals supersedes the interest of the region and egos are raised on a higher pedestal than the development of the region,
It is well know fact that the former premier of the north Sarduana, would have been the prime minister of this country if he had so wished, bring the leader of the NPC/NCNC alliance which was the ruling party at the time. But he chosed to become the premier of the north instead as, the glamour of office was never his ambition but rather the development of his constituency, which he carried out equitably.
For any of these two candidates to emerge as president of this country, they need to have not only the support of the present president, the backing og the military but also the support of their constituency which is the north.
This is where I believe statesmanship, belief in the unity of the north in particular and the country in general would determine who sacrifices this ultimate price and the loser not attempting to destabilize the polity all because of the belief in the notion of all our none.
There is need for the north to raise and defend its political heritage to proof the age long belief that when it comes to political sagacity, the north is nulli sucundus.
The present political aspirants need to look beyond personal ambitions and concentrate on the larger problems facing the region like educational backwardness, poverty, neglect of agricultural and the recently emerging monster of ethnic and religious intolerance which was unheard of during the time of the great Sarduana as he promoted the sl9ogan one north, one people, one destiny. Whoever emerges as the presidential aspirant among these twp candidates or any dark horse that we may not even know yet, the rest should give him their support or we can not have more than one president and then he can concentrate on these social ills facing the north because a develop, peaceful and prosperous north translates to a developed and united Nigeria.
This is the only sure mantra for the north to get our of this crossroads.
DR. SHEHI ALI ABUBAKARNO. 1B LAPAI ROAD, KADUNA. |