Underlining Factors in Obasanjo

Underlining Factors in Obasanjo/Atiku Feud

Fixson Femi Akinrimisi

Family feud reached an apparent turning point recently in the PDP when in August Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo allegedly asked the Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, his running mate in the two recent Presidential elections in Nigeria to resign. According to reliable sources, the call by President Olusegun Obasanjo for Vice President Atiku Abubakar to resign, or be fired from the office of the Vice President of Nigeria was attributed to determinations by the President that his second in command, the Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubaka is not loyal. To make matters worse, political jack Kovokians wasted no time in adding fuel to the sparks of fire around the Vice President as a result of the President’s charge. The President himself did not make any specific allegation against his next man. But no sooner has the words got out of the President’s mouth than thongs started wagging. Those whose stock in trade is speculation, as well individuals with vested in a politi cal demise of the Nigerian Vice President and a number news organizations rolled out their weapons of human destruction and character assassination. They all aimed at a hit on the Vice President. What followed the President’s outcry a chorus of seemingly well orchestrated but yet unsubstantiated news stories filled with allegations that are injurious to the political well being and peerless good character of the Vice President.

In the course of creating a sensational stories atmosphere, without regard to truth and accuracy and fairness, more than one zealot media outlets attributed what the President may not have said to the President. The President did not say, "Atiku Abubakar is corrupt." The President’s only charge to the Nigerian people was that the Vice President, Altai Atoka Ambulacra is not loyal to him. Need anyone be reminded that loyalty is subjective? Besides, those with the intellectual capacity to know are well informed that loyalty is not a law. It is a sentiment. Literarily, the storm that was gathering and swirling around the Vice President as a result of the President’s charge rose to nearly the level of a grade five-hurricane proportion. Notwithstanding the potential in destructive power of even unsubstantiated and uncorroborated allegation to his political and family life, besides a terse statement released by his legal counsel, Alhaji Atiku-Abubakar remained his usual quiet an d unassuming personality. Even with curious revelations linking him with a US government investigation resulting in the search of his home in Maryland, and claims of alleged questionable financial transactions in which his pet project University was said to be a beneficiary, the Turaki Adamawa will speak no evil. Atiku Abubakar/s only reaction was to make public evidence he has to the contrary of what perhaps are politically motivated accusations against him. Showing no sign of anger at the level of conspiracies and seemingly false allegations being leveled against him by destructors all in efforts to throw a wrench at the wheel of his political life and cause him to abort his political destiny at becoming President of Nigeria.

Aside from their membership in same political party and partisan partnership as candidate in two presidential elections in which they complimented one another’s strength to win in each of the Presidential elections they have jointly contested as one, the President and his Vice have very little if anything in common. Their leadership styles and skills are as clear in difference as night and day. While President Obasanjo is known to be a man most likely to publicly demonstrate his displeasure, show his anger and impatience, the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku-Abubakar is well regarded as a discrete person with quiet disposition. It is to the credit of each of them that they have been able to tolerate one another to this point in time.

Many people who in 1979 were unable to fathom a fundamental reason Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who at the time was presidential candidate nominee of the PDP by-passed Alhaji Abubakar Rimi - the man allegedly described by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a snake to be watched – in the selection of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as Vice Presidential running mate should now be able to go to bed and have a good night rest in sleeping with the aid of any sleeping pill.

The Chief executive demanded loyalty from his subordinate. Ordinarily, that may be seen by some as nothing that is too much to ask for from someone you may be construed as doing a favor of empowering to a higher level in corporate world. But in the arena of politics, which is the domain of strange bedfellows typified by the one in which apparently now, President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted a divorce, loyalty is not something you demand, it is subjected to be earned. Love is spontaneous and marriage is a decision. Many who have undergone divorce in a marriage would testify it sometimes could be acrimonious and messy. More often than not, the reward of life is what you negotiated. President Olusegun Obasanjo may have been the best among equally selectable candidates who vied to becoming the Presidential candidate of the PDP in both of the last two Presidential elections in Nigeria; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was a better bride. Without doubts, it would be stated he negotiated from a position of strength.

Against a backdrop of the inherently Yar’Adua political machinery and structure, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar constructed the rock solid foundation of his political edifice on the maountain that is a following of leaders. With a followership that reverend his words and religiously believed in him the way in which they have always besides rallied around him for safety in times of need, it will take nearly the return of Jesus Christ for opponents to yanked Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the position of Vice President in the Obasanjo administration. Currently, it is a safe bet to conclude that at the time of making the Turaki-Adamawa his choice of running mate from what was a long list of contenders, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had somewhere in his thoughtful moments, envisaged someone in the mould and persona of the late Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. Most would recall that when then Lt. General. Olusegun Obasanjo, [now retired] was Head of State of Nigeria, his fellow combatant, [now the lat e] Major. General. (Rtd.) Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was his second in command. On active service, the late Gen. Yar’Ardua was a disciplined soldier and a lieutenant of unquestionable loyalty to then General Obasanjo. More than anything else, and as a second in command to Obasanjo, it could be argued that military career and government realities demanded more in apparent subordination of Yar’Adua to Obasanjo. This is not the case with Alhaji Atiku-Abubakar. In the politics of military government, anything less than total subordination to the head, could be fatal. There are few margins for error. This not to say that Alhaji Atiku-Abubakar may not be capable of giving Chief Obasanjo substantial loyalty, it just that the President may have what necessesarily amounted to unreasonable expectation of his second but equal in command. In other words, what Chief Obasanjo had in the course of his tenure as Head of State with Yar’Adua as his next in command, can only be replicated from wi thin the discipline of Armed forces. Within that circle, not only is their lingo - obey before complain -, it is obey the last order. It was in 1999 when Chief Obasanjo first called Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to inform him that he Obasanjo was decided in making him Atiku his choice as Vice President that he Obasanjo should have demanded he take an oath of absolute loyalty to him as his Vice in the Nigerian Presidency. It would have been within he Basenji’s right as a nominated Presidential candidate putting in place the mechanism through which he expected to extricate foolproof loyalty from the man he was going to have as his right hand functionary in the event of campaign success at the ballot box in a presidential election. We would never know if Alhaji Atiku-Abubakar might have rejected the offer to become Obasanjo’s vice presidential candidate on condition he must swear an oath. Asking the Vice President to swear an Oath this late in the tenure of their term is a little tardy on the p art of the President. His demands amounted to attempting to change horse mid stream amidst a battle for the heart and soul of Nigeria from the clutches of corrupt practices. President Olusegun Obasanjo may now regret that he failed to demand and make an oath of loyalty to him a pre-requisite to the person of his choice for the office of Vice President, in retrospect, he nevertheless made the right choice of candidate in having Alhaji Atiku-Abubakar as his man in charge of national affairs in times when he must be away from the seat of governing Nigeria as chief executive.

What the President must always remember now is that his expectations and demand that Atiku Abubakar has to have him Obasanjo first and everything else second may be somewhat unrealistic. After all, Atiku Abubakar is human. The man has expectations of himself as an individual who has been given the opportunity to serve Nigeria in the capacity within which he now function as the Vice President of Nigeria. Like the President, he is daily exposed to the sufferings of millions of his fellow citizens and political pressure groups including but not limited to his peers. But unlike the President, he is not able to do anything about much of the daily demands of Nigerian to better their lots in life with finality. While President Olusegun Obasanjo occupied the enviable position of President of Nigeria and could wield the powers contained in the executive office of the President, the Vice President forever remained within a heartbeat of it. His ability to function is limited to the discretions of the substantive holder of the power and influence he longed to unleash for better than for worse. President Obasanjo is the man with the authorities of the office of the President. Yet, the Vice President must maintain the appearance of relevance in the scheme of presidential authority. He cannot for any reason, allowed himself to be perceived as weak. Nothing could make anyone in his position more perceived as irrelevant and weak than the kind of loyalty the President seemed to be asking from his chosen best man for the position of Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji AtikuAbubakar. Nigeria’s transient democracy still demands strong leadership in which all of the elected public officials and service chief are seen as leaders in their own right. Any sign of weakness borne out of total subordination of Atiku to Obasanjo will reflect on the Presidency as weak. What exactly should Atiku Abubakar do in lights of the President’s discontented? Nothing besides casually reassuring the President that he meant no harm to the Presidency. Short of a Constitutional amendment, the President does not have the authority to sack the vice President. The shortest rout to let the VP go is by letting him serve the tenure he was sworn to serve. Even if Dr. Olugbemiga Obasanjo is the Vice President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo will still have situations in which there is perceived disloyalty to him. Would Baba then be asking his child to come swear oaths of allegiance to him? What would he do should his son refused taking oaths and as well refused request or demands for his resignation? Whatever President Obasanjo does, the heaven will not fall as himself he would not have taking the route he appeared to be prescribing. While Atiku Abubakar is somewhat learning on the job, and a man uniquely qualified to be President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is an experienced statesman. Truths be told, the President is yet to be seen swinging and batting against his Vice. One thing is clear, President Obasanjo does not condoned people who either are lazy and hanger-on, so does the VeePee dislike them. What sets both men apart in the way and manners in which they usually react is their discipline. One is a soldier while the other is a civilian. In showing empathy, the soldier often does not attach emotion in his consideration. For the civilian, emotional consideration goes with his human touch. For a man who has cheated death more than a couple of times, as a peace keeper in Congo earlier in his military career, engaged in the battle to keep Nigeria one, nearly assassinated as Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters and condemned to death by the Abacha regime, President Olusegun Obasanjo should know he does not have to worry about whether or not, loyalty comes his way from any human quarters. One cannot but remember a popular music from the one and only, Chief Commander, Ebenezer Obey the Miliki King, and say to Mr. President, do your best and leave the res t. What is happening between the duo of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku-Abubakar is nothing more than affectionate acrimony. Neither of them is lost in the wilderness to the point where they cannot both find their ways in charting the course of national and individual and collective destiny. In a political terrain as dynamic as the Nigerian environments, it is not impossible that both the President and his Vice could be trying to have more fun than any living being should be allowed to have with half their brains tied behind their back just to be counted as fair.