Atiku
at 62: Will He Return to PDP?
By
Zayyad
I. Muhammad
zaymohd@yahoo.com
Tuesday
November 25th 2008, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President
of Nigeria, turns 62. Recently there were rumours moving around the
country that he was gearing-up towards returning to the PDP; these
rumours were given credence by the recent surfacing of Atiku’s
posters in PDP emblems in of many streets of some States of the
country especially Atiku’s home state of Adamawa. The question most
political pundits were asking was – would Atiku return to the PDP?
Atiku
had on several occasions dismissed with a web of hand the likelihood
of his return to the PDP. However, one interesting thing is, Atiku- a
member of the G21 and G34- the founding groups of the PDP; is still
the Head of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), a political
grouping founded by the late Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua, a movement that is
still the backbone of the PDP, and one of its strong member, Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua, who Atiku always refers to as his younger brother, is
the President of Nigeria under the platform of the PDP.
With
such scenarios, one may not completely rule out the likelihood of the
former Vice President’s return to the PDP, and also understand why
there were hullabaloo about his rumoured return to the PDP, and the
fears, nervousness, legs wobbling and rumblings among some politicians
especially in Atiku’s home state of Adamawa. Even though the issue of
Atiku’s return to the PDP was merely a rumour, some politicians in
Adamawa state have started moving from fillers to posts in panic and
confusion and it has also caused a major fragmentation of the Adamawa
state chapter of the PDP into two. The reasons why some people’s legs
in Adamawa State were wobbling due to the mere hearing of the rumours
of Atiku’s return to the PDP has to do with the manner the present
government of the State is running the affairs of the state and the
growing dissent people have towards Nyako’s government. The truth is,
third rate politicians have successfully hijacked the Adamawa state
government and are continuing bamboozling Gov. Murtala Nyako into
committing political suicides and taking uncivilized decisions. The
mounting political problems facing the present Adamawa state
government was due to its open lack of fairness to all section of
people of the State; its complete disregards to the complex nature of
the state and display of bizarre corruption.
At 62,
Atiku has written his name in the sands of time, Atiku; which meaning
is ‘the
emancipator of the enslaved’,
can best be described as an index to measure political success,
resilience and the spirit to conquer new political frontiers in the
face of daunting odds. This is a man that all the time inspires others
to follow his good examples, willingly and cheerfully and always feel
part of the grassroots. These may not be unconnected to his
birthstone; the man’s birthstone is a Topaz, he was born on
Monday, 25th November 1946, in a remote town of Jada in
Adamawa State, from a humble family of local merchants. The Turakin
Adamawa’s childhood was full of trials and difficulties; he was an
orphan at the age of 8, he completed his primary education at the age
of 14 at Jada primary school, and acquired his secondary education at
the age of nineteen (19) from Yola middle school, at the age of 21 he
started his pursuit for higher education; obtaining Diploma of the
Royal Society and a Diploma in Law from Kano School of Hygiene and
Ahmadu Bello University respectively. Atiku, accomplished these,
through perseverance, hard work, and dogged wholeheartedness to
overcome poverty in the then old northern Nigeria.
Atiku
is politically adventurous and his strategies in politics are always
beyond the thinking of ordinary politicians. In 1992 he doggedly
supported the late MKO Abiola despite MKO’s breached of their
gentleman agreement; in 2003 he refused to succumbed to pressure to
dump President Obasanjo, in spite of having all odds in his favour, he
won the governorship seat of Adamawa state in 1999, but left the
position to contest the presidential election as Obasanjo’s deputy.
Atiku’s styles in politics are audacious, his first taste of politics
was when he took part in the radical students union politics of the
60’s, serving as President Emeritus of the Students’ Union of the
School of Hygiene, Kano, and later as the Assistant Secretary General
of the Ahmadu Bello University Students Union, as well as Deputy
Speaker of the Students’ parliament. He ventured into national
politics in the late 1980s at the advent of the Fourth Republic, when
retired General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua launched a novel political
association, People's Front of Nigeria (PFN), which metamorphosed into
today’s People’s Democratic Movement.
Atiku’s
adversaries see everything surrounding his politics as puzzling, while
his supporters say, his, are unique. If Atiku return to the PDP, it
will for certain cause strong political waves in the Nigeria’s
political environment; and force major political alignments and
realignments in the PDP. The man would become a strong factor in the
PDP and of great benefit to President Yar’Adua’s government, but will
lose his status as the leader of the opposition; however way it goes,
he will remain a factor in the Nigerian polity.
Wishing the Turakin Adamawa a happy birthday.
Zayyad
I. Muhammad writes from Jimeta, Adamawa State,
zaymohd@yahoo.com
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