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