The emergence of Atiku Abubakar, vice president of Nigeria from 1999-2007 under President Olusegun Obasanjo, as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been mired in controversy. He defeated other aspirants including Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state in the primaries of the party.
Not satisfied, Wike and four other governors, namely, Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, Samuel Ortom of Benue state, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state, became confrontational against the presidential candidate, demanding that the PDP National Chairman Dr Iyorchia Ayu should resign.
The grouse of the group to date, in which they even refused to be part of the campaign council of Atiku Abubakar, is his refusal to strike that deal. And the candidate has emphatically said that the chairman emerged through an election process and as such, it will be wrong and out of place for him to ask the national chairman to quit.
It should be understood that Ayu became national chairman through the efforts of Ortom and Wike, who chased away the former national chairman of the party Mr. Uche Secondus from his state. Wike got rid of Secondus simply because he thought Secondus will not do his bidding in actualising his dream to become the PDP presidential candidate for the 2023 election.
Since then, Governor Wike has become a wounded lion, rallying four other governors to move against Atiku and Ayu, calling them unprintable names.
The offence of Atiku is simply winning the primaries against Governor Wike. Atiku is a quintessential and shrewd politician, who has been on the turf for more than 30 years.
There is no comparison between him and Wike at all. When Atiku Abubakar was vice president of the country, Wike was chairman of a local government under the then Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
Some political analysts opine that the G-5 governors are fighting a worthless fight that could easily consume them. Rather than dissipate too much time, resources and energy fighting the PDP presidential candidate, it is appropriate at this time, that the election is just by the corner, to put their acts together for the success of their party that is facing stiff opposition from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The G-5 governors should exhibit high sense of responsibility and decorum in seeing that they assiduously work for the success of their party in order to bring about the desired change in the land which is presently bedeviled with so many social ills such as insecurity and employment opportunities for the teeming youths of this country called Nigeria.
It is imperative for the governors flying the flag of the PDP with the variables of winning the 2023 presidential election to forge a common understanding with Atiku, in order to win the election and change the country for the betterment of all.
According to the former Minister of Power and Steel, Elder Wole Oyelese, only Atiku Abubakar has the wherewithal to rule the country out of all the presidential candidates.
The G-5 governors should listen to the plea of the chairman of the PDP presidential campaign council and Governor of Akwa Ibom state Udom Emmanuel and sheathe their swords. They should broker peace with Atiku. Doing otherwise would be counter productive for them and the party.
But if it is destined for Atiku to be the president of this great country, no one on earth can stop it.
They should not be carried away by the antics of Obasanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi of Labour Party. The former president is a featherweight politician. In 1999, it was Atiku, alongside late Titi Ajanaku, who visited him in Abeokuta, Ogun state and pleaded with him to join the race for the presidency.
Atiku provided the funds to execute his campaign, utilising the Shehu Musa Yar’adua political structure. Going by Governor Ortom that the G-5 governors are committed members of the PDP and are working round the clock to ensure that the party wins in all elections in their respective states, they should also ensure that of the presidential candidate of their party.
Even if they don’t want Ayu, they should follow the constitutional provisions and party guidelines.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Usman Santuraki
No 2 Santuraki Close,
Demsawo, Jimeta, Yola,
Adamawa state
08032333546, 09123490602
