election is about 18 months away,
JESUSEGUN ALAGBE takes a look at
how it is already causing cracks within
the ruling All Progressives Congress
party
Subtly, former Vice - President Atiku
Abubakar has started making known
his intention to run for the presidency
in 2019 and in doing so , he has
somewhat turned himself into an
opposition figure for his own party,
the All Progressives Congress .
Recently , in an interview he had with
the Voice of America in Hausa , the
former Vice - President criticised the
President Muhammadu Buhari- led
administration .
In the interview , Atiku complained
that he had been dumped by the
Buhari- led government , despite
spending his resources on ensuring
that the President got to power in May
2015.
The former Vice - President had said ,
“ Honestly speaking , I ’m still a member
of the APC ; I was part of all the
processes , including campaigns until
success was achieved .
“ But sadly, soon after the formation of
the government , I was sidelined ; I
have no relationship with the
government; I’ ve not been contacted
even once to comment on anything
and in turn, I have maintained my
distance.
“ They used our money and influence
to get to where they are , but three
years down the lane , this is where we
are. ”
Interestingly, Atiku’s comments came
out only a few hours after the Minister
of Women Affairs and Social
Development , Senator Aisha Alhassan ,
declared her readiness to support his
bid for the presidency against
President Buhari should he (Atiku )
decide to contest in 2019 .
The Taraba State - born minister had,
in a leaked video on social media ,
endorsed the former Vice - President
for the 2019 presidential election.
The minister , who spoke in Hausa in
the video, had referred to Atiku as ,
“ Your Excellency, our father and our
president by the grace of God, come
2019. ”
She had added, “ Before you are your
people, your supporters for life , the
people of Taraba State . ”
Those who watched the leaked video
might perhaps not have believed that a
serving minister in the cabinet of
President Buhari would declare her
support for another chieftain of the
party.
But Alhassan , in an interview with the
BBC Hausa Service, confirmed that she
would support Atiku in 2019 because
“ President Buhari has not told
anybody that he would contest the
2019 presidential election. ”
But even if Buhari would contest ,
Alhassan said she would support Atiku
because since her civil service years,
Atiku had been her mentor and
godfather .
“ He (Atiku) has remained so even now
that I have joined politics . There is a
reason for every political
relationship ,” she had said .
Expectedly, the duo’ s actions have
caused some uneasiness among top
members of the party, with the
lawmaker representing Kaduna
Central Senatorial District, Senator
Shehu Sani, telling Alhassan to resign
from the Buhari administration in
order to start campaigning for her
benefactor (Atiku ).
One of those also furious over
Alhassan ’s comments was Kaduna
State Governor, Nasir el- Rufai, said to
be one of the closest friends of the
President.
The governor wasn’ t even shy to say
he and some other party chieftains
never wanted Buhari to appoint the
minister into his cabinet in 2015 .
Political pundits believe Alhassan
couldn ’t have openly declared her
support for Atiku for the 2019
presidency if she didn ’t have the
backing of other people in the party.
“ It is just a matter of time before we
start seeing clashes among Buhari’s
and Atiku’s supporters because of
2019, ” a lawyer and social
commentator , Mr. Daniel Onyebuchi,
said .
He suggested the minister ’ s comments
showed that there were some “ strong ”
hands making some moves behind the
scenes which caused Alhassan to have
made her pro- Atiku comments .
Onyebuchi said , “ No matter how naive
a politician Alhassan was , she
wouldn ’t have come out to declare her
support for someone who is not even
in the cabinet. She ’s an insider
declaring her support for an outsider .
“ Many people think she doesn’ t know
what she ’s doing, but she does . She is
not a dumb person. The person we are
talking about here was a former
governorship aspirant, Attorney
General and Commissioner for Justice
of her state. She was the first woman
to be appointed as the Secretary ,
Federal Capital Territory Judicial
Council and so on .
“ So when she came out to make the
comments , it showed she had seen the
writing on the wall. The development
only proved what we had been seeing
right from the outset: the APC is a
divided party, full of people with
different missions and purposes .
There is no unity there . ”
Consequently, the National Working
Committee of the party was said to
have planned discussing Atiku’ s and
Alhassan ’s outbursts at a meeting
during the week.
However , the meeting didn’t hold as
planned as it was learnt that some of
the party chieftains were divided as to
whether or not Alhassan ’ s comments
were worth deliberating upon.
Aside the latest outbursts, Atiku had as
far back as 2016 started making some
statements which seemed to create an
impression of failure of his party and
the President Buhari- led Federal
Government.
Since last year , the former Vice -
President has been one of the most
vocal voices calling for a restructuring
of the country , which Buhari had said
was not on his administration ’s
priority list .
The Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed , had on
June 9 , 2017 said restructuring was
not on the Federal Government’s
priority list .
It was probably after the calls for
restructuring became intense that the
party eventually set up a panel some
weeks ago, headed by el - Rufai, to look
at the definition of the subject .
A United States - based political scientist
and founder of the Youths Must Shine ,
Mr. Femi Matthews, said Atiku’s call
for restructuring showed that he was
“ practically ” not on the President’s
side.
He said , “ If you have been observing
the comments of the former Vice -
President since, you would see an
element of disgruntlement . He is not
happy; his wings are clipped and the
only way he felt he could fly was to
start opposing his own party and the
President. ”
On August 2 , 2017 , the former Vice -
President, had criticised the APC (and
the Peoples Democratic Party ) of
lacking internal democracy , accusing
the party of over the years refusing to
hold vital meetings .
“ In the absence of those meetings and
elections, their existing leadership,
often under the direction of the
executive at the state or federal level,
fills the void. That ’s not party building
but party bullying . And it’s certainly
not a way to democratise parties and
aggregate their members ’ opinions,
interests and aspirations,” he had
said .
The former Vice- President, had also on
September 11 , taken a swipe at
Buhari, asking him to fulfil his
promise of providing security to
Nigerians .
A day later, Atiku again said he could
fight corruption better than Buhari.
The former Vice - President had added,
“ It is sickening to continue to
regurgitate allegations of corruption
against me by people who have failed
to come forward with a single shred of
evidence of my misconduct while in
office.
“ People who lack initiative , personal
resourcefulness and ideas about
wealth creation always assume that a
man cannot build himself without
stealing . ”
Meanwhile, as Atiku has somehow
started his presidency campaign,
President Buhari ’s supporters have
also not gone to sleep , with el- Rufai;
Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle
Amosun; Kano State Governor,
Abdullahi Ganduje , among others ,
saying recently that they had endorsed
the President for the second term
should he decide to contest .
El - Rufai had said after Alhassan ’s pro-
Atiku comments , “ I am governor today
by the grace of God , (and ) because
President Buhari called me and said
‘go and run for Governor of Kaduna
State . ’ As far as 2019 is concerned , my
position is that the President is looking
very well , he is recuperating very fast.
My hope and prayer is (that) he will
contest in 2019 . ”
While campaigns for 2019 are subtly
going on for Buhari and Atiku,
political observers believe it wouldn ’ t
be long before those in the camp of a
national leader of the party, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu , also start coming out .
A political scientist and social
commentator , Mr. Hassan Abiodun,
said it would be wrong for anyone to
think “ Tinubu is sleeping . ”
He added , “ We are not yet in 2018 and
we are already seeing all these. I tell
you, by next year, lots of intrigues will
take place in the APC . Some people
might be thinking because the North
seems to be in control of the party,
Tinubu can ’t do anything .
“ But by now , even the dumbest
politician should know that Tinubu in
a way wields a strong influence in
Lagos and even in the entire
Southwest. Tinubu might seem to be
sleeping now , but I think he ’ s making
his own calculations too . ”
Abiodun’s submission might perhaps
be the reason why Sani recently asked
Buhari to reach out to Tinubu because
“ he (Tinubu ) could “ drown” the
President.
Sani had made a veiled reference to
Buhari and Tinubu in a Facebook post
last Saturday , warning that the latter
had a damaging political capacity.
The post had read , “ The Lion Monarch
should reach out to the aggrieved but
silent Lagoon Lion so that he doesn’ t
explode like the hippo . The Lagoon
Lion controls waters that can drown. ”
The senator had confirmed that “ The
Lagoon” represented Lagos , while “ The
Lagoon King” was in reference to
Tinubu , a former governor of the
state.
Meanwhile, Abiodun said it was
unfortunate that the APC was focusing
its attention on the 2019 election when
it had yet to deliver on its 2015
campaign promises to Nigerians .
He said , “ Everything that has
happened in the past one week — from
Atiku’s outbursts, to Alhassan ’s
comments , to el- Rufai and other
governors canvassing for Buhari while
we are still in 2017 — shows that the
party is not serious about governance .
“ It is even more unfortunate because
the party has not been able to unite
itself all these years. There are various
factions with different missions . This
could be why the party is not
delivering on its promises.
“ When you have persons working for
the interest of individuals rather than
for the interest of Nigerians , it means
something is wrong with our system .
Even if the party wants to think of
2019, it shouldn ’t be distracted from
serving the electorate who brought it
to power in the first place . ”
Also according to Matthews, it was
wrong for the APC to allow 2019
presidential election take centre stage
when the party had yet to meet all its
electoral promises .
He said , “ It is shameful that many
Nigerian politicians still think the
citizens are fools in this age . I plead
with Nigerians , especially the youth , to
be conscious of those who are good at
governance and those who don ’ t know
what they are doing.
“ The latter do little or nothing at
governance , dwelling much on
politicking , while the former are those
whose actions show that they have the
interest of the people at heart . ”
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