ATIKU ABUBAKAR A former Vice President, Atiku could be rated as a “constant equation” in presidential election since 1993. His experience in the game is richer than any of the aspirants whether in APC or PDP. He was the economic engine room during the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. He had contested presidential elections in 1999 and 2003(as running mates) and the candidate of the defunct Action Congress in 2007. Apart from garnering 18, 738, 154 and 24, 456, 140 votes in a joint ticket with Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003, Abubakar as a sole candidate of AC could only rake 2, 637, 848 in 2007 because he was in and out of court till the last minutes of the poll to fight against his disqualification by a Kangaroo Panel of Enquiry raised by Obasanjo. It was a defeat foretold for Abubakar who was mostly on ‘crutches’ throughout the campaign period. STRENGTHS As an orphan, Abubakar’s grass to grace story makes interesting reading. This has reflected in his life making him self-motivated in politics and business. More than any of the aspirants, he is a politician with a deft touch and knowledge of how to prevail in intra-party elections. It took the personal intervention of his mentor, the late Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua before he could concede the SDP presidential ticket to the late M.K.O Abiola in the early 90s. His greatest asset is his ability to build political and social bridges across the Niger. Atiku is at home in any part of Nigeria, not only by factor of marriage, but as a result of his magnetic personality. He has incurably loyal political associates and friends in all parts of the country. These, however, do not translate to political gains. He was the controller of the economic reforms of the administration of ex-President Obasanjo. He was the driver of the privatization programmes which led to the GSM revolution in the country. Armed with a limited education, Abubakar is gifted with shopping for eggheads to show him the light. He brought the likes of CBN Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and others into the government of Obasanjo. He is also a fast learner. His greatest strength is in being a democrat. As a president, democracy will thrive under Atiku because of his avowed commitment to freedom, liberty and the principle of separation of powers. No one has used the judiciary to fight political cause than Abubakar. WEAKNESSES Though always branded as “corrupt” by his political enemies, Abubakar has never been found guilty of any economic or financial crimes. Even when dust was raised at the twilight of Obasanjo’s administration on the management of the funds of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), nothing incriminating was found against him. The only tar against him was his alleged link with a former United States congressman, William J. Jefferson, who was jailed on November 13, 2009 for $100,000 bribe scam. Again, nothing was found against the former VP. The sustainable trust reposed in him by the larger Yar’Adua family since the death of their patriarch, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua underscores his level of honesty. A major weakness of Abubakar, according to those who used to work against him, is being too ambitious. This created a wedge between him and Obasanjo in 2003 who almost dropped him as his running mate. It took much persuasion from state governors, PDP leaders and friends before Obasanjo re-nominated him as his VP. But he was worse for it. He was a castrated or ceremonial VP all through Obasanjo’s second term. The same ambitious inclination informed his defection from PDP to the AC and later to PDP and APC. His back-to-back defection has cost him a lot of goodwill and he has lost political ground in the North and South-West in the last seven years. Even his pseudo platform, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) has not made any inroad into the nation’s political landscape since its formation. There were speculations that if Abubakar had remained in the AC which later became the ACN, he could have won the 2011 poll at a time the North was looking for a liberal alternative to Jonathan. Abubakar’s greatest political humiliation was the loss of the 2011 PDP presidential primaries to Jonathan when even delegates from Adamawa State rejected him. The Thursday loss of the Adamawa APC governorship primaries by his anointed candidate, Ibrahim Minjiyawa to Sen. Jibrilla Bindow for the second time indicated that all is still not well with Atiku’s home front. (Taken from thenationonlineng.net)
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 09:26:51 +0000
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