VIEWPOINT: Why Atiku must not contest in 2027

By Paul Dada

I find it risible that some Nigerians are rooting for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election. It feels like an unclever joke for anyone to hint, even if they do not say so explicitly, that Atiku is the one whom the cap fits in  2027.

 

My opposition to this idea is not because I think he is too old to run although my preference is for a younger person to hold sway in Aso Rock. I do not have an objection to this idea because I believe that Atiku is less qualified than any other Nigerian to be President.

 

My position on this matter is not because I think Atiku is corrupt. Of course, I know Former President Olusegun Obasanjo once said, “One of the mistakes I made was picking my number two ( Atiku)when I wanted to become the president.. .But because it was a genuine mistake, God saved me.”

 

I also know that Obasanjo in his memoirs, “My Watch” berated  Atiku in the most caustic and bluntest manner.  The Owu demigod wrote in the book: “I considered all candidates that were available and what I knew about them. I had earlier collected information about some to beef up my knowledge of them. That night, I settled for Atiku Abubakar. Some of the reasons were: he worked hard for the project, he never indicated interest in the job to me, he had worked closely with Shehu Yar’Adua and Shehu never passed any adverse comment on him, he had been elected as a Governor which already put him on the pedestal to move up politically, but he had been short-changed in the election that would have put M.K.O. Abiola in power, and he seemed to have some national outreach. What I did not know, which came out glaringly later, was his parental background which was somewhat shadowy, his propensity to corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor judgement, his belief and reliance on marabouts, his lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety, truth and national interest for self and selfish interest.”

 

But none of these words is an influence on my reason for stating that Atiku must not be the nation’s helmsman.  After all, there is hardly any politician that is not allegedly tainted one way of the other in our country. There is no saint in politics. Not even Obasanjo who now seemingly postures himself as a saintly sage has been spared from allegations of corruption.

 

I understand that Atiku has been derisively dubbed serial loser by his political foes and traducers because he has failed in his six attempts to become president. I don’t mock people’s failures. After all, Abraham Lincoln the 16th  US President  previously lost eight  elections. Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

 

Atiku may draw inspiration from  Lincoln’s perseverance and Churchill’s words and keep contesting in the hope that he becomes the president of the most populous black nation on earth. Yet, I insist he must not contest in 2027.

 

Here is why. Atiku more than anyone else emasculated the opposition and caused its defeat in the 2023 election because of his untamed selfish interest. So it would be political  tomfoolery for the coalition that is now being formed by the opposition to reward a man like that with a presidential ticket.

 

Atiku kickstarted the process leading to the disarray of the Peoples Democratic Party.  Senior journalist and columnist, Azu Ishekwene hit the bull’s eye when he wrote that Atiku had proved to be the undertaker-in-chief of the PDP.

 

In 2023, there were many reasons to vote against the APC. The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was believed by many Nigerians to have performed dismally. It was also a time that the mood of the nation favoured a power shift to the south.

 

Somehow, Atiku muscled his way to become the PDP’s flagbearer much to the chagrin of party stalwarts like Nyesom Wike. Peter Obi who had earlier seen the handwriting on the wall left the PDP. He became the candidate of the once politically moribund Labour Party and breathed life into it with the support of his fanatical and ultra-zealous followers, also known as Obidients.

 

Meanwhile, a disenchanted and embattled Wike with some of his colleague PDP governors from the south and Middle Belt worked against the election of Atiku. They worked for Bola Tinubu. A divided opposition could not stand in the way of Tinubu who emerged the eventual winner of the election.

 

Tinubu who is sure to seek a re-election in 2027, has become stronger politically. He has the so-called power of incumbency in his hands. The gales of defections of political strongmen from opposition parties like the PDP and LP to the APC are eloquent pointers to the fact that Tinubu could ride on a smooth road to clinching the presidential crown the second time.  The opposition is getting weaker, not because of Tinubu. But it is because the opposition has not been able to put its house in order.

 

The  mood of the nation still favours a southern president in 2027. The north held the presidency in Buhari for two terms of eight years  between 2015 and 2023. Why shouldn’t the south have its two terms?

 

It would therefore be a bad decision for the mainstream opposition  to present a northerner as a candidate, especially a self seeking and self-serving Atiku.

 

Not Atiku. Never Atiku.

 

Let’s give the senators their flowers

The members of the red chamber deserve their flowers for resolving on Thursday not to agree to increasing the VAT from 7.5% to 10%. These they did even as they passed two of  President Bola Tinubu’s four tax reform bills.

 

The two bills passed were the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill. We expect the two other Bills to be passed shortly.

 

I appreciate that the Bills were passed after robust consultations with stakeholders and debates.

 

But I am happier that the Senate considered that increase of the VAT would worsen the economic situation of Nigerians who are already battling with the effect of rising costs.

 

Senators, take your flowers on this.

 

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