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By Wilfred Eya
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar may have won Saturday’s presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) but it would take him some time to recover from the challenge he got from the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
A former National chairman of the PDP who did not want his name mentioned told Daily Sun that even in the early hours of the day of the primaries, members of Atiku’s camp were jittery that the Rivers governor, also an aspirant in the race, would carry the day.
He said that unlike in 2019 when Atiku was easily the favoured aspirant because of his deep pocket, Saturday’s exercise was a different ball game as Governor Wike had the war chest which the PDP candidate could not match.
He said that Atiku became so afraid of Wike’s popularity that he told his close allies that the PDP governors had ganged up against him.
Our source said that when Atiku literally saw his routing by the Rivers governor starring him in the face, he raised the alarm with the Northern Elders.
He told Daily Sun that Turaki Adamawa practically begged the elders to save him from shame and imminent defeat by Wike.
Our source said that on Friday, the Northern Elders intervened and spoke to the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, and a former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen to withdraw from the race, after the Elders’ meeting with the aspirants from the northern part of the country.
Led by a former National Security Adviser, Gen Aliyu Gusau (rtd.), and a former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, he said the leaders went into the crucial meeting to try and reduce the number of northern aspirants to one.
It was learnt that the northern leaders insisted that a particular candidate from the southern part of the country should not be allowed to win the election.
Our source which was privy to the meeting told Daily Sun that the aspirants from the North were asked to step down for Atiku, who they considered as having national spread more than the others.
It was gathered that Gusau, who was also in Port Harcourt, Rivers State four years ago when Atiku was elected as the party’s presidential candidate, told the aspirants that he was speaking the minds of the entire northern leaders.
“The northern leaders felt that Atiku would be better in managing the country and that there is nothing the ruling party or the Federal Government would say about him that had not been said.
“They were of the opinion that no anti-corruption agency will harass him anymore and that he also has national spread”, our source said.
It was also gathered that Hayatu-Deen agreed to step down after the meeting, but Tambuwal and others said they would consider it.
“Tambuwal said he would speak at the convention ground, while others said they would speak to their delegates on what to do,” the source added.
Immediately after Tambuwal announced his withdrawal, he said Atiku took to his Twitter handle to hail the decision.
He also said he was looking forward to working with the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Atiku tweeted: “Thank you, H.E @AWTambuwal, for your spirited campaign. I look forward to working with you as we unite our party and our country.”
The announcement was said to have come as a shock to Wike, who was a solid supporter of Tambuwal when the latter vied for the same ticket in 2019. The outcome of the 2019 national convention which was hosted in Port Harcourt, was said to have irked the governor, who allegedly felt that a former National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, ought to have helped to sway in favour of his friend, Tambuwal.
The unresolved crisis between Wike and Secondus as a result of the 2019 convention was said to have resulted in the removal of the former national chairman of the party, which was engineered by the governor.
A source close to the party’s top hierarchy said: “It is better we have someone like Atiku.
“He is calm and has listening ears. He is experienced and has his supporters everywhere in the country. That’s why we gave him the ticket.”
After the initial shock and horse-trading in the build up to the exercise, Atiku eventually beat 12 other challengers to emerge the candidate of the PDP for the 2023 presidential election.
This is the second time in a row that he would win the PDP’s nomination, having won it also in 2019.
The former Vice President won the primary by 371 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Governor Wike, who poled 237 votes, while a former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, scored 70 votes.
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State got 38 votes; Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, scored 20 votes; a former Senate President, Pius Anyim, got 14 votes, while a former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa, polled only one vote.
In his acceptance speech after he was pronounced as the PDP candidate by the Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee, Senator David Mark, Atiku extended a hand of fellowship to the defeated aspirants and pledged to work with them to ensure victory for the party.
He described the primary as one of the freest elections to be conducted by the party, saying, “Today marks another milestone in the process to consolidate our democratic gains.”
Atiku said if elected President, he would unify the country, deal with insecurity and revamp the economy.
He accused the APC government of polarising the country, stating, “I pledge to unify the country that is why I refer to myself as a unifier. Unity is very important because the government of the APC has disunited Nigerians completely.”
The PDP presidential candidate could be likened to a cat with nine lives. His political trajectory is a story of ups and downs.
As a veteran politician, Mr. Atiku doesn’t seem to have lost an ounce of his zeal, despite several setbacks in his quest to occupy Aso Rock, since the days of the erratic political transitions during the army-led polity of the late 1980s, no thanks to the long-winding transition programme of the then Head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
Atiku cut his teeth under the wily and politically astute Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, a strategist and power wheeler-dealer. Of all the folks who had their tutelage under the late Katsina-born general, Atiku has turned out to be the most enduring, politically. He is also the most successful, becoming the VP under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
On July 16, 1999, Atiku and his running mate had just won the governorship election of Adamawa State under the platform of PDP in an election conducted by INEC.
However, before their swearing in, the then PDP Presidential candidate, Chief Obasanjo, just out of prison and desperately in need of a strong political machinery to realize his presidential ambition saw the usefulness of Atiku as head of the political structure of late Musa Yar’Adua and thus, persuaded him to renounce his mandate and be appointed his running mate.
Upon his acceptance of the offer from Obasanjo as running mate by Atiku, INEC as the electoral umpire officially wrote to Atiku of its decision to conduct a Bye_Election to fill the governorship vacancy he had left behind. However, Boni Haruna, the Deputy governor Elect, and the PDP, would have none of the INEC decision to conduct another election, as according to them, the fact of Boni Haruna’s victory at the poll had already conferred on him certain constitutional rights that entitled him to be automatically sworn in as the governor following Atiku’s abandonment of his mandate.
And so, to the court they all went to ventilate their grievances. The matter commenced at the Federal High court and raged on until it finally berthed at the apex court. At the Supreme Court, it became necessary for the court to interpret Section 45 of the then Decree 3 of 1999 (now the 1999 constitution) which provides for the conditions under which a Deputy Governor may be sworn in as governor. It is clear when a deputy governor could be sworn in to replace the governor.
It never contemplated such abandonment as in the case of Atiku. However, finding itself in such a challenge demanding the assertion of its role of social engineering, the Supreme Court, in a split decision, felt a need to advance a remedy for the situation. At the end, While Atiku headed to Abuja as vice president, Boni Haruna became the governor of Adamawa State.
