By Baron Ike
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) may have been fully sidelined by the party’s leadership and those in the corridors of power at Aso Rock.
Feelers from Atiku’s office indicate that the party leadership and some cronies of President Muhammadu Buhari have for some time now been distancing themselves from the former Vice President for reasons that are best known to them, but connected to Atiku’s plan to run again for presidency in 2019.
There are indications, however, that Atiku’s recent pronouncements on the need to restructure Nigeria to make room for effective governance have been interpreted by the APC leadership and those close to the seat of power to mean presidential ambition.
A source in a position to know who is close to Atiku told Armadanews.com that “there is this strong suspicion that the former Vice President wants to take another shot at the presidency of the country, and they may not be taking it kindly.”
Speaking at an annual public lecture at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on March 6, Atiku had listed fear of losing oil revenues as among the reasons why some Nigerians, mainly northerners are opposed to it.
He said he was not surprised why most of those calling for restructuring were from the south, while the bulk of the opposition to it came from the north.
Atiku spoke about diluting too much power at the centre which he said had impeded development of the country, explaining that restructuring would reallocate powers, responsibilities and resources among the zones.
He spoke about necessary assurances and compromises that must be made in order to secure a restructuring deal.
Atiku’s words: “Our current constitution does indeed concentrate too much power and resources at the centre, which has, in my view, impeded national development, security, peace and stability.
“At some point our leaders and representatives will come together, discuss and work out a framework for restructuring our federation in order to renew it to serve our people better.
“The restructuring that I have been calling for involves changes to the allocation of powers, responsibilities and resources among the states or zones and between them and the federal government.
“It is clear to me that the resistance against restructuring is based on three interrelated factors, namely dependency, fear and mistrust. Dependency of all segments of the country on oil revenues, fear of loss of oil revenues by non-oil producing states or regions and mistrust of the motives of those angling for restructuring.
“This can be seen in the regional patterns of the advocacy for and opposition to restructuring.”
Atiku said the current structure which concentrates too much power and resources in the centre has made the country “economically unproductive” and “politically weak.”
He explained: “There is no doubt that many of our states are not viable, and were not viable from the start, once you take away the federal allocations from Abuja. We have to find creative ways to make them viable in a changed federal system. Collaboration among states in a region or zone will help.
“Nigeria must devolve more powers and resources from the federal government and deemphasize federal allocations as the source of sustenance of states.
“We need to start producing again and collecting taxes to run our governments in a more sustainable way with greater transparency and accountability.
“We have a unique opportunity now, with all the agitation and clamour for restructuring, to have a conversation that would lead to changes in the structure of our federation in order to make it stronger, enhance our unity and promote peace, security and better and more accountable governance.”
Atiku ran for the presidency with Buhari in 2015 and lost the primaries based on the conspiracy of the few that wanted Buhari by all means, and his postulations on what ought to be done to make Nigeria better is being misconstrued for political ambition .
Incidentally, the performance of the current APC government headed by Buhari with the attendant hardship Nigerians are going through has thrown up discourse as to whether the APC did the right thing in fielding him in place of Atiku or even other aspirants.
In the north, including Buhari’s state of Katsina, there are those who would not want to hear the name of Buhari mentioned today because of the level of hardship they are going through.
Atiku, the Buhari loyalist believe, is still keen on running in 2019, and most of them, including the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai has come out openly to knock Atiku for showing signs that he would contest against Buhari assuming the president decides to run again in 2019 if he is still healthy.
Last week, Buhari’s aides said he would run again in 2019, an indication they are still fencing off interested persons for the office of the presidency.
Buhari’s first term ends on May 29, 2019, and many Nigerians, including some members of his party, would rather Buhari hands over to another party man from the north due to what many of them say is “not very impressive performance of the President.”
Atiku’s body language and public comments of late suggest he is in the race for the presidency in 2019, but the opposition within the APC and from Buhari’s loyalists (kitchen cabinet) makes Atiku’s ambition a hard nut to crack.
One man keen on blocking Atiku’s chances is el-Rufai, but the former vice president does not think El-Rufai has the capacity to stop his ambition.
Armadanews.com reported recently that a prominent PDP woman leader in Katsina said they are considering either Atiku or former governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido to take the position of Buhari in 2019. She however did not comment on the platform under which Atiku could be seeking for presidency.
“For 2019 we will support either Lamido or Atiku. I am not sure people here will like to vote for Buhari again because they are complaining that they are suffering too much under him. In fact, they do not even want to hear his name again,” the PDP woman leader in Katsina who craved anonymity said.
According to the source, because of how the APC leadership and Buhari loyalists were going about the “distance Atiku” project, it has not been easy for the party to either constitute its Board of Trustee (BoT) members, and for the meeting of her National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) where key members of the party who have a stake are supposed to be in attendance.
“The truth is that those meetings will never take place for as long as they distance Atiku and his office from the critical things that concern the APC,” the source maintained.