IT had to come to this at last. As soon as General Ibrahim Babangida started to openly declare his intention to contest the presidential poll in 2007, it was a matter of time before many elements in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and beyond would have to choose between IBB and Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The fact is that there are not many political allies of the Vice President who were not “made” during the eight years of Babangida’s military dictatorship. That era tossed the old political order (elements of the NPP, NPN, UPN, GNPP and PRP) into the dustbin after the General Muhammadu Buhari regime had reduced it to rubble. Babangida created a new political culture as well as political class through his “learning experience” convoluted transitional processes.
He gave a lot of people jobs and allowed most of them to walk away from those positions with their pockets full. He banned, un-banned, disqualified and re-qualified politicians and political platforms in a single continuous motion. By so doing, Babangida filled our political and economic landscape with prominent Nigerians who had one reason or the other to be grateful to him for involving them in his administration.
Inside the PDP camp, many of the new faces of Nigerian politics sought to associate themselves with Atiku because his faction of the PDP was seen to be the core of the Party. But the supposed powerful influence of the “core” has become grossly enfeebled by two major factors. The first is President Obasanjo’s firm decision to assert his own authoritarian weight after the 2003 general polls. Atiku has been forced by the President’s camp to relinquish his grandstanding as the power behind the Presidency and the PDP. He is now a very obedient deputy to Obasanjo in the hope that the powers of the Presidency will not be brought to bear against his 2007 presidential ambition.
The second is the declaration of interest by the former military president in the same race. Many former political friends and wannabe friends of Atiku have drifted away to the Babangida camp, some of them brazenly and without apologies, while the others are pussyfooting about it until when the time is ripe. For many of these Atiku deserters, it is like “going back to the good master”. To make matters worse for Atiku, another very influential Adamawa son, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, is also in the race for president. This obviously erodes Atiku’s home base even further. It is obvious that if Marwa has to give up the race to either IBB or Atiku, the chances are very bright that he will give it to Babangida because it was Babangida that “made him”.
PROFESSOR Jibril Aminu, one of the three senators from Adamawa State was one of those who would be faced with the difficult choice of choosing. He actually had three choices: to side with Atiku, who lives in the same exclusive neighbourhood in Yola with him, or go with Babangida, whom he served as a high profile minister for six years or throw his own hat in the ring and run, once again, for president. Going by his private utterances, he has not formally given up his right to run for president, even though he also has not made any bold move towards it. Way back during the General Abdulsalami Abubakar transitional regime, Aminu had made it clear in an interview that his loyalty to IBB is automatic. He put it this way: “any time he calls me, I will put down whatever I am doing and answer”. This attitude is informed by the high regard Babangida had for him (some people oftened him as one of that administration’s “untouchables”). The military ruler so valued Professor Aminu’s learning and wisdom that he often signed the minister’s memos along the corridor without even bothering to read them.
It was not surprising, therefore, to see the former Nigerian chief envoy to the United States gracing the relaunch, last year, of Lady Maryam Babangida’s “Better Life for African Women” even at the U.K. Bello Theatre in Minna, last year. That sent a very bold message as to where Aminu’s cat was bound to jump come 2007.
Now, the Atiku camp, naturally, feels sour that a senator they believed benefitted from their platform to go to the Senate has deserted his “townsman”. You will recall the controversy trailing the general polls in Adamawa State in 2003, where the rival All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) had threatened the positions of all elected officials. Many still believe that extraordinary “powers of incumbency” had to be invoked to keep the PDP in power in the State.
Apparently, the Vice-President’s camp had convinced itself that it has lost Senator Aminu to IBB, and decided to take the news badly.
The machinery of the Adamawa State government has been mobilised towards the recall of the former education and petroleum resources minister from the Senate. Chief Boni Haruna’s overzealous pursuit of the project is also understandable. The Vice President made him whatever he is today in politics. Atiku single-handedly lifted him from the humble position of an editor in his fledgling weekly magazine, The Week, to two-term governor of his state. So, it is a straight fight between a senator Babangida had made and a governor Atiku had made!
Haruna and his administration have decided to embark on the highly squabblesome process of recall from the Senate. As much as the recall issue is a constitutional one, just as impeachment is, the reasons the Haruna administration touts are rather weak and cannot stand up when subjected to proof. Aminu is accused of “poor representation”, “non-accessibility to his constituents”, “non distribution of money” and “supporting a presidential aspirant who comes from outside North Eastern geopolitical zone”.
ONE wonders if these charges would have been brought out against Aminu if Babangida and Atiku were not in the race or if Aminu had chosen Atiku instead of Babangida (assuming he has made the choice). What is “poor performance”? Is it when a legislator heads an important committee in the Senate, which is so highly respected by the Senators that when committees were dissolved it was the only one that was left intact? Is it when the committee’s recommendations has led the Executive arm to reform the conditions of service of our foreign embassies for the better? Or is it when a Senator is only heard of during bribery scandals. Perhaps, a Senator who loots bribe money from the pockets of political office nominees of the federal government and comes home to distribute some of it to his constituents makes an “excellent” representative? This is the mentality that spurs many office holders to steal public money.
Again, how does the support of a presidential candidate from another state or zone constituted “poor representation’? If all Nigerians were to support only candidates from their states or zones, where will any presidential candidate get the one-quarter of votes in 24 states and Abuja in addition to a majority of votes nationwide to become the President of Nigeria? What has become of our freedom of choice, which is guaranteed by the Constitution? Besides, it is high time we started recognising the fact that certain issues and personalities are beyond mere politics. Professor Aminu is among the most learned, experienced and distinguished members of the current National Assembly. There is no part of the world in which our country cannot feel highly glorified to disclose his name as a member of the nation’s upper house of assembly. During the First Republic when the values of the country were still standing on their two feet, political leaders went out of their ways to scout specially gifted individuals for inclusion in the process of building up the political system. We had a much sounder crop of leaders in that era compared to what we have today where fraud and sycophancy are preferred.
We must properly define what constitute a re-callable offence. We should not bring it down to ridiculous levels. We cannot experience the true beauty of democracy unless we apply its principles in the proper way.
