MEET FRANK OSHANUGOR
By Frank Oshanugor
With the recent defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Mr. Peter Obi, the expected has begun to come to pass and book makers are being proved right in some quarters.
Similarly, with the defection to the same ADC late last year by one time Vice President of Nigeria, and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), presidential candidate in 2023, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, there have been a lot of speculations on the horizon that Atiku who seemed to enjoy a monopoly of a larger followership among those already in the party with 2027 presidential ambition, would become unsettled once Peter Obi eventually defects to the same party.
Interestingly as expected; barely one week after Obi’s defection to ADC (a party which is likely going to assume the biggest opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress – APC) several agitations are now coming up all for the fear of Obi.
From the APC camp come the likes of Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Olorogun Festus Keyamo whose resentment for Obi’s movement to ADC was more of an outsider crying louder than the bereaved. Other APC chieftains like Daniel Bwala, Bayo Onanuga etc have also shown some disdain towards Obi for the simple fact of chosing to pitch tent with ADC.
The greater fear of Obi has just been exhibited by no other person than Atiku whose mantra now is that no presidentially qualified candidate within ADC would step down for any other candidate.
This posturing may obviously have stemmed from statements attributed to Prof. Pat Utomi, Aisha Yusuf and other ADC faithfuls who have warned Obi, not to accept a Vice President position, with a threat that if he does, they would abandon him. That is the same position of majority of his supporters under the Obidient Movement.
Alhaji Atiku’s sing song of equal participation in the presidential race particularly at the primaries, from the surface may sound logically democratic but I can bet with my Nigerian nationality that such position by Atiku did not come from a genuine political calculation. He is only grandstanding, trying to deceive Nigerians into believing that he is in sync with the democratic requirement for political parties to promote internal democracy.
While it is fair to give all contenders to the presidential position a chance to test their popularity at the primaries, instead of “forced” step down or consensually appointing a candidate as the presidential flag bearer, it remains historical that Atiku cannot be trusted in such a game without falling back on his money power to scuttle the process by buying over delegates.
We were all living witnesses to the PDP primaries in 2022. Prior to the primaries when it became very obvious that money was going to be the determinant and not competence, Peter Obi whose political philosophy is variance with such tendency, decided to resign from the PDP and pitched tent with the Labour Party.
What happened at last during the PDP primaries? It was a shambolic affair driven by who had the deepest dollar pocket. Atiku outsmarted Nyesom Wike in the jamboree of buying delegates. Many delegates sold their conscience for thousands of dollars.
Permit me to say that Abubakar Atiku is a master at the game and that is what informed his current song of asking that no qualified presidential candidate would step down for any other. He knows quite alright that Obi does not believe in buying position with money and if all the candidates appear for primaries in ADC, he Atiku would surely buy over the delegates to the detriment of Obi whose intention is to genuinely serve Nigerians without wasting money to buy their support.
The Atiku camp may want to ask for my head over this assertion but the truth remains that if the ADC primaries would be conducted without the influence of money, buying the conscience of delegates, it would be an uphill task for Abubakar Atiku to defeat Peter Obi.
I would therefore suggest that for transparency and fairness to take place during the primaries, let the security agencies, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant agencies of government patriotically monitor every stage of the primaries and ensure that money bags do not have their way over and above genuine contenders.
Nigeria in its current state, does not need desperate politicians who want power at all cost. We do not need politicians who want to buy their intended positions with money. Money politics has been the bane of our political process and this is the time to say no to money politics which has brought Nigerians to their knees since the last election.
