Atiku, Obi and their vaulting ambitions

FOR someone running for the presidency a record seventh time and who has switched political parties at least four times since 1999, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s unbridled rebuke of fellow contestants in a recent interview with Arise Television raises a crucial question: has he indeed learned anything from the political mistakes that cost him that top office in 2023? Atiku failed to glean any political wisdom from the costly mistake of shutting out Peter Obi from his presidential calculations and of allowing the Nyesom Wike-led breakaway governors to exit PDP – factors that largely contributed to his defeat in the 2023 presidential election.  During his interview with Arise TV, Atiku cast aspersions on Peter Obi’s credentials, labeling him an ethnic aspirant with a narrow political base. He also questioned Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s pan-Nigerian political reach, saying Kwankwaso has only Kano State, and that, too, has been balkanised under his nose. It is confounding that an aspirant to the presidency of Nigeria seeking the support of other aspirants in the race, and one trying to form a coalition around his own candidacy, would make such denigrating comments about them and give the impression they count for nothing.

Is Atiku actually privy to something we don’t know? Does he have any other way of winning the presidency aside from building a broad coalition to achieve what may well be his last shot at the race? Did the former vice president deliberately condemn them to provoke the ouster of Obi and Kwankwaso from the African Democratic Congress presidential race? Some sources suggest that the scenario seemed to be Atiku’s plan to foist a three-way horse race on the nation, in which he hopes to profit as a Northern candidate.  If that was his plan, it has backfired. While Obi and Kwankwaso’s exit from the ADC has opened a floodgate of defection from the party, rendering it prostrate, their entry into the Nigeria  Democratic Congress, which came into the limelight after former Bayelsa State governor, Senator Seriake Dickson, joined the party, has turned NDC into a beautiful bride of sorts, and an emerging third force in the run-up to 2027.  Nonetheless, the defection of Obi and Kwankwaso to NDC is another manifestation of the duo’s unbridled and vaulting presidential ambitions. Obi is seeking a land where the grass is greener, albeit one where he wouldn’t have to nurture before arriving at a beautiful and formidable fortress.

READ ALSO: Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso are Tinubu’s most reliable campaigners

This latest move would be the fifth time Obi has defected from one party to another – from PDP to APGA and back to PDP. When it was apparent he could not secure PDP presidential ticket in 2023, he moved to Labour. Unable to manage the crisis in Labour Party after his post-2023 presidential run, he sought refuge in ADC, and now NDC.  Lacking any known political philosophy except a desperate quest for a convenient political platform – a special purpose vehicle, if you like – to contest, there seems to be no difference between Atiku and Obi. Being birds of a feather, shouldn’t the duo have flocked together to present a formidable team for 2027? Kwankwaso, the former Kano governor, seems to have virtually settled for the position of running mate to Obi, given how he has been on the ex-Anambra governor’s heels like a bee to honey. But Kwankwaso’s main interest is the 2031 presidential race. It was the same 2031 presidential plan that stalled his moves and discussions with President Bola Tinubu, as well as his apparent bid to join the governing All Progressives Congress. This, perhaps, also led to the break-up of his New Nigeria Peoples’ Party and the Kwankwasiyya Movement, and the defection of his only governor, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, to the APC. President Tinubu had allegedly refused to commit to Kwankwaso’s 2031 succession plan, telling him there must be a 2027 before 2031.

Kwankwaso is now a pitiable sight, hopping from party to party with Obi after unceremoniously abandoning the NNPP, where he was a disputed national leader.  Like Obi and Kwankwaso, Atiku had been moving from one party to another in his futile bid for the presidency. He left the PDP following his political disagreement with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and joined the then Action Congress, on which platform he contested for the presidency in 2007. He later returned to the same PDP to contest against President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. Unable to secure presidential ticket in the build-up to the 2015 election, he joined APC with five other breakaway Peoples Democratic Party governors, which included Rotimi Amaechi, who was then Rivers State Governor and other PDP chieftains like Senator Bukola Saraki.  He, however, unsuccessfully contested the party’s presidential primary with late President Buhari and others. He returned to PDP to contest against the same Buhari in 2019 and President Tinubu in 2023. Now he is in ADC, which he allegedly hijacked for its presidential ambition from its founder. Now, my sense, based on the preceding background, is this: nothing worthwhile can come from former Vice President Atiku and former Anambra governor Obi. Atiku is a shifting and imprudent political leader whose many indiscretions in the name of privatising the nation’s patrimony are well known. Obi’s only political record as Anambra governor is setting up a beer company and saving money like a miser while his people languished in poverty.

His former ally in ADC, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a recent Arise TV interview, asserts Obi is never interested in any policy or programme, saying “Peter Obi doesn’t know ADC’s position on fuel subsidy because he has never been interested.” What Obi and Kwankwaso’s defection signposts is the deepening disunity and rivalry within the ranks of the opposition politicians. With a divided rank, the opposition cannot mount any serious challenge against the governing party. We don’t need a soothsayer to predict their imminent defeat in 2027. Consistency of the gladiators in building their parties, as well as unity within the ranks of the opposition, is crucial in electoral battles. President Tinubu has remained a progressive throughout several electoral cycles while in opposition.  Our present opposition politicians should blame themselves. They have already prepared the grounds for their 2027 election failure in 2026. As I had argued previously on this page, and this bears restating: “For democracy, the danger isn’t just a strong ruling party, or an alleged one-party rule, but opposition parties that can’t model the constitutional order they promise to deliver and engender unity within their ranks.”

From Zuba to Dutse: A litany of legacy projects

Political diatribes sometimes obscure the capacity to appreciate developments in the governance space.  Last week was a beehive of activities for members of the Presidential Communications Team. From Zuba Junction in the Federal Capital Territory to Kaduna, Kano, Dutse, and Birnin-Kebbi, the team toured Federal Government projects in the North-west geopolitical zone. Under the auspices of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, the tour revealed the extensive transformative projects being executed by the President Tinubu administration in road and railway infrastructure, as well as other intervention projects. The first port of call during the tour was the Zuba Junction end of the remodelled Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway, featuring a 20-centimetre-thick concrete pavement and solar-powered streetlights. That road is a beautiful sight to behold. The 82-kilometre-long Section 1 of the road, stretching from Zuba to Jere, being handled by Infiouest International Construction Company, is virtually completed, save for the remaining 300 metres.  Work on Section 2 has already commenced.

 The completion deadline is November this year. In Kaduna, we inspected the Kaduna Western Bye-pass that has been stalled for over 22 years across several administrations. Work on the road is progressing steadily. However, the most iconic project under construction is the much-talked-about Kaduna-Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi (Niger Republic) railway line that will connect several states in the North and also the Niger Republic, enabling inter-state transportation and boosting agriculture and trade.  We saw the massive overpass bridge for that railway line in Kaduna and assessed the extent of work done. The deadline for completion is December 2026. From Kaduna, we moved to Kano, where we inspected the Kano Section of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway. The Kano end is already at 95% completion. We also toured the various ongoing projects at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano, including the Cardiovascular Centre, Pediatric Centre and Students’ Hostel, which are part of the Constituency projects of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Jubrin Barau.

The team saw the N27 billion Irrigation project in Garko, the Federal Government Ecological Fund project, the Solar project of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, and the 10-hectare Agricultural Incubation Centre constructed by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure at Bayero University, Kano, aimed at developing and scaling modern agricultural solutions.

There is also another ecological fund project worth N47 billion in the Wujuwuju-Jakara area, which was initially a Kano State Government project. The Tinubu administration has now taken it over. Also in Kano, within the Government Reservation Area along Murtala Muhammed Way, we visited the headquarters of the North West Development Commission, one of the interventionist agencies established by the Tinubu administration to develop the various geopolitical zones.

In Jigawa, the team inspected the Jigawa corridor of the Kaduna-Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi Railway project. We also saw some state projects, including the Bola Tinubu Skills Acquisition Centre and the Renewed Hope Fabrication Centre. In this Northwestern state, we saw some agricultural mechanisation projects, including over 300 tractors already on the ground awaiting inauguration.

In Kebbi, the Birnin-Kebbi Section of the 1,068-kilometre-long Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, covering Phases 2A and 2B and stretching from Kilometre 120 to Kilometre 385, is progressing as scheduled. Site clearance, filling works, stone base, and sub-surface works are all progressing steadily, while concrete pavement construction has covered 19 kilometres, including street light installation. The level of completion is put at 40 percent for Section 2A and 16 percent for Section 2B.

Also in Birnin-Kebbi, we saw the Argungu-Naseini-Buyi Federal Road, which has been completed, the Argungu Township Road, and the Skills Acquisition Centre, among others, constructed by the state government.

The Federal Government’s Infrastructure Intervention projects demonstrate President Tinubu’s commitment to the development and modernisation of the Northern region. They stand as a bulwark against falsehood, proving that the alleged marginalisation of the region is untrue. Also, the delivery of landmark projects by some state governments is part of the gains of the increased allocation to states from the Federation Accounts as a result of the economic and tax reforms of President Tinubu. President Tinubu truly deserves commendation for bringing this about.

•Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Special DutiesT