DECONSTRUCTING ATIKU’S RESTRUCTURING KITE
193 viewsChieftain of the All Progressives Congress and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and Turaki Adamawa has called for the re-structuring of the Nigerian Federation.
Speaking during the launch of a book 'We Are Biafrans,’ in Abuja on Tuesday 31st May 2016, Atiku said among other things that “…..our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country." He went further to say that “an excessively powerful centre does not equate to national unity. Absolutely not. If anything, it has made our unity more fragile, our government more unstable and our country more unsafe. We must renegotiate our union in other to make it strong” and that “….among the most devastating impact of our long dependence on oil resource is the corruption that has eaten into our fabric."
Coming from Atiku, a scion of the political arrangement that had more or less nurtured the ills that he talked about, this was refreshing news indeed. But do not be deceived. Where was Atiku all these years when states shared from revenues generated from the creeks of Niger Delta and the local people suffered its consequences alone? That aside, I find it is curious that even as Atiku called for true federalism, he neither found time nor space to advise the Niger Delta Avengers that blowing up crude oil and gas pipelines is not the best way to go for a true and peaceful restructuring of the federation. Nor did he tell them that President Buhari’s administration is still too young to be saddled with that task. It is ironic that Atiku, a personification of the system that Biafra is rebelling against, was actually invited to speak in the launch of a book about Biafra.
This notwithstanding, there is no doubt that Atiku's call for restructuring of the federation is a good one; my reservation however is two-fold. One, it cannot be done in the immediate, certainly not within the first year of a new administration. Two, it is coming from the wrong man – a man who capitalized on the weaknesses of the extant federal system to advance his selfish political and economic ends.
Atiku Abubakar was Vice President for 8 years (1999 – 2007) and in those 8 years he saw nothing wrong with the federation as presently constituted. He participated in the raping and pillaging of the federation. He was in fact scheming to succeed his boss so as to preside over the same federation he now considers worthy of a revisit.
Atiku also never objected to his boss's deployment of troops on Odi in an effort to ensure continuous flow of petro-dollar from the creeks. Perhaps it did not serve his political interest to object then.
As chairman of Bureau of Public Enterprises, Atiku used his position to corner lucrative interests in government enterprises then being privatized. His shell company, Sadiq Petroleum, served as vehicle for the acquisition of major stakes in the oil and gas sector.
It took the whistle from Chief Philip Asiodu for then President Olusegun Obasanjo to realize the extent Atiku had surreptitiously gone to acquire a massive war chest in his bid to challenge him in the 2003 PDP Presidential primaries. Thus entered the schism between both men which was to get to a crescendo in the ill-fated third term bid of President Obasanjo.
But Atiku is nothing if not a political dinosaur – conservative today, progressive tomorrow, and somewhere in-between the two the next day – depending on which one assures him of regular supply of buttered bread.
Politics of disempowerment often present curious and sudden political trajectory. Which is why it is baffling that all of a sudden everyone is now an authority on Niger Delta affairs and shout of true federalism now rent the air soon after President Buhari mounted the saddle. It seems the ongoing Biafra revivalism and Niger Delta militancy resurgence present a convenient and expedient template for Atiku's 2019 political interest, hence he is now flying the restructuring kite. But many Nigerians are familiar with the wheeling and dealing of the perpetual political hustler.
So as not to be misunderstood in any way, let me state again that I am not opposed to re-structuring the Nigerian federation. I am 100 percent for true federalism. My only condition is that it should be arrived at by consensus and not by fire by force. I am not opposed to re-restructuring as long as equity, fairness and national interest are brought to the table. I am however opposed to the kind of restructuring being promoted by Nnamdi Kanu and Niger Delta Avengers – a restructuring defined by guns instead of handshakes
Given his antecedents, it is difficult to tell if Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is sincere in his call for restructuring of the federation because a restructured Nigeria is ultimately an impediment to his privileged access to the national politico-economic tuwo shinkafa. How a man never known for any serious business enterprise, or for any economic value he gives, became so overwhelmingly wealthy is left to conjectures, but it is not difficult to conclude that the answer lies somewhere in our extant skewed federation.
So what is Atiku's real motive? What informs this about-turn? Stockholm Syndrome or politics? Something tells me it is the latter. He is simply positioning for 2019 using re-structuring as an open sup. Unfortunately, in Nigeria of today where primordial sentiments of ethnicity and religion drive the wheels of the country, there will be no shortage of the naive who would be fooled by the Turaki Adamawa’s new stand.
Atiku's antics as a political journeyman is all too familiar for him to be trusted with his recent call for true federalism. After failing to clinch the APC presidential ticket, he opened another political front and Senator Bukola Saraki became a pawn in his political chess board. Little wonder the macabre dance we are witnessing every day in the Senate – a Senate in which the ruling party controls majority seat but can hardly ever muster political cohesion.
Everyone knows Atiku wants power but only to advance his selfish political interest.
Feelers coming in indicate that Atiku is once again on the move scheming to join an emergent mega party but Obasanjo is once again blocking him. It should therefore be clear to all why Atiku is now flashing the restructuring card.
Atiku does not give a damn about true federalism. I wager he is only mouthing it now for two reasons. One, because it happens to be politically expedient now to do so; and two, to position for 2019. In fullness of time we shall see a subtle shifting of ground. Trust me.