Atiku And El-Rufai As Phoney Defenders Of Democracy

By Casmir Igbokwe

I am not a fan of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The shenanigans in that party nauseate me, especially the way it snatched and grabbed power in the 2023 general election. One of those who made the party’s victory possible is the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.

The former governor was the backbone of Bola Tinubu during the campaign for the presidential election. He brooked no opposition then. When some Nigerians raised concern about the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, el-Rufai was not perturbed. He was confident that Tinubu would win and, perhaps, he would be in the corridors of power.

Even as governor of Kaduna State, el-Rufai showed little or no empathy for the Southern Kaduna people who were being terrorized by the Fulani militia. On a regular basis, these militia wasted a lot of innocent lives and destroyed many properties. Today, Kaduna is far better security wise than when el-Rufai was in the saddle.

The man also had some bones to pick with Christians when he was governor. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) accused him of bigotry and discrimination. The association was not happy that during his reign as governor, el-Rufai picked a fellow Muslim as deputy and gave major appointments to Muslims as well. To worsen matters, he told some Islamic clerics in Kaduna soon after the 2023 elections that the Muslim/Muslim ticket had come to stay in Kaduna and that the Muslim/Muslim ticket at the centre would continue. He reportedly said Tinubu’s victory had also silenced CAN.

El-Rufai’s nemesis came soon after the inauguration of Tinubu as President. The President nominated him for a ministerial position. The Senate failed to confirm him. He has not been happy about this, though he claimed he never wanted to be a minister again since he had been one before. Somehow, he has become antagonistic to the ruling cabal and has, at various times, met with some opposition party stalwarts, including the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 election, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. He has also spoken with the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi.

At a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria which took place in Abuja recently, el-Rufai presented himself as an advocate for the opposition, saying the state of opposition in Nigeria and quality of governance was a national emergency. Noting that the PDP was on its way to the grave, he alleged that there were internal mercenaries in the PDP who had been hired to destroy the party. He urged the opposition parties, purportedly targeted for destruction, to close ranks and form a broad platform to protect democracy.

But will el-Rufai’s proposal work? It depends. The truth is that there are very few principled opposition politicians in the current Nigerian democratic dispensation. The majority of them are bread and butter politicians. They don’t care defecting from one party to the other as long as they have something to gain personally. If there is no personal gain, most of them will work against any proposed coalition. There is nothing like ideology or principles in their dictionaries.

The two major parties – APC and PDP – are two sides of the same coin. They have the same character and idiosyncrasies. Between 1999 and 2015, it was the turn of the PDP to exhibit some authoritarian and anti-democratic tendencies. That was when it was in power. Then, President Tinubu, who was an opposition leader, warned against allowing the country to become a one-party state. Today, the President is the one supervising the orchestration of some anti-democratic tendencies by his APC.

I had a good laugh when former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar borrowed Tinubu’s template to lament that we were on the verge of losing our democracy and becoming a one-party state. He accused President Tinubu and the ruling APC of being behind it. Speaking at the earlier mentioned national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, Atiku said we were at a crossroads in this democratic experiment. According to him, an opposition political party leadership told him that this present government “gives them N50 million each.”

Does Atiku expect the APC as currently constituted to massage their ego and offer them power on a silver platter? In Nigeria, power is not given a la carte. As Tinubu himself has made us understand, it is snatched, grabbed and run away with. This means the President will not surrender power to the opposition because they are shouting about the dangers of a one-party state. They need to galvanize themselves and map out strategies to wrest power from the ruling cabal.

The problem is that most of the opposition party stalwarts are not sincere. Atiku, for instance, has jumped from the PDP to APC and then back to the PDP just to realise his ambition of ruling Nigeria. He has spoken from both sides of his mouth and committed blunders that presented him as not better than Tinubu he is criticizing. Atiku insisted power must go to the North at the PDP National Stakeholders Conference in 2010 when the power rotation arrangement favoured his region. At the party’s National Convention in 2015, he staged a public walkout together with some northern PDP leaders when former President Goodluck Jonathan indicated interest to go for a second term in office. He had warned the PDP leaders to respect the zoning arrangement of the party. Today, zoning does not matter to him anymore because he and his ilk feel it is not constitutional.

Atiku has run for the presidency for six times – three presidential primaries which he lost, and three elections as presidential candidate, which he also lost. He is gearing up again for the 2027 presidential election. He claims he is running in the interest of the people and not his own interest. He also claims to be a champion of equity, justice and fairness in the country. That is good. If he has the interest of the people at heart as claimed, he should sacrifice his ambition for the good of the country. There is no way a northerner will take over power now when it is not the turn of the North. He should wait for 2031 to contest when it is the turn of the North. He should support Mr. Peter Obi who has the greatest prospect of wresting power from the APC in 2027. Anything outside this will amount to chasing shadows.

From the look of things, the allegation that the APC is manipulating the opposition parties in order to consolidate its grip on power appears to be true. The chairman of the ruling party, Abdullahi Ganduje, had said in 2023 that the APC was holding discussions to bring some members of the opposition parties to the ruling party. It appears this has started happening already.

Or, how do you explain the disgraceful leadership dogfight in the PDP? The meeting of the Board of Trustees last week ended on a sour note. Meanwhile, Umar Damagun is still tagging along as the acting national chairman despite strident opposition from some members. Former Rivers State Governor and Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, is one of those dictating the pace in the PDP. He has been exchanging verbal attacks with the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, who is the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum. I’m still wondering how the PDP expects to have peace when a person like Wike who dines and wines with the ruling party is in its midst.

I have also been wondering the nature of the opposition in Nigeria. Some turncoats used the popularity of Peter Obi to win elections in the Labour Party. Today, some of them have joined the ruling party. About 18 lawmakers elected on the platform of the LP have reportedly joined the APC. This is amid the power tussle between the Julius Abure-led faction of the party and Senator Nenadi Usman-led faction.

Also, 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly defected to the APC from the PDP. Some senators and House of Representatives members from the state defected to the APC from the PDP as well. More defections will definitely follow as we prepare for the 2027 general election.

This is the character of most Nigerian politicians. So, let none of them tell you that he loves you more than your mother. Or that the ruling party does not allow the opposition to breathe. If most of them in the opposition get the same opportunity, they will do worse things. Give your support to the party or individual you feel will liberate us from the current APC bondage, not because Atiku or el-Rufai tells you so, but because you are convinced that your choice is the right one. Citizens must rise up to take back their country. Let’s rally round an individual who has a track record of transparency and accountability to rescue Nigeria irrespective of the party he or she comes from. APC will have an easy ride in 2027 if the citizens do not checkmate the selfish tendencies of our politicians.

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, February 3, 2025

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