Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has publicly announced his return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the wounds he left when he defected to the then Action Congress (AC) in 2007 remain fresh in the minds of his party men who continue to place hurdles in his way. Charles Akinsete reports on the latest controversy thrown up around Atiku by a pro-PDP group.

In politics, it is often said, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. This assertion would better describe the recent face-off between former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party  which, many have insisted, made him relevant in the political climate of this country. In fact, political intrigues, which have since trailed the relationship between Atiku and the PDP, have left many in dismay about the trend of politics in the nation as well as the future of both factions in the forthcoming 2011 elections.

The seed of discord was sowed the moment Atiku, who had eyes on the 2007 presidential election, indicated his ambition to become the president of this nation.

Perhaps based on his ambition to secure a third term in office or given other reasons, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have been totally against Atiku’s ambition and went ahead to use measures at his disposal, including the PDP platform, to ensure that the former vice-president’s ambition remained a distant dream. Hence, Atiku became a victim; his former boss, the oppressor, and the rest is history.

However, the words and actions of the former vice-president, about three years ago till date, rather than provide the much sought after advantage in achieving his dream of becoming the president, may eventually become his political albatross and further weaken his chances of realising his long term ambition. While many have argued that Atiku, as vice-president then, ought to have been completely loyal to Obasanjo,  and should not have rolled out his war drums, others said that Atiku took the right step, saying that the former vice-president’s bold action was also part of the positive steps against the autocratic tendencies of the Ota-born president geared towards ruling the nation for 12 years instead of eight.

But Atiku’s dilemma, many political watchers have said, was the outlandish manner in which he fought his battles, as the discord between the former number one and number two citizens of the nation escalated and, in fact, extended to the PDP. In his speech on the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA)), monitored in Kaduna in November 2006, Atiku first spoke against the PDP, which he described as a “lawless” party.

But the argument was that Obasanjo controlled the PDP machinery and thus, there was no way the vice-president could not have been forced to channel his own weapon at the ‘weapon’ the former president was utilising. Thus, Atiku was audacious and probably did what many aggrieved politicians, within or outside the PDP, at that period, would not have dared. He lambasted his boss in far-away Washington, USA, where he was on leave, saying Nigerians should pour into the sheets, both day and night, to confront the government of President Obasanjo until it was overthrown. It was reported that “he had already set the ball rolling by openly confronting the government and enjoined other Nigerians to seek justice by standing for their rights through popular revolt. He was said to have described President Obasanjo and the PDP as a bunch of shameless people who pretend to be pious even though they are very corrupt.

Given his seeming patriotic stance, it was quite expedient for the Adamawa-born politician to disassociate himself from the ignoble leadership of the PDP. It, therefore, came as no surprise when the vice-president announced his defection from the PDP, only to team up with the main opposition party, the Action Congress (AC), now Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). To make matters worse, Atiku subjected the party, on which platform he rode to become governor of Adamawa State and later vice-president, to open ridicule after his suspension from the party.

Consequent upon Atiku’s action of picking presidential ticket on the platform of the then AC, the PDP expelled him  from the party on Friday, December 2006. In his speech on Wednesday, 20 December, 2006 at the national convention of the AC, at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, when he picked the presidential ticket of the then AC, Atiku launched a verbal attack on his former party, the PDP, which he described as a sinking party, peopled by cheats and corrupt individuals, who, according to him, pretended to be moral crusaders.

He said: “I will wipe out all the rot in Aso Rock,” while waving the symbol of the ACN, the broom, to indicate what he intended to do.

“We are in a great danger of surrendering our country to a cabal of opportunists, greedy and hypocritical clique, which hides under the guise of high moral principles to debase our democratic institutions and practices.”

Perhaps Atiku’s actions, few years ago, would not have recorded a fascinating irony, if the story about his romance with the PDP in recent times had not been confirmed. In fact, his quest to register with the party in Adamawa State has not only generated controversies within the party, but has left many Nigerians wondering about the sort of man Atiku really is.

According to a school of thought, there appeared to be two explanations for this twist. First, if Atiku’s assertion that “the PDP is a party which has brought Nigeria back to the state of darkness” and that “voting for the PDP is a sentence to another round of repression and suppression of our people. We all must resist the PDP...” is true, then, why is he going back? Thus, many have said that Atiku’s desperate return to the PDP can best be likened to a man who has remained hellbent on eating up his own vomit.

Second, if Atiku eventually rides on the platform of the PDP again, then, it simply means that his claims about the party cannot be authenticated. Whatever stance people may want to take, many political watchers have said that Atiku, based on his actions, has proved to be a desperate, inconsistent individual, with an insatiable inordinate ambition.

Recently, a group United Nigeria Forum (UNF), in advertorials placed in the national dailies, addressed Atiku’s recent “gimmick, aimed at mystifying the politically naive”, while reminding all and sundry about the history of dissonance between the PDP and Atiku. While there is no attempt to laud the group’s endeavour, bearing in mind that the PDP is no saint as far as the nation’s deplorable state is concerned, it is, however, pertinent to note that Atiku’s recent response to these allegations by the UNF group in the national dailies, though apt, remained introspective.

“The publication detailed some past pronouncements of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Those statements touched on issues of internal democracy, the political party as an agent of development and the rule of law,” the report by the Coalition of Atiku Abubakar Support Groups read.

“What explanations would Atiku give as regards many other careless insulting statements relating to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua who he described as “Daddy’s boy”; his insistent call for an alternative political party to the PDP; his abrupt defection from the ACN, among others? The truth of the matter is that Atiku has bitten more than he can chew as far as his ambition is concerned,” a PDP chieftain in Abuja, who preferred anonymity, said.

However, reacting to the above statement, the Chairman Publicity of the Goodluck National Support Group (GNSO), Chief Rotimi Omoboriowo, said that Atiku’s criticism of the PDP was a rather constructive one.

“Atiku’s return to the PDP should not be treated with contempt all through because we need all hands to ensure that the party moves on. However, Atiku should leave the stage and allow others to govern. He has spent about eight years in the presidency. His ambition, as far as I am concerned, is not inordinate. Everybody has a right to contest, but he should leave room for the younger generation. He should be an elder statesman now,” he said.

It is difficult to say when the controversy that has, so far, dogged Atiku’s membership of the PDP would go. One thing is however certain, whatever step he takes and whatever comments he makes  in politics are being closely monitored by stakeholders.