By Seye Oladejo
There is something profoundly instructive, if not downright tragic, about the unfolding political misadventures of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. After decades of occupying the commanding heights of Nigeria’s political establishment, holding high public office, contesting presidential elections and nursing an apparently inexhaustible appetite for the nation’s highest office, one would have expected a more dignified approach to the twilight of an otherwise remarkable political journey.
Unfortunately, what we are witnessing is increasingly looking like a case study in how not to end an illustrious but largely uneventful political career.
The unfolding crisis within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the latest political vehicle adopted by Atiku and his coalition of political travellers, has exposed the fundamental contradictions, questionable calculations and institutional deficiencies underpinning what was marketed as a grand opposition rescue mission.
The irony is almost too conspicuous to ignore. A political coalition assembled ostensibly to rescue Nigeria from an alleged democratic emergency appears incapable of rescuing itself from an entirely predictable internal crisis. A movement that promised Nigerians an alternative governance philosophy is struggling with the elementary requirements of party organisation, constitutional compliance, internal democracy and leadership legitimacy.
FROM PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION TO POLITICAL RECYCLING
Atiku Abubakar’s political journey is undoubtedly extensive. He has been Vice President, a presidential aspirant on multiple occasions and a recurring feature of Nigeria’s electoral contests. Yet, after all these years, the question remains: what enduring political legacy, beyond the relentless pursuit of presidential power, does he intend to leave behind?
Politics ought to be about ideas, institutions, service, generational renewal and the capacity to build structures that outlive individual ambitions. It should not become an endless exercise in political migration, opportunistic alliances and the recycling of familiar faces under increasingly unfamiliar party identities.
From the PDP to the ADC, the pattern is becoming difficult to disguise. Whenever political calculations become unfavourable, another platform is sought, another alliance is assembled and another presidential project is launched.
But surely, after decades in the political arena, the former Vice President should appreciate that changing political platforms cannot compensate for the absence of a compelling new political proposition.
Nigeria needs fresh thinking, institutional maturity and visionary leadership, not an endless parade of political veterans whose principal political credential appears to be the length of time they have spent seeking the presidency.
ADC: A COALITION BUILT ON AMBITION, BROUGHT DOWN BY CONTRADICTIONS
The ADC crisis is particularly revealing because it exposes the dangers of assembling a political coalition around the singular objective of capturing power without first establishing a credible institutional foundation.
The arrival of heavyweight political figures into the ADC was presented as the beginning of a formidable opposition movement. Former officeholders, political god-fathers serial presidential aspirants and aggrieved political actors were suddenly united under one umbrella.
But the obvious question was never adequately answered: beyond their collective opposition to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC, what exactly held this coalition together?
A political party is not a refuge for displaced political interests. It is not an emergency shelter for frustrated aspirants, nor should it be reduced to a convenient platform for negotiating individual presidential ambitions.
The unfolding crisis and the legal controversies surrounding the David Mark-led leadership structure, including the implications for the party’s political arrangements and Atiku’s presidential aspirations, have brought these contradictions into sharp focus.
The ADC has maintained its position and indicated its intention to pursue available appellate remedies. We acknowledge its right to do so. However, the fundamental lesson remains: political organisations cannot afford to treat their constitutions as optional documents or internal procedures as inconvenient formalities.
You cannot build a credible democratic alternative on an unstable institutional foundation.
THE RULE OF LAW IS NOT AN INCONVENIENT ACCESSORY
What is even more disturbing is the attempt by some elements within the ADC to turn an internal party dispute and its judicial consequences into a national conspiracy against the opposition.
The reflexive tendency to blame the APC, President Tinubu and the Federal Government for every internal disagreement is becoming an increasingly predictable opposition survival strategy.
Let us be clear: the APC has no interest in determining who leads the ADC, who controls its structures or how it conducts its internal affairs. Those responsibilities belong to the party and its members.
The courts exist to interpret the law, not to validate political convenience. Their judgments may be challenged through established judicial procedures, but they cannot simply be dismissed because their outcomes are politically inconvenient.
If the ADC believes that a court has erred, the appellate courts remain available. That is how a constitutional democracy works.
It is therefore curious that politicians who aspire to govern Nigeria should appear so uncomfortable with the very institutions and procedures that guarantee democratic accountability.
The rule of law cannot be celebrated when it produces favourable outcomes and condemned when it exposes procedural deficiencies. Democracy is not a buffet from which political actors select only the portions that suit their ambitions.
ATIKU’S POLITICAL LEGACY: WHEN AMBITION OUTLIVES OPPORTUNITY
Atiku Abubakar deserves the historical recognition due to anyone who has occupied the office of Vice President and participated extensively in Nigeria’s democratic evolution. However, public service also demands an honest assessment of political achievements, missed opportunities and the lessons of history.
There comes a time in every political career when the pursuit of personal ambition must give way to the responsibility of providing institutional leadership, mentoring younger generations and contributing to the stability of the political system.
Atiku’s repeated presidential pursuits have become a defining feature of his political identity. Yet, the question of succession, generational transition and the development of a sustainable political philosophy remains conspicuously unresolved.
Must every political season culminate in another Atiku presidential project?
Must every emerging political platform eventually become an extension of the same familiar presidential ambition?
And must the Nigerian political space remain perpetually hostage to the calculations of a generation of politicians unwilling to appreciate that leadership is also about knowing when to pass the baton?
Hopefully, Atiku Abubakar will be the last of the career presidential aspirants in our democratic journey. This is not a dismissal of political ambition or the constitutional right of every qualified Nigerian to seek elective office. Rather, it is an appeal for a healthier political culture that recognises the importance of generational renewal, institutional continuity, purposeful leadership and the ability to distinguish national interest from personal ambition.
For our collective political well-being and democratic advancement, Nigeria must move beyond an era in which political relevance is measured by the frequency of presidential contests and the endless search for accommodating political platforms. We need a new generation of political engagement driven by ideas, service, measurable achievements and the willingness to build institutions that will outlive their founders.
The ADC debacle should therefore provide an opportunity for serious introspection. Rather than interpreting every institutional setback as an attack on his political destiny, Atiku should consider the possibility that the country is demanding something more substantial than another presidential contest.
TINUBU AND THE APC: GOVERNANCE IS NOT A GAME OF POLITICAL MUSICAL CHAIRS
While the opposition is preoccupied with leadership disputes, competing claims to party ownership, legal manoeuvres and the survival of individual political ambitions, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC remain focused on the task of governing Nigeria and consolidating the Renewed Hope agenda.
The difference is instructive.
Political leadership is not measured by the number of political platforms one has occupied, the frequency of press statements issued against opponents or the ability to assemble an assortment of political heavyweights around a common grievance.
It is measured by vision, courage, policy direction, institutional capacity and the willingness to take difficult decisions in the national interest.
President Tinubu’s administration has undertaken far-reaching reforms in the face of considerable economic challenges. Nigerians are entitled to scrutinise the outcomes, demand improvements and hold the government accountable. That is the essence of democracy.
However, the opposition must do more than complain about the consequences of governance decisions. It must demonstrate that it possesses the coherence, capacity and institutional discipline to offer a credible alternative.
At present, the ADC’s internal contradictions are making that proposition increasingly difficult to sustain.
THE FINAL ACT SHOULD BE ONE OF STATESMANSHIP, NOT DESPERATION
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Atiku’s present political predicament is not the uncertainty surrounding his ADC presidential aspirations. It is the possibility that an otherwise significant political career may be remembered more for its unrelenting pursuit of power than for the enduring institutions, ideas and successors it helped to build.
There is still an opportunity for statesmanship. There is still room for political maturity, responsible leadership and a dignified appreciation of the democratic process.
But that opportunity cannot be seized through endless political brinkmanship, conspiracy theories, blame-shifting and the desperate attempt to convert every internal crisis into an indictment of the ruling party.
The ADC must resolve its problems through its constitution and the courts, not through threats, propaganda or the convenient invention of external enemies.
Atiku, for his part, must confront the uncomfortable reality that political longevity does not automatically translate into political relevance, just as repeated presidential ambition does not necessarily constitute a legacy.
Nigeria’s democracy is bigger than Atiku Abubakar, bigger than the ADC and certainly bigger than the presidential ambitions of any individual.
The former Vice President has had his opportunities, occupied his positions and made his contributions. Perhaps the most consequential political decision he can make at this stage is to rise above the compulsive politics of perpetual presidential contests and embrace the nobility of statesmanship.
Hopefully, history will remember him as the last of a generation of career presidential aspirants, marking the end of an era in which personal ambition routinely overshadowed the imperative of generational renewal and institutional development.
After all, there are many ways to end an illustrious political career. Becoming a permanent aspirant in search of an accommodating political platform, only to be overwhelmed by the elementary demands of internal party democracy, should certainly not be one of them.
Mogaji (Hon.) Seye Oladejo is
Lagos State APC Spokesman.
