By Emmanuel Oladesu
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and his crisis-ridden, borrowed platform suffered another predictable setback yesterday.
It could have been averted, if the Wazirin Adamawa and his co- travellers – Gen. David Mark, emergency chairman of the party, Chief Rauf Aregbesola, the secretary, Rotimi Amaechi, his running mate and others – had formed a separate party instead of acquiring a divided and disputed structure.
The axe fell on the interim National Working Committee (NWC) at a time the party is trying to begin a vote hunt. Party members were enveloped in confusion. May of them did not even remember that a case was in court.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, declared that Atiku had built castles in the air. He ruled that the Senator Mark-led Caretaker Committee of the ADC, which organised the primary that produced Atiku as the presidential flag bearer, was erected on a false foundation.
The judgment sacked the executives and invalidated all actions they took on behalf of the party
The actions included Atiku’s nomination as candidate. Also, Atiku’s choice of former Rivers State Governor Amaechi as running mate is a nullity.
Instructively, the Supreme Court had ordered the return of the case to the High Court. Between then and yesterday, no concrete step was made to reconcile with the plaintiff.
ADC immediately vowed to appeal the verdict. If the appeal succeeds, there is hope. If not, it is the end of the road for a party that found it difficult to put its house in order.
The bone of contention is orderly and democratic succession at the level of the exco, which polarised the party. Justice Lifu found merit in a suit brought before the court by the aggrieved former National Deputy Chairman (Northeast) of the party, Nafiu Bala Gombe, who
had objected to the process through which the Mark-led Committee took over the reins of leadership.
Gombe had cried foul, insisting that with the resignation of the former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, he was the right person to assume the leadership. Instead of making peace with the aggrieved, party chieftains, full of bravado, ignored his protest. Gombe therefore, approached the court for the nullification all actions taken on behalf of the party by the Senator Mark-led leadership. He also urged the court to restrain Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as National Chairman and Secretary, insisting that their emergence violated the party’s constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Defendants in the suit included ADC, INEC, Mark, Aregbesola and Chief Ralph Nwosu.
A major minus is that Atiku, a long standing contender for the highest office, has not been able to build and sustain formidable structures, unlike other serious actors. Even, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) of Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua, which he inherited, was later hit by dispersal. But it was the strength of Yar’Adua in the Third Republic just as the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was the backbone of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP) gave a mileage to Waziri Ibrahim in the Northeast and the original Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) gave prominence to Mallam Aminu Kano in old Kano State in the Third Republic.
Ahead of 2015 polls, All Progressives Congress (APC) became a dominant opposition party, borne out of the voluntary fusion or alliance of the three major parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). They came together, surrendered their registration certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and came up with a big opposition party.
The question is: how was ADC acquired? Gombe conveyed the impression that the party was hijacked. Although Amaechi said he and a former APC governor prepared the groundwork for the ADC, the rules that guided them was unknown in the enterprise of acquisition. When grievances arose due to the hijack, were they strategically ventilated? How did Mark become chairman? How did Aregbesola become secretary?
Why did Atiku not emulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, builder and consolidator, who built Action Congress (AC)/Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and motivated the birth of the APC?
Why can’t the former vice president also take a cue from Senator Seriake Dickson, who formed the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) and now enjoys the status of a national leader? In the politics of Nigeria, Atiku is senior to Dickson. But the wisdom and experience never manifested.
To observers, Atiku’s acquisitive tendency has become his undoing.
The Adamawa politician likes to be spoon-feeded. It makes the Atiku/Amaechi combination a high risk ticket, which is now at the mercy of a section of the original party owners. He wanders from wilderness to wilderness with his huge ambition, always looking for a pillar outside his control to lean on. He does not own a vehicle; he is always hiring. He had three years to build a party, but he opted to chase shadows.
Atiku had nursed the aspiration to rule. But, that ambition has never been matched by proper planning.
That was why he and his supporters were back to square one yesterday.
Dr Emmanuel Oladesu is the Deputy Editor of The Nation newspaper
