A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions
Ambition has several definitions that approximate believing in oneself even when no one else does. It has both the intoxicating power of alcohol and the hallucinating influence of hard drugs all pumped into one head.
When you are caught up in the inebriated world of ambition, your aspiration is the only music you can hear. And being ambitious when you are on the wrong lane to the destination can equally be disastrous and futile.
Nigeria may be about to record an unprecedented upset. That is, if by 2023 the presidential flags of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP are not flown by the former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (APC) and the former Vice President and Wazirin Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (PDP).
Not necessarily because they are such terrific electoral assets. Not at all. Rather, they have demonstrated more hunger for the Aso Rock Villa than any living Nigerian, except perhaps PMB. The duo can do anything humanly and politically possible to get through their ambition of ruling this country. Both men are believed to have the resources to push through their dreams. They are also excellent national brands. Also associated with them is the allegation of corrupt enrichment which their traducers have not been able to establish but have continued to fan.
Even if they did engage in treasury looting, they may have deployed the spoils gainfully in job creation through human and material capital development. The duo has visible business enterprises and organisations that have massively engaged Nigerians. The two men are on record to have mentored a lot more political followers in this dispensation than their peers.
Tinubu is a Yoruba Muslim from the South West, Atiku is a Fulani Muslim from the North East. Atiku has been on the presidential ballot for considerably long, in fact, since this dispensation. Tinubu’s political engineering has been designed to ultimately land him in the Aso Rock Villa.
These two political characters are easily the most popular of Nigeria’s unyielding army of presidential aspirants in the current republic.
The concern in political circles now across the country is how to do away with these two men without causing major political disequilibrium in their respective parties. Since 2015 that the APC came to power, all the manoeuvrings have been how to weaken and disentangle Asiwaju Tinubu’s grip on the APC jugular. The dramatic sack of Comrade Adams Oshiohmole and his National Working Committee in June 2020 was meant to close Tinubu’s chapter and influence in the party but it’s not achievable going by the fuss in the party at the moment.
All the schemings by various interests to sidetrack and drown Tinubu’s political prowess has met expected resistance. As of today, Tinubu appears to be the only person whose failure to pick the presidential ticket of the party may cause some disquiet in the system.
Tinubu has become the bull in a china shop. Getting him out requires extra care to reduce the likely collateral damage. But can APC get Tinubu out democratically? Time will tell.
APC is seeking the insertion of a consensus and indirect primary arrangements for political parties into the amended Electoral Act before President Muhammadu Buhari can sign it into law. This is ostensibly designed to avoid confrontation with Tinubu in the Democratic arena.
The political spinners for APC believe that Tinubu with his stupendous wealth and known generous disposition and reach over time across the country, it might be hard, if not impossible, to defeat him at direct primaries. The refusal of the President to assent to the amended Electoral Act with direct primaries was a victory for the anti-Tinubu group in the APC fold who strongly lobbied for it.
The fear of Tinubu is also fingered in the apparent inability of the APC to hold its National Convention leading to frequent postponements. Tinubu’s strength has endured despite all these spirited efforts to drown it.
However, some of his political creations have turned away from him and even are chasing the same position he is desiring. The man who was his campaign director on the two occasions he sought a gubernatorial position in Lagos State, also his Commissioner for Works for eight years who is today Minister of the Interior, Rauf Aregbosola, the current Vice President, Prof Yemi Osibajo, who was his Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos, as well as the outgoing Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, are all eyeing the presidential saddle. The cohesion in his political family is no longer intact.
In the opposite party, the PDP, the former Vice President and 2019 Presidential flag bearer Atiku Abubakar is also occupying a huge space ahead of 2023. He refuses to let any competitor outshine him. Atiku’s already established national name is a huge plus as he requires very little packaging in the political market. He is already a political brand but whether the brand is wanted at this time will be determined as events unfold.
Although Atiku remains the most visible name, he no longer commands the political respect he did in 2019. This is due to many variables. Some party gladiators still hold it against him that he abandoned the party and went into self exile after failing to clinch the presidency in 2019. When his leadership was needed to help navigate the party in the turbulent political waters of opposition politics he went AWOL.
Many believe that the needless crisis now rocking the PDP to the extent of being at the mercy of the courts could have been averted if an Atiku was available to lead from the frontline. Even though Atiku has tried severally to explain himself on this matter and promising to stay around henceforth, not a few see his current confession as a talk of politicians who twist tongues in the chase of ambition.
His electoral performance in the North over time is also not too impressive making his enemies argue fervently that he is not even liked by his Northern brothers. Even in his home state and region, he struggles electorally. Added to all this mix is his age that is seen as too advanced at 77 in 2023 for the huge task awaiting any successor to PMB.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s not-so-elegant performance since 2015 is largely attributed to old age. He confirmed that at his new year interview with Channels television that age was a handicap.
On the PDP side, Atiku remains the man to beat in the PDP presidential contest. To defeat Atiku in the 2023 presidential primaries will require some kind of ingenuity that PDP lacks because of the needless impasse. The contest to defeat Atiku might be so fierce that the party may suffer enormous bruises thereafter. Another case of collateral damage.
Perhaps, the most convenient and adorable stance for these two political irokos in the two key political parties could have been to turn in their political structures in favour of one of their godsons and save themselves from the embarrassment of losing. It’s indeed true that nothing stops kingmakers from becoming king but it would always be better to remain in the status that enhances one’s profile.
It’s believed that anybody these two great politicians decide to channel their support to in their parties is most likely going to pick their party ticket.
If, for instance, Atiku decides to support his running mate in 2019, the former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, his patriotism and love for peace and concord in the land would be louder. Ditto if Tinubu, in the spirit of Southern solidarity, decides to look inwards for one of his younger boys or even eastwards to pick one of his strong supporters.
The place of these great politicians in our political history book will be outstanding if they decide to make this huge sacrifice in the interest of peace and unity in our country.
In desperation, Atiku and his diehard supporters may cut deals with some South-South characters wishing to sink their teeth in the man’s money pot. Similarly, Tinubu’s men are toying with the idea of another Muslim-Muslim ticket just to gain the parochial religious sentiment of most Northern Muslims at the expense of the Christian brethren.
Ọkpụzụ n’amaghị akpụ ègbè, lee égbé anya n’ọdụ is the Igbo proverb that asks the blacksmith to study the tail of a kite to learn how to fashion a dane gun.
The Muslim-Muslim ticket has never really worked in Nigeria. The Abiola-Kingibe experiment crashed before take-off, culminating in the June 12, 1993, imbroglio. Tough-talking generals, Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon, another Muslim-Muslim ticket in army uniform, also crashed too early to be termed a success.
Truth is that Atiku and Tinubu are so grossly twinned in their ambition that they may dismiss their detractors and try anything, even the unworkable permutations. Even the Nigerian Maradona in government was wise never to try it. Nigeria will take time to mature for it. However, the electorate decides in the final analysis.
How ready are we? Nigeria under PMB is still a fragmented country, not yet a nation. May God help us.
