By Vincent Ughammadu
As the critical issue and discussion about zoning of the 2023 presidency in Nigeria and governorship seat in Enugu state gather momentum ahead of 2023 general election, two politicians in Nigeria have stood out in double speaking on the issue. They are the duo of ex-vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is also a 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant and ex-deputy Senate President and Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial zone, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is also a governorship aspirant in Enugu state.
Atiku has contested presidential primaries and elections on different political platforms since 2007 till date. He contested under the defunct Action Congress in 2007, PDP in 2011, and APC in 2015. Don’t tell me that President Buhari contested severally or repeatedly before winning in 2015. Mind you that Buhari was consistent and committed on opposition platforms unlike Atiku. That is by the way. Ahead of the 2011 PDP presidential primary which Atiku contested against the then President Goodluck Jonathan and lost after emerging as the consensus candidate of the North in the contest to retain or sustain zoning in the party, Atiku warned that if the leadership of the party and that of the country jettison the already existing zoning arrangement, it would amount to making violent change inevitable.
As the critical issue and discussion about zoning of the 2023 presidency in Nigeria and governorship seat in Enugu state gather momentum ahead of 2023 general election, two politicians in Nigeria have stood out in double speaking on the issue. They are the duo of ex-vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is also a 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant and ex-deputy Senate President and Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial zone, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is also a governorship aspirant in Enugu state.
Atiku has contested presidential primaries and elections on different political platforms since 2007 till date. He contested under the defunct Action Congress in 2007, PDP in 2011, and APC in 2015. Don’t tell me that President Buhari contested severally or repeatedly before winning in 2015. Mind you that Buhari was consistent and committed on opposition platforms unlike Atiku. That is by the way. Ahead of the 2011 PDP presidential primary which Atiku contested against the then President Goodluck Jonathan and lost after emerging as the consensus candidate of the North in the contest to retain or sustain zoning in the party, Atiku warned that if the leadership of the party and that of the country jettison the already existing zoning arrangement, it would amount to making violent change inevitable.
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Speaking at National Stakeholders’ Conference, 2010 at the Thisday Dome, Abuja on December 14, 2010, the former Vice President who noted that he was not praying that the political situation of the party and that of the country should get to the level of applying violent means to address the nation’s problems, also stressed that if the PDP fails to embrace reforms, it stands the risk of making itself irrelevant.
Similarly his then ally and former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu, who is now National Chairman of PDP, called on Nigerians, especially those from the South to put behind them those eras in the 1960s which produced coups and counter coups in the country, just as northerners became Heads of State during the periods. Ayu, who admitted that the task ahead of them was ensuring that the Consensus Candidate for the north, Atiku Abubakar got the party’s ticket as well as became the President of the country come 2011 said, “we are trying to tell you that we have difficult task ahead of us. If you are not present here today, the consensus effort would have been a failure. But with your presence here today, Atiku ceases to be the Northern Consensus Candidate but the Consensus Candidate of Nigeria.” The Conference which had as its theme, “Building Consensus for National Unity”, was convened by the Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF, the Igbo Political Forum, the Yoruba Redemption group and the South South Unity Forum. Speaking further, Atiku said, “Our coming here is not about Atiku, it is about the peace, the unity and stability of Nigeria as exemplified by all the speakers who spoke to this audience today. Today is about building consensus for national unity. We have some elder statesmen on consensus building. It is about the rule o f law, due process and standing for what is right.
“I am an instrument for realizing these values. I promise that by the grace of Almighty God, we shall bring this country back to the part of honour. Before I end this short address let me send a message to our great party the PDP: if the PDP does not reform, it stands the risk of making itself irrelevant. Let me again send another message to the leadership of PDP that those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable,” ( Vanguard Newspaper, December 15, 2010). After losing the presidential primary to President Jonathan in 2011, Atiku defected to All Progressives Congress in 2015, contested the party’s presidential ticket and lost to Buhari. In a desperate bid again, Atiku rejoined PDP ahead of the 2019 presidential election, contested its presidential primary and won it. He lost the presidential election to Buhari in 2019. As 2023 presidential election draws near, Atiku has already declared his intention to contest again on the PDP platform. This time and shockingly, Atiku is singing a different song on zoning of the presidency. Atiku who was before now an apostle and advocate of zoning is now strongly against zoning of presidency in 2023. In a news story published in Punch Newspaper of February 12, 2022, Atiku faulted the call for PDP to zone its presidential ticket to a particular region of the country, adding that the constitution of Nigeria does not recognize it. He spoke when members of a group, Let’s Fix Nigeria with Atiku paid him solidarity visit at his Abuja residence. What a sudden doublespeak and political somersault by Atiku? Is Atiku saying that there is no zoning principle in the PDP? If yes, that is lie from the pit of hell.
Such blatant lie is too demeaning and cheapening of Atiku’s personality, no matter what his political interest is ahead of 2023 general election. What has changed that made Atiku to be prevaricating and pandering on zoning of the presidency, if not his selfish interest, that he now places above the interest of majority of Nigerians.
Atiku’s doublespeak on zoning ahead of the 2023 elections is not different from that of Senator Ekweremadu, who is now opposed to the zoning of governorship seat in Enugu State. Ekweremadu is hoping to latch on his sponsored ongoing proxy battle against zoning of governorship seat in Enugu to actualize his governorship ambition in the state in 2023, which all odds are against him and his senatorial zone, Enugu West.
Ughammadu, a lawyer and PDP member writes from Wuse 2, Abuja.
