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Details Of 5 Political Battles TINUBU Fought With ATIKU & Won
The battle between the former Vice President and PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has become the most talked about subject in the country today. But those who have been following their friendship for some time now will tell you their political battles did not just start today. These two have been going toe-to-toe with each other for many years and the battle between them may probably not end with the Supreme Court judgement expected to come in the next couple of months. For as long as President Tinubu remains in Aso Rock, Atiku Abubakar will not rest!
Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have been political associates and sometimes foes for as many can remember. Unknown to many people, Atiku’s political journey did not start in 1999 when he became the Vice President to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, or when he contested at the primary against MKO Abiola ahead of the historic June 12 elections. Atiku has been in politics since the early 1980s while he was a top custom officer. Asiwaju has also been an ardent follower of MKO Abiola, the Pan-Yoruba movement, Afenifere and financial supporter of most pro-western political structures. Abubakar’s first foray into politics was in the early 1980s when he worked behind the scenes on the governorship campaign of Bamanga Tukur, who at that time was managing director of the Nigeria Ports Authority. He canvassed for votes on behalf of Tukur, and also donated to the campaign.
Towards the end of his Customs career, Atiku met General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who had been second-in-command Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters between 1976 and 1979 with Obasanjo as the Head of State. Abubakar was drawn by Yar’Adua into the political meetings that were now happening regularly in Yar’Adua’s Lagos home. It will shock you that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku have been very close allies at these times and they were holding meetings and computing political strategies together to form a strong political party ahead of the forthcoming third republic under General Ibrahim Babangida.
Atiku Abubakar, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the likes of Babagana Kingibe, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and many others mobilized in 1988 and by 1989, created the Peoples Front of Nigeria (PFN).
That same year, Atiku Abubakar was elected the National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Front of Nigeria in the build-up to the Third Nigerian Republic. Abubakar won a seat to represent his constituency at the 1989 Constituent Assembly, set up to decide a new constitution for Nigeria. The People’s Front was eventually denied registration by the military government (none of the groups that applied was registered), and the PFN merged with the government-created Social Democratic Party (SDP). By 1992, Asiwaju was elected to the Senate, representing the Lagos West constituency in the short-lived Nigeria’s Third Republic.
In 1990, Abubakar announced his Gongola State gubernatorial bid under the same party as Asiwaju. A year later, before the elections could hold, Gongola State was broken up into two – Adamawa and Taraba States – by the Federal Government. Abubakar fell into the new Adamawa State. After the contest, he won the SDP Primaries in November 1991, but was soon disqualified by the government from contesting the elections.
By 1993, Atiku, who had lost on the first ballot at the SDP presidential party, worked with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other party faithful to ensure that MKO won the June 12 elections. After the political break for all pro-democracy advocates, civilians converged again during the transition program of General Sanni Abacha, and Atiku Abubakar showed interest to contest for the Gubernatorial seat of Adamawa State under the United Nigeria Congress Party, UNCP the transition program came to an end with the death of General Abacha.
In 1998, after the death of Abacha, he joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and later secured nomination for Governor of Adamawa State, winning December 1998 governorship elections, but before he could be sworn in he accepted a position as the running mate to the PDP presidential candidate, former military head of State General Olusegun Obasanjo who went on to win 1999 presidential election ushering in the Fourth Nigerian Republic. At this time, Asiwaju had become the flag bearer of the new party, Alliance For Democracy, AD, and he won the seat of Governor of Lagos. Despite serving in the political space at different capacity, Asiwaju and Atiku maintained cordiality and supported one another where necessary. Lagos was Atiku’s second home and they never allowed political differences affect their age-long friendship.
But soon, things began to go awry between these two friends. This is to be expected as they have both been on different sides of the political divide in the last two decades or so. In 2011 for instance, Atiku Abubakar contested again former president Goodluck Jonathan and lost. For reasons only he can explain, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu then supported Jonathan and mobilised every arsenal he had at his disposal to ensure Jonathan won the election. This, as would be expected, did not go down well with Atiku. He did not find it funny at all. But Tinubu’s preference to support others against Atiku did not end there. In 2015, Tinubu and former President Muhammadu Buhari had reached some form of alliance. Tinubu formed the APC to create a party that will provide the wide spread support and votes Buhari needed to emerge president. From out of nowhere, thinking he could take advantage of the fact that Buhari didn’t have the financial capacity to sway the delegates to his side, Atiku threw his hat into the ring and declared he was contesting for the APC primary. He was confident he could out muscle a hapless Buhari. But he forgot he had a formidable opposition in Tinubu waiting to take him on. Tinubu matched him dollar for dollar and at the end of the day, Buhari won the primaries and went on to become president.
Their third major political battle could be said to be the re-election of Buhari in 2019. Many will recall that, at the time, there were speculations that Buhari had shut Tinubu out of his government. He was barely seen around Aso rock and had not been invited by the former president to meet with him all through the second half of Buhari’s first term. Atiku felt he had a chance this time. He was banking on the rumours that the friendship between Buhari and Tinubu had fallen apart. He was certain this was the time to strike. Indeed, he struck. And again, his nemesis, Tinubu, was waiting for him. Asiwaju again threw his full weight behind his friend, Buhari and Atiku lost, yet again.
Then came 2023. This time, it was a three horse race between Atiku, Tinubu and Obi. But everyone knew Tinubu was the presidential candidate to beat. He had gone through the most grueling political campaign ever witnessed in the country. While his detractors scorned him, called him all manner of names and gave him no chance, he went about his business quietly. He perfected his game plan. He picked the right vice president that would amass votes for him. And he won the election clearly and fairly. This election not only hurt Atiku greatly, it also put paid to his political career. It marked the beginning of the end of his dream to become president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Atiku did everything he could to stop Tinubu. He tried to get the cabals to work against him by trying to stop him from contesting the APC primary and when that didn’t work, Atiku and the cabals used the CBN to create scarcity of cash, thinking that would stop Tinubu from winning. But it didn’t. Tinubu literally buried Atiku’s political career with his emergence as the winner of the presidential election.
From the look of things, Atiku is not willing to accept the fact that he has been defeated by Tinubu yet again. This is why he went after Tinubu’s educational history and alleged that Tinubu never attended Chicago State University as stated in the certificate he presented and that if he indeed attended, he did so using a female certificate. His hope was that if he could prove that Tinubu presented a forged certificate, the Supreme Court could admit the evidence and disqualify Tinubu and then order a rerun. But all of that exercise proved to be nothing but a waste of time and resources. The Chicago State University Registrar, under oath, declared that Tinubu indeed attended their university and graduated with honors and that whatever discrepancies are reflected in his certificate must’ve been purely human error which happens from time to time. And so, yet again, Atiku lost.
And the situation, according to legal experts, is not about to change at the Supreme Court. Atiku should be prepared to be defeated for the umpteenth time by the man who has beaten him over and over and over again, and that man is the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
– WALE LAWAL
(08037209290)
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