By DELE MOMODU
Guest Lecturer at The Atiku Abubakar 79th birthday lecture
PROTOCOLS
It gives me great pleasure, and I consider it a privilege, to have been invited to speak about one of the greatest Nigerians alive today, former Vice President ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR (GCON). There’s no way I would have turned down this request.
Just last week, I was invited to a roundtable meeting at the British House of Lords in London, also at the behest of Alhaji ATIKU ABUBAKAR. I wish to offer my sincere gratitude to ALHAJI for his confidence in me and his demonstration of love for me at all times.
My earliest recollection of Alhaji was wayback in 1993, in the beautiful city of Jos, where three political gladiators, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and Chief Moshood Abiola had locked horns in a world heavyweight bout to decide who picks the Presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party. I was barely 32/33 at that time but I was politically
savvy and heavily inspired and motivated by my adopted father, Chief Moshood Abiola.
The SDP primary of that year remains unprecedented till this day. I will not bore you with details of the Convention that brought these juggernauts into a three horse race, which only one of them can, and must win. But there was a logjam and the only way a winner could have emerged was for one of them to step down and quit the race. This was a tough decision for all of them.
Alhaji Babagana Kingibe enjoyed the avuncular support of most of the SDP Governors. Alhaji Atiku had access to the extensive networks of his mentor, Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. The Abiola team calculated well, and smartly, by reaching out to the godfather, pronto. The incredible then happened. Without much ado, Alhaji stepped down and thus cleared the coast for the eventual victory of my adopted father, Chief Moshood Abiola. Since then, unknown to Alhaji Atiku, I have been his big fan. Alhaji did not throw tantrums or sulk endlessly like a baby. He did not seek to destroy their party. Not that he didn’t have enough reasons to be angry, and bitter, but he chose the path of uncommon equanimity and submitted himself to the immutable will of Allah, at His appointed time.
What could have made matters worse, Alhaji Atiku failed to clinch the runningmate slot, against conventional wisdom, of give and take. Again, Alhaji Atiku went back to his drawing board, and about his life, peacefully without raining a tirade of insults against distinguished elders who have paid their dues to our country. Even when he had the opportunity to retaliate, after the June 12 debacle, Alhaji followed a path of honor by supporting Chief Abiola, unconditionally, for the revalidation of his mandate. Alhaji Atiku is not your common politician.
As fate would have it, he later contested the Governorship election in his home state, Adamawa, formally known as Gongola, and won. But before settling down to his Gubernatorial assignments, he was invited to be the Vice President to President Olusegun Obasanjo. He would soon become the most effective, and influential, Vice President, ever in Nigeria. As the head of the economic team, he was able to attract, and work, with the best and brightest. The gentleman’s agreement was that he would vie for the office of the President after one term, but again he was let down. He could have fought tooth and nail against his Boss, President Olusegun OBASANJO, but he chose the path of absolute peace and patience. But his boss was unhappy that Alhaji and his friends ever challenged him. President OBASANJO went after them like bullets. And there were collateral damages here and there. Several of my friends in Alhaji’s office at the Presidential villa were summarily sacked.
I must confess that I have never seen a man like Alhaji before. He takes everything in his strides. He took the punches well and all the darts like a porcupine. Most politicians would have brought down the roofs. But his faith in Allah is unshakable. What should have been to his glory eventually became his albatross. But Allah compensated him with extraordinary favor as a businessman. While his peers became parasites, feeding fat on the State, Alhaji became a modern day King Midas and most businesses he touched turned into gold. Though he never abandoned his political dreams, he pursued his ambition with visionary clarity and painstaking discipline. He never engaged in violence. He rather invested, unrelentingly, in the rule of Law. Whenever he contested and he felt robbed of victory, he headed straight to the courts of the land. Many of his landmark cases have since enriched our jurisprudence and legal lexicon. He has remained a tireless fighter, and defender, of the rights of the common man.
It is a tragedy that such a man of sharp intellect, and prodigious talents, has been endlessly maligned, in the name of politics.
It must be noted that many of our political icons had suffered similar persecution in the past. My sad conclusion is that when we refuse to encourage good people, the worst amongst us will continue to thrive.
I make bold to declare my maximum respect for ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR as a great man of ideas and ideals, a peacemaker, man of God, blessed family man, absolutely detribalised, very cosmopolitan, well educated, versatile, humble in spirit, unpretentious, experienced and exposed. He is without doubt, a man of diversity and destiny. May Allah preserve him for the benefit of all us because in the days of tribulations, kids must run to the elders of the house. No one else is better prepared for this role at this auspicious moment than Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (GCON).
Please, let’s all rise and give a standing ovation to a leader who has refused to give up on his goals…