By Kabiru R. Anwar

A recent hint by the Adamawa State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdurrahman Bobboi, that the party at all levels is making unrelenting efforts to persuade former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to return to its fold has created waves of reactions in both the APC and the PDP.

Addressing pressmen in Yola, Bobboi said the party could not afford to allow Atiku, who was elected vice president under its platform to remain in the APC where he was being undermined and his resourcefulness not utilized for national development.

He therefore announced plans to constitute a reconciliation committee under former Governor Boni Haruna. He also assured members that ward and local government congresses would be conducted soon.

Atiku or any of his lieutenants have not yet distanced themselves from the Adamawa PDP, rather the body language and utterances of the Wazirin Adamawa points to the fact that he had grudges with the ruling APC in principle.

For instance, three days ago, Atiku chided the National Assembly, which he said is dominated by APC members, of reneging in the promises they made to Nigerians under the guise of change.

He said he was not happy the Senate rejected restructuring in its moves to amend the 1999 Constitution, saying Nigerians deserve a better deal.

Back in Adamawa, less than a week after Bobboi announced their plan to woo Atiku back to the PDP, crisis resumed in the state chapter of the party with the immediate past chairman, Joel Madaki, on Thursday, releasing a letter from the National Working Committee and signed by Senator Abdul Ningi, purportedly recognising him as factional leader. The content of the letter prevented both Madaki and any other person from conducting ward and local government congresses in the state.

Madaki told journalists that his tenure as the state chairman of the party came to an end January this year but there was no proper congresses to usher in new executives, describing the congresses that brought Bobboi to office as a coup against majority views orchestrated by Ali Modu Sheriff.

A senior official of the PDP in the state who did not want his name published said the letter could be a deliberate attempt by some elements in the national secretariat who did not want Atiku back to punish Bobboi for his comments.

In view of Atiku’s antecedents of jumping between political parties, even some of his loyal supporters in the All Progressives Congress (APC) became worried that the assertion by the opposition leader may be just a clue to a done deal with Atiku. That it may just be a matter of time before he decamps back to the party that denied him even the chance to seek for nomination in free and fair primary election.

Atiku was elected as Adamawa State governor in 1999 under the PDP platform before his eventual nomination as vice president to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He fell out with his boss after their re-election for second term after it was clear Obasanjo did not want him as successor in 2007, sparking an intense rivalry in the presidency that consumed some of the vice president’s aides.

Following a fierce duel for control of party structures between the president and his estranged deputy, Obasanjo emerged victorious, edging Atiku and his supporters out of the party hierarchy from ward to national level as part of grand strategy for scuttling his presidential bid.

Having lost out in the ruling party, the embattled vice president defected to the Action Congress (AC) in 2007 to realise his presidential ambition where he was warmly received by the South West allies led by former Lagos Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who envisioned a North-South West political alliance to defeat the ruling party.

Having the party in his firm control, President Obasanjo supported a two term Katsina governor, Umaru ‘Yar’Adua to emerge as the PDP presidential flag bearer while AC fielded Atiku.  Atiku lost to Yar’adua and as the opposition strategised to reposition themselves for future elections, Atiku decamped back to the PDP to the dismay of his South West allies.

Reports indicated that he defected back to the PDP without due consultation with his allies in the AC, a development that angered his south western allies who since then dismissed him as unreliable.

Following the death of Yar’a dua in 2010, his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan succeeded him as president and in 2011 defeated Atiku at the presidential primaries.

In 2014, Atiku and five governors from the ruling PDP formed a faction called new PDP before joining a merger of political parties to form the APC that would end the 16-year rule of the PDP in 2015.

Still unrelenting in his pursuit for the highest office in Nigeria, Atiku contested in the APC presidential primary in 2015 and lost to Muhammad Buhari who emerged as the candidate and eventually led the party to victory against an incumbent for the first time in Nigeria’s history.

Two years into Buhari’s tenure, presidential aspirants including those from the ruling party notably Atiku and former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso have begun strategising for 2019.

Pundits have since forecast imminent defection by Atiku to another platform where he can realise his ambition as his chances in the APC continue to wane as a result of the huge influence of Buhari and Tinubu blocs, both of whom may not be comfortable with Atiku when there’s a vacancy in Aso Rock. 

They believe that Atiku who would have since defected to another party was holding out to read the situation following uncertainty over the president’s health.  Buhari’s possible decision not to seek for a second term would open windows for politicians like Atiku and Kwankwaso.

Phineas Padio, former Publicity Secretary of the APC in Adamawa and supporter of Atiku alleges attempt by some APC leaders to block Atiku’s chances in the party by working against his ambition, saying the former vice president should seek alternative platform to actualize his presidential bid should the APC deny him the opportunity.

Padio dismissed a view that Atiku did not make meaningful impact in the 2015 APC primary election after he came third, saying the difference between Kwankwaso who came second and Atiku was twenty votes and while Kwankwaso got most of his 974 votes from Kano State, Atiku’s 954 votes from across the country, showing national acceptability.

Speaking to Daily Trust, the state Organising Secretary of the APC, Ahmad Lawan, warned the former vice president against returning to the PDP, saying the now opposition party had tried to destroy his political career in the past and its attempt to woo him back might be a trap.

“PDP is an evil mother that enjoys destroying its children. It ruled for sixteen years but could not keep its members. Whoever is in APC is there to contribute to national development. Those who frustrated Atiku out of PDP are still there and will continue to fight him. He should remain in APC and contest for election. Buhari contested several times before winning. Jumping from one party to another will not give him the presidency.”

An APC pro-Buhari chieftain, Uba Dan Arewa, dismissed allegations that Atiku was being sidelined by the ruling party, noting that such complaints arose when some of the chieftains failed to gain material benefit from the ruling party, advising statesmen like Atiku to serve Nigerians rather than asking for something from them.

He argued that the problem with APC were the state governors whom he accused of jettisoning the party policies and refusing to key into the progressive drive of President Buhari.

He decried the refusal by some governor to settle salaries and pension arrears despite billions of naira they received from the center as bailout funds and as Paris Club refund in the last two years.

“Don’t blame the APC, blame the person in APC who shortchanged you or is not performing. Use your vote to change him,” he advised.