THE PRESIDENTIAL FLAG-BEARER: ATIKU ABUBAKAR AND ASIWAJU BOLA TINUBU’S POLITICKING–AN ASSESSMENT

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We heartily felicitate with the indefatigable leaders, Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Tinubu on their landslides electoral victory at their parties primary.

The coalition of political conservatives against the emergence of the now PDP and APC Presidential flag-bearers is nothing but rampant will-o’-the-wisp in the political industry.

These two great statesmen have already shown their admirers_ their adversaries_ and indeed the whole Nigerians_ that they are unstoppable politicians with sterling curriculum vitae. Their unpredictability is unprecedented.

Now that the 2023 presidential election is between Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu, it is likely to be remarkable, seismic and intensely rancorous as the U.S. 1968 presidential election between Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey and Republican nominee Richard Nixon.

The U.S. 1968 election was so close, tumultuous and unsettling. For example, many politicians in the United States were placed on the political watch list as it was marked by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the politicide of Robert F. Kennedy and widespread rejection of the Vietnam War across university campuses.
Richard Nixon became the first non-incumbent vice president to be elected president in American history, a feat that was not repeated until 2020 when Joe Biden was elected president.
Atiku is also a non-incumbent vice president and has won his party’s nomination and if he plays his card well, he is the Nigeria’s Nixon in the 2023 general elections.

Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the ruling party could fit in as Hubert Humphrey of the United States. He is truly and readily prepared than anyone else to spend his last card on the game and he is already in a fierce battle with a highly experienced opponent who is opinionated to have over 12 Million votes in his pocket.

Although, the Lagos State Landlord@ Tinubu has reportedly boasted he has One (1) Trillion Naira as financial war chest coupled with political constellation of rolling forces in his arsenal, my sense as a political observer and election specialist is that; he will need a lever and a place to stand to win this election.
One unique thing to know about these two leaders is that: The last time they held political office was far back as 2007. They both served between 1999-2007.

And the Orthodox conceptualization between ” Atikulatism” and “Tinubuism” has been the subject of doctoral dissertation across faculties of social sciences in many universities in Nigeria.

Politicians of various stripes in our clime continue to look up to Atiku and Tinubu for guidance and inspiration ranging from politics of the mind to its theories, practice and recondity.

The former a capitalism advocate and the latter an advocate of marxism-leninism. Although to some political scholars there’s nothing like capitalism/ socialism/ Marxism Leninism as opposed to democracy. They are synonymous trends with little difference in the style each functions. However that is purely academic and not the talk of this writer at the present.
In truth, this writer owes Atiku Abubakar in high esteem but respects Tinubu and will be fair to him. He (Tinubu) is an all-rounded politician in the class of world-class politicians_ this I must admit.
Both juggernauts have paid their dues. They have impinged on our little corners and continue to inspire us with their psychedelic arts of political politicking.

As far as I know, Atiku and Tinubu are the best candidates of their parties. They have the experience, character and foresightful vision for a proud Nigeria and these are what we need in a president. They were both in the valiant struggle for the restoration of democratic rule in 1990s.
Moreover, they were with those who matched on the streets and had a direct confrontation with the jackboots of the Federal Military Government due to their unrelenting efforts in spearheading the demand for the termination of Military dictatorship in Nigeria.

The above cannot be argued by any realistic and well-informed student of politics conversant with political history.
Both of them sacked Incumbent President_ Goodluck Jonathan & they dualistically handed Buhari down to Nigerians. Marvellous!

These are two presidential candidates who have managed to pack into 8 decades of their existence with so much accomplishments and political trophies that will take 80 different Politicians eighty years each to accomplish.

Nigeria owes them a debt greater than they can ever claim or they shall ever know.I only pray that on the day of judgement, when many politicians and skulduggery leaders would be sent to hellfire for their follies, God would save the souls of Atiku and Tinubu.

For Atiku, it has been his luck in life for people to beg him to accept a position he actually wanted not for self-promotion but for public good. Now he’s being begged to lead the nation once again in presidential capacity.

President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana and other world leaders sent foreign ambassadors to Atiku’s Asokoro residence in the FCT urging him to contest and rescue his fatherland from the Slough of Despond having seen his credible achievements as vice president which are clearly visible on ground for even his political enemies to reassess.

The former vice president as a patriotic leader sensing Nigeria’s vulnerability and knowing that she has a critical role to play in the global space promised to run for the highest office in the land and go for the best defenders, midfielders and strikers in his cabinet if elected president.

In a letter seen from hole-and-corner of Tinubu’s camp which was written to Asiwaju from a renowned world leader, this leader has this to say;
” Dear Asiwaju, you are a leader par excellence. See how you have made Lagos the second fastest growing city in the West_African Subregion. Now is the time for you to make your country a growing city again. Go and give the presidency a shot.”
I am afraid I have not done justice to this topic. Nigerians should decide!
Gentle and discerning reader, for this long-awaited 2023 presidential election, PDP will give all it has to wrestle presidential power from the APC as the APC will use all its humongous resources to ensure she’s not booted out of power.

Atiku and Tinubu will not at all promote political thuggery and intolerance and its attendant ills but will rather accept the electoral outcome _ even if it does not go their way. They are highly venerated statesmen with a large heart and their blood of passion for their countrymen flows freely in their veins.

However, the electorate should keenly watch out for political busybodies armed with artillery and worshipful fans with uncivilized political behaviors, bent on misrepresenting the interest of these presidential candidates for their own personal aggrandizement and selfish political gain.

May the best candidate emerge winner and may we have a hitch free election devoid of thuggery, hullabaloo, chaos and kerfuffle.
Oh Allahu! give us a better President at the 2023 General Elections, let the competent and God-fearing ones emerge victorious as state governors, forgive General Muhammadu Buhari on that ” INEVITABLE DAY”, the day of ” ACCOUNTABILITY”, when the General will stand before you to give an account as to how he managed the affairs of his 200 million children, please overlook the APC of their wonderful lies and gimmicks.

Those very lies which left a caustic taste in our buccal cavity and the gimmicks which were the main reasons we are having a bad leadership and poor governance, an unsettling condition that kept on gnawing away our unity, economy, education, progressive development, lives and property.

BASHĪR ALAAYA is the National President of the Young Democrats Movement of Nigeria.

He can be reached via: bashirmufti5@gmail.com

 

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