Olusunle: Atiku’s Govt Will Reset Nigeria

In an interview with Chuks Okocha, the Special Adviser on media and publicity to the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Tunde Olusunle, speaks on salient issues, particularly what Nigerians stand to benefit if Atiku is elected President at the poll on Saturday. Excerpts:

What should Nigerians expect from an Atiku Abubakar regime?

I can assure you that Nigerians can expect, and duly be served a listening, accessible, caring and performing Atiku Abubakar dispensation. That a PDP government under Atiku will be responsive, responsible and proactive, is  given. While the ticket of one of Atiku’s major contenders in this contest has told adherents of a particular faith that their sensitivities and sensibilities don’t count, Atiku has always, and continuously, respected our religious plurality.

On every occasion he got the ticket of a party to contest, he ensured immediate and instantaneous regard for Christians. From Ben Obi, who was once his running mate, to Peter Obi, to Ifeanyi Okowa, Atiku has always been spontaneously circumspect and pragmatic. We can expect an Atiku government that will speedily reset, reorder and reorganise our fractured and discombobulated polity.

One of the popular slogans on the Atiku political train, is that he will unify Nigeria. All of a sudden, under the APC government, Nigerians began to think of themselves along ethnic and religious lines. This is not how we have always been.

But when a president constitutes a federal cabinet of 42 ministers and appropriates 10 topmost portfolios to his own geopolitical zone, nepotism cannot have a better name.

Or how do you describe it when the ministers of finance, defence, police affairs, agriculture, justice, water resources, disaster management and humanitarian services, aviation, even petroleum which has the president as substantive minister, are from one zone?

When you run through the list of members of the National Security Council, (NSC) and you find 80 percent, if not 90 percent of the constituents from a particular section of the country and of a particular faith, nothing can be more upsetting. Atiku served in an Obasanjo government where the inauguration of the National Security Council had to be delayed for a few days, to ensure that the south east geopolitical zone was duly accommodated in the scheme in 1999. That is the kind of fairness and equity Atiku will bring to Nigeria.

Assuming that Atiku wins on Saturday, how swiftly will his administration impact on Nigerians?

Speedily and with every alacrity. Atiku is more than adequately prepared. He has always been a multitasking leader. You sometimes wonder how he is able to pack so much into his chest.

Atiku has always been ready for governance, ever armed with a blueprint to guide his work.

This blueprint has been regularly fine-tuned to reflect emerging socio-political realities, locally and globally.

The world is not static. The telephone device which you and I are holding in our hands today, has experienced phenomenal upgrading since the Obasanjo/Atiku government, enabled the GSM technology over 20 years ago. That is the manner of dynamism that underlines Atiku’s mindset. There is always a “situation room” situation around him, of dialogues and disputation, and you find in him a man who has tremendous respect for scholarship and intellectualism, but is not shy of robust engagement. And Nigeria has a potential president who reads voraciously.

Atiku is not afraid of paperwork. He is a methodical, systems man, who pores through piles and piles of documents, and you will see his comments and markings all over such documents. He is not the kind of president you will present with a fait accompli only for him to nod his head in concurrence.

Atiku will rekindle confidence in Nigerians and restore our characteristic bounce and swagger. Don’t forget the popular saying across the world that “Nigerians strut around like they actually own their host country!” That is the kind of confidence that has always propelled Nigerians to break new grounds and move mountains, metaphorically. This is the kind of restoration an Atiku presidency will beget.

On the G 5 governors, why hasn’t Atiku brought them on board as a unifier?

Every effort has been expended and explored to engender unity and oneness between the PDP and the aggrieved G-5 governors. It looks, however, that they have chosen their paths, especially as we are just days to the election.

But we will trudge on behind Atiku our candidate and principal, to the battlefield, confident we will win, by God’s grace. Remember engagements and horse-trading are never foreclosed in politics and politicking, though. There are issues and circumstances which breed dissent and disaffection. There are also developments and fall-outs which engender rapprochement. You must have heard it said in places that there are no permanent adversaries in politics.

There are usually, mainly permanent interests. You must have heard the comments of the flagbearer of the PDP, at a recent townhall meeting on Arise Television. He made the point that he has met with the Rivers State governor and leader of the G-5, Nyesom Wike, on five separate occasions. Both gentlemen met twice each in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and once in London. In between, emissaries of Atiku, notably Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, and his Adamawa State counterpart, Umaru Fintiri have met with individual members of the G-5, or the group as a whole.

 The outcome of these meetings may not have been wholly successful. But the fact that both sides are able to sit at table and dialogue, is progress in itself. That is one of the hallmarks of democracy, the fact of being able to discuss. The principal crux of the impasse between both sides as you recall, is the insistence on the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the PDP. This ostensibly, is to make way for a southern successor, to precipitate a north-south balancing between the presidential candidate (and potential president), and the national chairmanship.

Such a disruption in the middle of a critical electioneering season, comes with disruptive downstream implications. It’s like changing a commander in the thick of battle.

Despite this stalemate, the presidential campaign of the PDP is proceeding smoothly. You must have seen very enthusiastic scenes from well-attended rallies across the country, expressing support for the Atiku Abubakar candidature.

Atiku has grossed 35 states, except of course Rivers State where the presidential rally was advisedly called off. No other presidential candidate comes anywhere close to this scoresheet. Atiku has not been hurled off the campaign dais because he almost collapsed, he hasn’t mouthed gibberish and chants in the name of campaign rhetoric. Yes, there may be pending issues, but there is a campaign schedule to be prosecuted ahead of the coming polls.

We are optimistic there will still be positive congruences between the dissenting parties.

I should also note that the G-5 governors and the enlarged “Integrity Group” have maintained they are in PDP and will remain in PDP. There was this meeting of the “Integrity Group” in Lagos a few weeks ago and a test-run of what to expect. Called at the instance of elder statesman, Bode George, the meeting enjoined party supporters to vote the PDP in all elections, except the presidential election. There was a choreographed walkout by the stakeholders who maintained they would support Atiku. This is the scenario.

The party is working hard to ensure we go to the polls as one solid family.

Q – Peter Obi was a running mate to Atiku  in 2019. How did the Atiku camp receive the news of his defection?

A – If you look around the PDP flagbearer, you would observe that the critical mass of the party’s stakeholders and supporters are united for the Atiku project. I can’t see any substantial qualities who have gravitated towards Peter Obi from the PDP. Yes we have unresolved issues with five of our governors, but happily, the other nine governors are 101 percent with us on the project. And they are working with every commitment and dedication. Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, are irrevocably with the Atiku presidential project.

If you’ve been following the PDP’s outings, you would have noticed untiring leaders like Sule Lamido, Attahiru Bafarawa, Liyel Imoke, Bukola Saraki, Gabriel Suswam, Yomi Edu, Emeka Ihedioha, Babangida Aliyu, Jide Adeniji, Tunde Ayeni, Ehigie Uzamere, Uyi Giwa-Osagie, Funke Akinjide-Balogun, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Boni Haruna, Mukhtar Shagari, Abdul Ningi, a very pan-Nigerian bouquet, with Atiku, everywhere.

Even at that, the party continues to reach out to members desiring to join the campaign train, but who don’t know how best to get in. Don’t forget the logo of the PDP, the ever-elastic umbrella with capacity to shield and accommodate infinite numbers of returnees, new joiners and enthusiasts.

Q – Is the Atiku camp not apprehensive about certain developments ahead of Saturday’s polls; in view of the Obi/LP factor in the south east, the Kwankwaso/NNPP factor in the north west?

A – Your concerns are genuine, albeit without the benefit of certain undercurrents and realities. Talking about the Peter Obi factor in the south east, for instance, I don’t know if you followed the recent back-to-back outings of the PDP presidential campaign team to two states in that zone. They toured Anambra and Imo states, which are non-PDP. Anambra is governed by the All Peoples’ Grand Alliance, (APGA), while Imo is led by the All Progressives Congress, (APC).

You should have witnessed the warmth, civility and bonhomie with which Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra, welcomed Atiku and Company, to Government House, Awka.

Some public commentators want to put that to the role Atiku played in headhunting Soludo who served first as economic adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and subsequently, as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN). While this may be true, many beneficiaries have been known to hunt and hound their benefactors. The rally held in Awka by the PDP on that same occasion, was also very successful. Anambra is home to the Arthur Ezes, Obiora Okonkwos, Dan Ulasis, Ben Obis, Uche Ekwunnifes, Chuma Onyemas, Handel Okolis and so on.

Peter Obi was governor of the state for eight years and an impactful one at that. But this does not preclude the fact that the PDP and Atiku are staging very strong claims to the soul of the electorate, despite the presence of their son on the ballot.

The PDP rally in Owerri was tumultuous. It reaffirmed the description of Imo State as the “home of the PDP,” by one time governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha. Ihedioha himself was governor of Imo for a while, before he was replaced by the incumbent, Hope Uzodinma of APC who Nyesom Wike of Rivers prefers to call “Supreme Court governor,” because he was installed by a court ruling.

The challenges posed by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in the north west; Kashim Shettima, (running mate of the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu) in the north east and Tinubu’s own home zone, the south west, are very germane. But then we in the PDP are resolute and undeterred.

Let me begin from the Tinubu dimension. It was totally wrong and immoral for the APC presidential candidate to throw his hat in the ring for the 2023 election, after the very privileged placements the south west has had in the national scheme, beginning from 1999. And I will explain. By May 29, 2023 when President Muhammadu Buhari would be handing over to his successor, Nigeria’s fourth republic would have capped 24 unbroken years, the longest in our sociopolitical history. Of these years, the south west has produced a president, Obasanjo, for eight years, (1999 to 2007) and a vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, for eight years, 2015 to 2023.

I do not want to remind us that within same period, the south west has produced speakers of the House of Representatives, Nigeria’s Number Four office, from 2007 to 2011, and from 2019 till date. Except for the north west which produced a Umaru Yar’Adua who passed on in active service and the incumbent, Buhari, the south west has fared much, much better than every other zone and should be content and thankful.

You asked about the Shettima factor in the north east. Unfortunately, Shettima continues to be linked with the activities of insurgents in Borno, his former gubernatorial address and its environs. The north east, the global north indeed, Nigeria at large, most earnestly desire a president who will be the nation’s chief executive, and not an appendage. I can tell you for free that there are sections of the north which are apprehensive about the immediate political future because of Buhari’s mismanagement of the nation’s ethno-religious fault lines. They fear there may be recriminations and retaliation. They will be circumspect in their preferences especially with the same faith, muslim-muslim ticket Tinubu is flying. Many sections of Nigeria feel very bad the way it’s been flung in their faces that their cherished religion doesn’t count. Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s most absolute ruler was circumspect enough to respect the faiths of Nigeria. Oladipo Diya was his deputy. Abacha was not crazy enough to take on a same faith deputy.

Q – Atiku contesting against power shift to the South. How will you react to this?

A – Atiku’s presidential bid has not in anyway endangered the “north/south rotational presidency,” which we are yet to perfect in our democratic culture. It would seem that some presidential hopefuls entered the race, in response to intra-party templates for the movement of the nation’s topmost political office. Tinubu tells us he had an agreement with Buhari in 2014. He, (Tinubu) will provide the missing piece of the political puzzle which absence had repeatedly failed him in his (Buhari’s) earlier contests, if Buhari will reciprocate the gesture in 2023. That’s an APC matter.

Atiku Abubakar was not going to run for the ticket he holds today, if the office was specifically zoned to the south east. The PDP opted for an open contest in its bid to produce the most sellable candidate capable of winning a national election. Buhari’s supporters always bragged about his having “12 million votes” warehoused in his earlier participations. Atiku grossed as much during the 2015 election which most Nigerians believe he won. So why not avail his party of his already bagged goodwill in millions of votes, to ensure a healthy head-start for the party in the forthcoming elections? Atiku has also said upfront, that he will be the precursor of power transfer to the south east, if voted into office.

Q – Is there any difference between Atiku and Tinubu?

A – There is a pan-Nigerian colouration to the buffet of goodwill available to Atiku, which may be more global than the manifestly provincial span of that of his co-contestants. I mentioned to you the uncommon warmth with which Atiku has been received on his campaign trajectory.

You can feel the warmth and affection he continues to savour. He had consummated many of these friendships and interpersonal linkages even before he conceived of a career in politics. Some of Atiku’s friends, unfortunately, are no more, but those longstanding relationships need to be recast at a time like this. Chike Chigbue, SAN, of (blessed memory), one of Nigeria’s brightest attorneys in his time, is a case in point. How about the famous journalist and playwright, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, (also sadly not with us)? Onukaba met Atiku when he covered aviation for The Guardian. Atiku was airport commandant of the Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS), in the 1980s. A friendship developed which led to Atiku’s absorption of Onukaba on his staff, when he became vice president.

How about the Akin Kekere-Ekuns, Peter Okochas, Ben Obis, Yomi Edus, Oyewole Fasawes, Dubem Onyias, Chris Mammahs, and so on? These are substantial Nigerians in their various rights who are neither from Adamawa, nor the north east.

Q – With the fire from the media camps of Atiku and Tinubu, don’t you see a breach of the peace accord signed?

A – By its essential DNA, political communication and discourse, thrive on robustness. Looking at the field of spokespersons and communicators for the more prominent candidates, this may be the largest assemblage of professionals ever concurrently engaged by the various sides.

The APC/Tinubu divide has the Festus Keyamos, Dele Alakes, Bayo Onanugas, Tunji Bellos, Tunde Rahmans, and so on.

The PDP/Atiku end has the Dele Momodus, Kola Ologbondiyans, Charles Aniagwus, Dino Melayes, Don Pedro-Obasekis, Paul Ibes, Phrank Shaibus, among others.

Instructively, majority of these engagers are professionals who have paid their career dues, beginning from the newsroom. Some of them have shared the same workspaces.

With the quality we have here, it is to be expected that people will strive to out-drown themselves in the political space. Some causticity of expression will be expected. But I believe largely, that they understand professional etiquette and will play by the rules as much as possible. In this job, otherwise adversarial practitioners want to shake hands with each other, manage a smile, share a drink, if they run into one another.

Q – Do you have confidence that the President can match his words on a free and fair election?

A – The president sounded similarly tough before the elections in 2019, when intentional election riggers, backed by state apparatus were deliberately delivering electoral materials to the wrong states. They knew what they were doing. And they got a two-week extension between hitherto scheduled dates, for the polls.

That was the window they required for the perfection and concretization of electoral mischief. Don’t forget the award-winning, shameless savagery perpetrated in Kogi during the same electoral season.

The sound of “ta-ta-ta-ta-ta” keeps swooning in people’s heads. Buhari has just marked his 80th birthday. God has been exceedingly gracious to him. At his age, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain if he stands for global best practices, in the conduct of the February and March 2023 general elections. He wants to leave a legacy of free, fair, transparent and acceptable elections. More than the legacy infrastructures he has pursued in the past seven and half years, the enthronement of an electoral system which reflects the overwhelming choices of the people, will be his eternal legacy.