Atiku Abubakar: Obi ruined his electoral chances

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

Shortly after the February 25th, 2023 presidential election results were announced I can easily recall that whilst engaging some political folks in some random banalities, I mentioned at the time that anyone with clear discernment out there would know that Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and nobody else did the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in, in a manner of speaking.

By throwing his hat into the ring to contest as a sole candidate of the LP, Obi literally nailed Atiku’s political career as a serial presidential hopeful in the coffin, if you consider the fact that the Turaki Adamawa would be close to if not 80 years+ by 2027.

Of course, let me quickly add here for the sake of emphasis that it is well within Obi’s constitutional rights to vy for any elective office if he so chooses and nobody should do anything whatsoever to talk him out of exercising that inalienable rights for their own selfish aggrandizement, especially someone like Atiku who railed against all odds to have it his own way rather than allow sound logic and good reasoning to prevail sequel to the PDP presidential primaries, where there were lots of horse trading  all to his favour. Sorry I digressed.

Peter Obi

As the popular street lingo goes, Obi indeed ‘manned-up’ to Atiku alright by taking the bull by the horns not just only contesting in the 2023 polls but became an X-factor so to speak at least insofar as he helped in no small measure to change the whole narratives about how not to underrate the dark horse in any electioneering contest as serious as the presidency.

Who would have imagined that Atiku with all his claims to political sagacity could allow himself to be roundly and largely trounced in an election in which his prospects and chances were not just bright but with all the blessed assurances judging by the political dynamics prevalent at the time?

Could it be a function of being overconfident? Vaulting ambition?
Or is it safe to hazard a wise guess that perchance a constellation of other forces worked against him or was his presidency project fated to fail forever no thanks to the unseen hands of providence?

These are questions and more yet begging for answers really.

But what is however a dead cert is the fact that Atiku curiously ruined his own chances completely when he pulled the rug under Nyesom Wike’s feet at the end of the PDP presidential primaries.

Talking about Wike, by right and according to the political calculus he was supposed to naturally emerge as Atiku’s running mate having pooled the second highest number of vote cast at the PDP presidential primaries.

But in what may have been the worst political manouvre by any politician the Jada-born Atiku called Wike’s bluff by his actions and inactions.

Indeed Atiku’s greatest undoing was the fact that he completely and totally underrated the Wike factor in the probable outcome of the presidential polls.

I’m not a political strategist, but something tells me that if Atiku had the presence of mind expected of a typical shrewd politician he would have done everything and anything to get someone like Wike and Obi into his fold to form a most formidable troika and go into that election as one united front. It would have been an endgame capable of dislodging the APC from the corridors of power because they sure would have given the ruling party a run for their money.

Indeed every politician worth his salt knows that politics is all about who has the greatest numbers and not necessarily about who blows hot air. Atiku was too wet behind the ears to understand this damnit!

Of course, all conjectures, permutations won’t matter anymore with the Supreme Court final ruling on the 2023 Presidential Election Petition last Thursday, which has put paid to whatever grievances or bitterness anyone may overtly or covertly express after now.

Indeed for Atiku Abubakar, this may well be his nunc dimittis as he bids farewell to the political scene where he has been strutting his stuff in almost four decades unrelentlessly.

All said, the takeaway from the political intrigues that played out during the hustings up to the election proper as well as the announcement of the results and other matters arising is the fact that all prospective aspirants and hopefuls must know that power indeed is not served a la carte—if you truly desire power, especially political power get ready to work your socks up, break many sweats and once you get the power you run with it as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done. It’s safer to fight from the inside than the outside. This is Politics 101. My one penny advice is this and this is without any malice whatsoever; all would-be politician must ensure to enrol in the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu School of Politics to learn, unlearn and relearn everything they need to know in order to succeed in the game. Enough said!