A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and close associate of the former Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, has declared that former Vice-President, Atiku Abukakar and Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, cannot defeat President Goodluck Jonathan in a the presidential contest in 2015.
Obono-Obla, who made the declaration on the much-talked about presidential ambitions of Atiku and Kwankwaso, said they are bereft of political morality and followership and cannot be fielded as presidential candidates of the APC.
Obono-Obla, who functioned as the deputy national secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), is of the view that given what he perceived as their short-comings politically, they should step down voluntarily for General Muhammdu Buhari to emerge as the presidential candidate of the APC.
Making his stance known to THISDAY yesterday through a statement he issued tagged: ‘Presidential Candidate of APC Must Be an Authentic Opposition Figure,’ Obono-Obla described Atiku and Kwankwaso as politicians that lacked the political quality to defeat Jonathan should he be fielded as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Going down memory lane, Obono-Obla, a radical lawyer and anti-corruption crusader said: “Atiku Abubukar’s vaulting ambition led him into a collision course with President Obasanjo. Obasanjo sidelined him and even made a spirited effort to dismiss him as vice -president when Atiku abandoned the PDP and started romancing with the opposition.
“Atiku fought back and caused the Supreme Court to rule that under the Nigerian constitution a president has no power to remove his deputy.
“Atiku finally resigned from the PDP and contested the 2007 presidential election on the platform of the then Action Congress (AC). In the election, he unexpectedly scored a distant third in the presidential race.
“He failed woefully and spectacularly to re-enact his reputed political craftsmanship and shrewdness in the election as he performed poorly in his ‘catchment area’ – the 19 northern states.
“In 2010, there was a spirited effort by opposition leaders in the country to come under one platform to save the country from the corruption, floundered economy, bad governance and dictatorship unleashed on it by the PDP.
“The opposition leaders that masterminded the movement were Bola Tinubu, Buhari, Atiku, and Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa. Series of meetings were held to discuss the possibility of the opposition coming together to form a national mega opposition party that would be an alternative to the PDP. However, Atiku chickened out at the last moment. He returned to the PDP to seek a failed nomination under the platform of the party that left him badly bruised politically and demystified him as a political strategist.
“Atiku opportunistically jumped camp from the PDP for the second time since 1999 and joined the APC after its formation early this year. He is presently one of the aspirants for the presidential nomination. But, he surely does not fit in my permutation of a genuine and authentic opposition leader that should be given the presidential ticket of the APC.
“Atiku does not have what it takes to defeat President Jonathan. He does not have a strong support base. He even lost Adamawa (his own state) in the PDP presidential primary election to President Jonathan in 2010.”
On the aspiration of Kwankwaso to fly the presidential flag of the APC in 2015 Obono-Obla said: “Another aspirant for the APC presidential ticket that does not in my view fit the bill of a genuine and authentic opposition leader that should have the nomination for the presidential ticket of the APC is Kwankwaso.
“He came to national limelight in 1992 when he was elected the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives in the botched political transition programme of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Kwankwaso is a founding member of the PDP. “He became Governor of Kano State in 1999 and was one of the governors that introduced the controversial Sharia law in the country after the return of democratic civil rule. He is widely regarded as a protégé of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who would do nothing to hurt Obasanjo. After he lost the 2003 general election to become a second term governor of Kano State, President Obasanjo appointed Kwankwaso Minister of Defence from 2003-2007.
