Africa
How Atiku fell into PDP’s Trap in Adamawa
By Saharareporters 4/5/08
May 5, 2008 - 7:28:29 AM

The gubernatorial re-run, held on April 26, followed the nullification of last year’s polls by the Court of Appeal in Jos. Information gathered by Saharareporters from extensive investigations revealed that Abubakar Atiku, erstwhile Vice President of Nigeria and the presidential candidate of the Action Congress, was the target of a well-executed political scam.

The plot to demolish Atiku started on February 26, 2008, when the Court of Appeal in Jos timed its verdict upholding the cancellation of Murtala Nyako’s election as Adamawa governor to coincide with the judgment of a five-man panel of Court of Appeal justices that upheld Umaru Yar'adua's election. The date thus became a bittersweet day for Atiku, who was trounced at the presidential election tribunal but in another breath, given a semblance of victory in his home state of Adamawa.

But Atiku’s consolatory "victory" at the Court of Appeal in Jos did not come by accident. Our investigations revealed that the former vice president, facing serious pressures in the US over his relationship with embattled New Orleans Congressman William Jefferson, had actually begun some secret dialogue with Yar'adua. Atiku has been named in Jefferson’s bribery trial that is winding its way through the US justice system.

Atiku, hit with a second possible scandal in the form of fresh disclosures that he might have been named in another bribery scandal involving the Texas-based Willbros oil services company, decided to relocate to Dubai in the United Emirates. Atiku, whose relocation was informed by the prospect of legal jeopardy, explained to friends that moved to Dubai because he wanted his kids to be grounded in "Islamic education".

As soon he arrived in Dubai, Atiku's house became a Mecca of sorts. Most of his visitors were emissaries of Nigeria's "President" Yar'adua. On each trip to Atiku's Dubai mansion, the emissaries made a case for his return home to Nigeria to be part of the "Government of National Unity" that was being packaged. Atiku refused to budge, claiming that he needed time to recuperate from a knee surgery, a medical procedure carried out on him in London a few weeks before the April 2007 elections.

Yar'adua's emissaries persisted, even invoking the name of Umaru Yar’adua's late elder brother and Atiku's political mentor and business partner, Shehu Musa Yar'adua, to convince the former VP to return home and join in "moving Nigeria forward."

When Atiku eventually returned to Nigeria, he met a genial but taciturn Umaru Yar'adua who ordered that Atiku's pension be packaged by the office of the Chief of Staff to the president, and his other entitlements "monetized" to make up for the cost of the house offered to the former VP which he rejected during his testy relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Yar'adua also made available extra police security guards for Atiku and stopped plans by some officials of the Presidency to revoke the port concession awarded to Atiku's Intels Company.

Even as Yar'adua made all these concessions to Atiku, he never directly asked Atiku to drop the electoral case instituted against his election at the presidential elections petitions tribunal. He left it up to his cronies and aides to make such requests.

Atiku was not willing to enter into any agreements with Yar'adua on the pending electoral cases, but some of the former VP’s associates noted—even complained—that he was becoming too cozy with Yar’adua’s government. Atiku apparently had good reason not to alienate Yar’adua. The Presidency quietly dropped any action on its Willbros bribery investigations—after spending considerable time and resources on it, including the sending of a high-powered delegation to the US. Yar’adua even ordered his loquacious attorney general, Michael Aondoakaa, to hush up after the AG had publicly stated that Atiku might have been involved in the Willbros case.

Some of Atiku’s aides who spoke to Saharareporters disclosed that the former VP confided in them that he felt more comfortable living in Nigeria because Yar'adua's government was not "hostile" to him and his politics, a clear departure from what used to be the deadly political atmosphere that existed during Obasanjo’s regime when he was declared a "persona non-grata" by his former boss.

But even as Yar'adua appeared mild and respectful towards Atiku, some of his political party operatives told us that hawks within his administration were planning what they tagged as "Atiku Retirement Plan." As one of the operatives put it, “some people around the president feel it’s time to finally reduce Atiku to political dust. Remember that it was the late General Yar’adua who made Atiku. Another Yar’adua is going to unmake him.”

The plan to destroy Atiku politically actually predated plans by some other members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to lure Atiku back into the PDP fold. The hawks within the party never wanted Atiku back in the fold. With Atiku's wealth and political style of appeasement, the hawks were more comfortable with sinking him in the Action Congress (AC) boat rather than have him to contend with as a force within the PDP. The group of hawks was led by Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State who now controls the PDP machinery.

In its bid to cut Atiku down to size, the group sought the help of Senator Bola Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State and a senior party operative within the AC. Tinubu, a close friend of Yar'adua, has always opposed Atiku’s decision to challenge the outcome of the April 2007 flawed presidential elections. In an ironic twist, Tinubu has been funding almost half a dozen legal challenges of rigged elections at state levels in the southwestern region.

Tinubu has other problems as well. He is dogged by corruption charges stemming from extensive investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of his eight-year tenure as governor of Lagos State. Tinubu’s lifelong ambition to become “the leader” of the Yoruba of the southwest region necessitates that he play along with the central government. Also, with his brother, Wale Tinubu, as a major player in the Nigerian oil sector, Tinubu could not afford to alienate the federal government, especially now that he does not have the political power to fight back.

Given all these calculations, Tinubu decided to stick with Yar'adua while abandoning his new political friend, Atiku. Even if Yar'adua never openly acted on his plan to break up the Action Congress the same way Obasanjo undermined opposition parties during his tenure, Tinubu was able to weaken the party as a formidable spoiler within. He has thrown wrenches at all attempts by the party to unite behind its presidential flag bearer as he pushes forward to challenge the rigged 2007 elections.

For instance, Tinubu got the Lagos State government to commend the ruling of the presidential election tribunal even before the national party executives of AC could comment. He also effectively stopped an effort by the Lagos State branch of the AC to condemn the judgment.

Fast forward to the recent re-run gubernatorial race in Adamawa. Saharareporters has gathered that, soon after the presidential election petition tribunal ruling, Yar'adua met with the former VP and assured Atiku that Adamawa State would be ceded to him.

The promise excited Atiku whose political godson, Boni Haruna, a close friend of Maurice Iwu, also reported the cheery news that Iwu had assured him that Adamawa would be handed back to Atiku’s control. Haruna was the immediate past governor of Adamawa State. He however informed Atiku that Iwu demanded N500 million to enable INEC to make the delivery of Adamawa to AC possible. Atiku refused to pay out such bribe, insisting that since Yar'adua had agreed to give up Adamawa State to him, there was no need to bribe Iwu and other INEC for the job to be carried out.

Three days later, Iwu sent Philip Umeadi, Jnr., INEC's spokesperson, to meet with Haruna to discuss the bribe. This time, Umeadi said all Iwu and other INEC officials needed to deliver Adamawa to AC was N300 million.

When Haruna met Atiku later that night, the former VP still vehemently refused to release money to bribe Iwu, claiming that he was in touch with Yar'adua who has asked that the AC not worry about the outcome of the elections.

Unknown to Atiku, Yar'adua had released N1 billion to Murtala Nyako to enable him to outmaneuver Atiku and his group monetarily. Yar’adua had also given directives to military service chiefs and the police to provide massive police and military support to the PDP in the state. All PDP state governors were also directed to support Mr. Nyako heavily both in cash and other logistical support. Within a twinkle of an eye, the PDP in Adamawa doled out a whooping bribe of N800 million to Iwu. Iwu also received an additional N100 million inducement from Governor Saraki as the contributions of other PDP state governors.
 
An alarmed Atiku, upon learning about the intrigues, wanted to reach Yar'adua for clarification, but the sickly Yar'adua had already been flown to Germany for treatment of his recurring sickness. When Atiku eventually reached him at his Hotel Hilton Mainz base near Wiesbaden, Germany, the deal against Atiku had already been sealed. Even so, Yar'adua assured Atiku that he was on top of "everything" and that the former VP did not need to fret. It was a deceptive assurance. In reality, Yar'adua was working with PDP hawks to put an end to the "Atiku political machine," derisively called "ATM" in PDP circles, a comment on Atiku’s ability to disburse only small amounts of cash compared to the PDP’s financial juggernaut loaded with wads of cash.

By the time Yar'adua returned from a two-week trip to Germany on the Friday night preceding the election, the Nyako campaign and the PDP had spent N1,000 for every N1 spent by Atiku and Action Congress. The Nigerian military and police had also overtaken Adamawa State to help the PDP cement its rigging plans.

The ruling party and INEC also taught Atiku one devastating lesson. The PDP made sure the elections were peaceful and 'fair' around the polling station where Atiku voted. A naïve Atiku lauded INEC for conducting a smooth election, and his commendation was carried under screaming headlines in most Nigerian dailies the next day.

Meanwhile the PDP deployed thugs, kill-and-go police officers and ballot snatchers in other parts of the state. Atiku’s ill-advised and premature praise of INEC was akin to Muhammadu Buhari’s verbal misstep when Iwu's INEC and Obasanjo did a trick on him. After being shown around INEC's electronic balloting room that was never to be used, Buhari came to Aso Rock and told the world that he was satisfied with INEC's "preparations" for the 2007 elections. It was a public relations coup for Obasanjo and Iwu who had plotted to give Nigerians the most rigged election in the nation’s history.

 As “results” of the Adamawa re-run filtered out, a stunned Atiku found it hard to mount a coherent indictment of INEC. His party's gubernatorial candidate lost the elections in all the local governments in Adamawa State.

The Atiku group belatedly cried fowl, but one political analyst told Saharareporters that the AC “ought to have known that with Professor Maurice Iwu at the head of INEC, it’s impossible for the PDP to loose any re-runs.”

The trouncing of Atiku has more significance for the political calculations of Yar'adua's inner circle, with unlimited resources at their disposal to influence the judgment of the Supreme Court currently hearing appeals arising from the presidential elections petition tribunal. With Atiku’s electoral humiliation in Adamawa, Yar’adua’s associates now have ammunition to persuade the Supreme Court justices against overturning last year’s presidential polls. “Their strategy is to show that Atiku is not a political force of any consequence,” said a source who is close to the Yar’adua camp. “If he can’t deliver his home turf of Adamawa, then where can he be electorally viable?”

An insider in the Presidency gloated to us, “Atiku is now retired for good as a politician. His only hope is to return to the PDP. If he does that, we can give him back some relevance and decide where he fits in.”