Atiku, Obi The Feathered Birds and Their Vaulting Ambitions, by Tunde Rahman

For someone who is running for president for a record seventh time and who has changed political parties at least four times since 1999, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s unbridled rebuke of his fellow contestants in a recent interview with Arise Television raises a crucial question: Has he really learned anything from the policy mistakes that cost him that office in 2023?
Atiku failed to glean any political wisdom from the costly mistake of excluding Peter Obi from his presidential calculations and allowing separatist governors led by Nyesom Wike to exit the PDP – factors which largely contributed to his defeat in the 2023 presidential election.

During his interview with Arise TV, Atiku criticized Peter Obi’s credentials, labeling him as an ethnic aspirant with a narrow political base. He also questioned the pan-Nigerian political reach of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, saying Kwankwaso only has Kano State, and that too has been balkanized under his nose.
It is confusing that a Nigerian presidential aspirant seeking support from other aspirants in the race, and one seeking to form a coalition around his own candidacy, would make such disparaging comments about them and give the impression that they matter nothing.

Is Atiku actually aware of something we don’t know? Does he have any other way to win the presidency besides building a broad coalition to get what could be his last chance in the race? Did the former Vice President deliberately condemn them to cause the ouster of Obi and Kwankwaso from the African Democratic Congress presidential race?

Some sources suggest that the scenario appeared to be Atiku’s plan to impose a three-horse race on the nation, in which he hopes to profit as the Northern candidate.

If that was his plan, it failed. While the exit of Obi and Kwankwaso from the ADC opened a floodgate of defection from the party, rendering it prostrate, their entry into the Nigeria Democratic Congress, which rose to prominence after former Bayelsa State governor, Senator Seriake Dickson, joined the party, has transformed the NDC into a kind of beautiful bride and an emerging third force ahead of 2027.

Nonetheless, Obi and Kwankwaso’s defection to the NDC is another manifestation of the pair’s unbridled and ambitious presidential ambitions. Obi seeks a land where the grass is greener, though he wouldn’t need to till it before arriving at a beautiful and formidable fortress. This latest move would mark the fifth time Obi has switched from one party to another: from PDP to APGA and back to PDP. When it became apparent that he could not secure the PDP presidential ticket in 2023, he moved to Labour. Unable to manage the Labor Party’s crisis following its post-2023 presidential run, it has sought refuge in the ADC and now the NDC.

In the absence of any known political philosophy except the desperate search for a convenient political platform – a special purpose vehicle, if you will – to contest, there appears to be no difference between Atiku and Obi. Being birds of a feather, shouldn’t the two have come together to present a formidable team for 2027?

Kwankwaso, the former Kano governor, appears to have pretty much settled for the position of Obi’s deputy, given how he has been nipping at the heels of the former Anambra governor like a bee to honey. But Kwankwaso’s main interest is the 2031 presidential race. It was the 2031 presidential plan itself that blocked his moves and discussions with President Bola Tinubu, as well as his apparent attempt to join the ruling All Progressives Congress. This, perhaps, also led to the dissolution of his New Nigeria People’s Party and the Kwankwasiyya Movement, and the defection of its sole governor, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, to the APC. President Tinubu reportedly refused to commit to Kwankwaso’s 2031 succession plan, telling him there had to be a 2027 before 2031.
Kwankwaso is now a sorry sight, hopping from party to party with Obi after unceremoniously abandoning the NNPP where he was a contested national leader.

Like Obi and Kwankwaso, Atiku had moved from party to party in his futile bid for the presidency. He left the PDP following his political disagreement with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and joined the then Action Congress, on whose platform he ran for president in 2007. He later shamelessly returned to the same PDP to contest President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
Unable to secure a presidential ticket ahead of the 2015 elections, he joined the APC with five other breakaway governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, including Rotimi Amaechi, then governor of Rivers State and other PDP leaders such as Senator Bukola Saraki.
However, he unsuccessfully contested the party’s presidential primaries with the late President Buhari and others. He returned to the PDP to contest against Buhari himself in 2019 and President Tinubu in 2023. He is now part of the ADC, which he reportedly hijacked from its founder for his presidential ambitions.

Now, my feeling, based on the above context, is this: Nothing useful can come from former Vice President Atiku and former Anambra Governor Obi. Atiku is a volatile and imprudent political leader whose numerous indiscretions in the name of privatization of national assets are known.
Obi’s only political achievement as governor of Anambra was to establish a beer company and save money like a miser while his people languished in poverty.
His former ally in the ADC, the party’s national publicity secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a recent interview with Arise TV, claims that Obi is never interested in any policy or programme, saying: “Peter Obi does not know the ADC’s position on fuel subsidies because he has never been interested.”

What the defection of Obi and Kwankwaso signals is the deepening of disunity and rivalry within the ranks of opposition politicians. With a divided position, the opposition cannot mount any serious challenge against the ruling party. We don’t need a fortune teller to predict their impending defeat in 2027.
The coherence of the gladiators in building their parties, as well as the unity in the ranks of the opposition, are crucial in electoral battles. President Tinubu remained a progressive through several election cycles while in opposition.

Our current opposition politicians should blame themselves. They have already laid the groundwork for their 2027 election failure in 2026. As I have argued previously on this page, and this bears repeating:
“For democracy, the danger is not just a strong governing party, or a supposed one-party government, but opposition parties that fail to shape the constitutional order that they promise to secure and generate unity within their ranks.”

From Zuba to Dutse: a litany of legacy projects

Political squabbles sometimes obscure the ability to appreciate developments in the governance space.
The past week has been a hive of activity for members of the presidential communications team. From Zuba Junction in the Federal Capital Territory to Kaduna, Kano, Dutse and Birnin-Kebbi, the team visited federal government projects in the North West geopolitical zone.
Under the auspices of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, the tour revealed the extensive transformation projects carried out by President Tinubu’s administration in road and rail infrastructure, as well as other intervention projects.

The first port of call on the tour was the Zuba Junction end of the redeveloped Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway, featuring 20-centimeter thick concrete pavement and solar-powered streetlights. That road is a beautiful sight to see. Section 1 of the 82-kilometre road from Zuba to Jere, operated by Infiouest International Construction Company, is virtually complete, except for the remaining 300 metres. Work on section 2 has already started. The deadline for completion is November this year.

In Kaduna, we inspected the Kaduna Western Bye-pass which has remained blocked for over 22 years under different administrations. Work on the road is progressing regularly. However, the most iconic project under construction is the much talked about Kaduna-Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi (Niger Republic) railway line which will connect several Northern states and also Niger Republic, enabling interstate transportation and boosting agriculture and trade.
We saw the huge railway line flyover in Kaduna and assessed the extent of the work done. The deadline for completion is December 2026.

From Kaduna we moved to Kano where we inspected the Kano section of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway. Kano’s end is already 95% complete. We also visited the various ongoing projects at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano, including the Cardiovascular Centre, Pediatric Center and Students Hostel, which are part of the constituency projects of the Vice President of the Senate, Senator Jubrin Barau.

The team saw the $27 billion irrigation project in Garko, the Federal Government’s Ecological Fund project, the Nigerian Energy Commission’s solar project and the 10-hectare agricultural incubation center built by the National Science and Engineering Infrastructure Agency at Bayero University, Kano, aimed at developing and scaling up modern agricultural solutions.

There is also another eco-fund project worth $47 billion in Wujuwuju-Jakara area, which was initially a Kano State Government project. Now the Tinubu administration has taken control of it. Also in Kano, within the Government Reserve Area along the Murtala Muhammed Way, we visited the headquarters of the North West Development Commission, one of the interventionist agencies established by the Tinubu administration to develop the various geopolitical zones.

In Jigawa, the team inspected the Jigawa corridor of the Kaduna-Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi railway project. We also saw some state projects, including the Bola Tinubu Skills Acquisition Center and the Renewed Hope Fabrication Center. In this northwestern state we have seen some agricultural mechanization projects, including over 300 tractors already on the ground awaiting inauguration.

In Kebbi, the Birnin-Kebbi section of the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry expressway, covering phases 2A and 2B and stretching from kilometer 120 to kilometer 385, is progressing as scheduled. Site clearance, backfill work, stone foundations and underground works are progressing steadily, while construction of the concrete pavement has covered 19 kilometres, including the installation of street lighting. The completion level is set at 40% for Section 2A and 16% for Section 2B.

Also in Birnin-Kebbi we saw the Argungu-Naseini-Buyi Federal Road, which has been completed, Argungu Municipal Road and Skill Acquisition Centre, among others, built by the state government.

The Federal Government’s infrastructure projects demonstrate President Tinubu’s commitment to the development and modernization of the Northern Region. They constitute a bulwark against lies, demonstrating that the alleged marginalization of the region is not true. Furthermore, the implementation of landmark projects by some state governments is part of the gains from increased allocations to states from Federation accounts following President Tinubu’s economic and fiscal reforms.
President Tinubu truly deserves praise for making this happen.

*Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Special Duties.