20110115
Independent (Lagos)

President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar have moved into the second stanza of their individual political calculations; the management of the after effect of Thursday's National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday Independent has learnt.

Jonathan defeated Atiku with a wide margin after a keenly contested election to pick the party's ticket that saw all kinds of arsenals being used to undercut each other.

Atiku, sources said on Friday, feels terribly betrayed by the outcome of the election after being given firm promises by some governors, especially from the North, that he was going to get a block vote from them.

Nonetheless, he is said to have moved into the next stage, which is to work for other Northern candidates to ensure that the idea of the presidency returning to the North is not defeated. He is also considering a court option to protest what he sees as the irregularities that were obvious during the presidential primaries.

"You know that has always been the major plan of the North. The Northern Elders Political Forum (NEPF), which brokered the consensus arrangement in which Atiku emerged the choice, has always made it quite clear that power must come back to that region. They had hoped to actualise that through the PDP. But you have seen how the whole thing went, how the whole process was skewed to favour the President.

"I can tell you that the next option is that everybody will now work in favour of power returning to the North, including Atiku. He has not hidden the fact that power should return to the North. The mistake people are making is to think that this is all about Atiku. It is about the North. Atiku and others are just the vehicle through which they want to reach the pre-determined destination. Just watch what is going to happen to all these people including the governors. You can be sure that the day of reckoning is coming for them," a source close to Atiku, recounted on Friday.

Regardless, it emerged at the weekend that Northern leaders furious about the outcome of the just concluded PDP Convention are out to deal with the governors in the region who failed to deliver their states to Atiku, describing them as "betrayers."

Sunday Independent investigations have revealed that some of the Northern leaders are plotting the downfall of the affected governors, especially those seeking for re-election during the April poll.

They are said to have embarked on a massive campaign to raise sentiments among their people which would see them working against the interest of those governors identified to have demonstrated bias for President Jonathan during the PDP Convention last Thursday.

Atiku won only in five out of the 19 states in the North: Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger and Kano.

His defeat in his home state, Adamawa, is seen as the most painful and embarrassing with the governor, Murtala Nyako as the major target of the planned onslaught by the Northern leaders.

Two Northern leaders, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, a former Presidential Adviser to ex-President Shehu Shagari and former civilian governor of old Kaduna State, Lawal Kaita, are among leaders from the region who are visibly worried over the outcome of the PDP Convention.

They spoke in an interview with Sunday Independent, saying but for the conspiracy of most of the governors from the North, Atiku would have emerged victorious.

Kaita said: "These governors who betrayed their people will be judged by the same people whose interest they have undermined, they will see evil if they do evil. All efforts would be made to ensure that those of them seeking second term mandate are not returned."

He commended the bravity of governors of Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi and Niger States, describing them as "having the spirit of the North."

"Traitors will pay dearly for what they have done, for betraying the Northern region," Kaita insisted.

Although Yakassai is not comfortable with outcome of the exercise he, however, expressed happiness that if given the opportunity to exercise their rights to choose leaders, the common people would have made their best choice "but for the manipulation by some of the governors."

He agued: "If you take, for instance, states where governors decided not to interfere, the people showed that they would have voted for Atiku. 800 votes from five states is no mean achievement. If 10 other states where given freedom to vote, according to their conscience, Atiku would have scored 2000 votes.

He contended that when it comes to election proper, when the governors would have no ability to manipulate the process, this country will elect a leader of their choice, pointing out that the outcome of the PDP Primaries is not a true reflection of the feeling of the Nigerian people, including the delegates.

Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, also disagreed with those hailing the primaries, saying it detracted completely from what could be termed credible.

"You watched the exercise yourself. Can you describe it as credible when you have seen the threat everywhere. You say you want to hold a credible election and you mark each of the ballot boxes against the states that voted so that you can descend on them later. Any critical observer will simply note that the PDP has done it again. Nobody would have contested it if the process had been okay, but you and I know it was not. We will continue to make our feelings known in the hope that things will be better in future. But I don't think we are there yet," he said.

But Jonathan is said to be thinking beyond this and is indeed moving very fast to contain any such discontent that could mar his chances in the April election.

His campaign said that apart from the open invitation to his opponents after the result of the primaries, the President is going to move into his opponent's camp to broker truce so that the PDP would not go into the contest with a divided house.

Oronto Douglas, one of his aides confirmed this to reporters on Friday, saying that the President was aware of the task of bringing everybody on board, so that the party would win the next election, adding that what the PDP had done was unprecedented in the annals of Nigerian history.

"I can tell you that what the PDP has done is a turning point in the country's history. PDP spoke with one voice and because of that a new page has been turned in the nation's match to greatness. What they did was the aggregation of national consensus beyond tribe and religion. It was an affirmation of togetherness, unity and the need to work together for the general progress of the country. What they have done has defeated division in Nigeria and a new roadmap has been developed," he said adding that the President was going to seize it and utilise it to the fullest.

He said Atiku had a lot to contribute to the new paradigm shift that had begun and would definitely be included in the work plan. "This is the time for inclusiveness. The President has opened a new door. Atiku has a lot to contribute. At his age, he has gathered enough experience that would be very useful to the President, which he will tap for the benefit of all. The President has said there is enough space for the 150million Nigerians and on the table of Jonathan, there are enough seats for everybody," he added.

Meanwhile, less than 48 hours after President Jonathan dusted former Vice President, facts have started emerging that Atiku may head for court.

Already, the former Vice President has started seeking legal advice on how to go about the verdict of the party's primary that was decided in his disfavour.

A source close to Atiku said that he was miffed by what he described as an "open rigging" perpetuated by the ruling party to the advantage of President Jonathan.

"Immediately Atiku walked into the Eagle Square venue of the PDP presidential primary, he noticed the order of placement of election boxes strategically positioned in front of the state box with each box clearly labeled with 36 states in alphabetical order.

"The former Vice President demanded from the chairman of the National Convention Committee why the openness in a primary which all agreed should be done to protect the identity of both the state and delegates.

"Atiku reasoned that should delegates and states be exposed in such manner, most of his trusted supporters will be forced to vote against their wishes as they may be singled out for victimisation," a source close to the former Vice president told Sunday Independent.

Again, our source said that Atiku had pondered on staging a walk out in protest to the voting system adopted by the convention committee, but was advised to the contrary.

"Atiku felt betrayed by the party's overt partisanship on display and has continued to ponder on the next moves to remedy the bad situation."

All through Friday, the Atiku Campaign Organisation was locked in several meetings over the outcome of the exercise and the next step to take.

A call to Senator Ben Obi, the Director General of the Organisation went through, but the senator affirmed that though the camp has been holding several meetings, he was not prepared to make any further comment on the presidential primaries till later.

Several other calls to other top leaders of the campaign could not yield any result.

However, a notable politician who will not want his name in print said that Atiku will certainly seek a legal interpretation to the entire exercise, including the drama put up by the National Chairman of the party, Okwesilieze Nwodo who, though, was aware of his ineligibility to oversee the special convention due to court injunction, still went ahead only to be substituted half way by the Deputy National Chairman, Bello Mohammed Haliru.

It is not known if Atiku will attempt the 2007 scenario where he left PDP for the then Action Congress (AC), the platform with which he contested the presidency.

Early last week, the same party which is now known as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) through its National Chairman, Bisi Akande called on any aspirant from PDP who looses election to look the way of ACN for rehabilitation.

However, opinion is high that should Atiku decide to jettison PDP again, the most likely destination will be the Labour Party. It is believed that most of his supporters have already moved over to LP in preparation for his arrival.