BY OKANGA AGILA
The struggle of Nigeria’s former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to mount the horse as the country’s President has been legendary and sustained. Since 2003, when he deputized former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ), the ambition to lead Nigeria has refused to quench like a candle in the wind.
When the main opposition PDP conceded its 2019 presidential ticket to Atiku, it seems his closest permutation to Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power. Observably, since the day Atiku was crowned PDP’s presidential flagbearer his excitement has known no limitations.
It’s being the happiest moment of his life, beaming with smiles, anywhere he makes public appearance, as though he has been declared winner of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential ballot. So, Atiku intensified his perpetually acerbic attacks on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, disparaging every single effort of the APC led government.
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He promised Nigerians a redemption, which spurred fresh expectations of the magic his anticipated Presidency would offer the people. At last the chance is here for Atiku to make an impact; but he has bungled it from the outset.
Atiku stabbed himself on the back, November 18, 2018 with his vision in a launched policy document, variously christened “The Atiku Plan,” or “Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again.” Itfailed miserably to inspire the confidence some Nigerians initially had in a possible Atiku Presidency.
Echoes are loud that Atiku’s policy document was flat or watery on critical areas Nigeria is yearning for further rescue from the Buhari Presidency. They faulted Atiku as barren of any grasp of problems of Nigeria and fresh insights, by his duplicity and or embellishments’ of most of the policies and programmes of Buhari, which he had relentlessly and voraciously criticized.
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To put it mildly, the PDP standard-bearer failed to impress and others sensed some dubiousness on his change of stand on some of the issues he campaigned vigorously before his party awarded him its presidential ticket.
In some sections of the policy document, it appeared more like plagiarism of the policyinitiatives of the Buhari Presidency. It dashed hopes and dampened spirits even in the camp of his most ardent supporters.
Nigerians have been analyzing the “The Atiku Plan,” document from the perspective of various critical sectors of the economy. Some Nigerians dissatisfied with the Buhari Presidency, point to the nuances of national insecurity; a tottering economy; hyper unemployment rate; a comatose industrial sector, reflected in abandoned national industries/companies; the clamour for restructuring and the least, but also, very important, power rotation among the six geo-political regions of the nation.
Disappointedly, Atiku’s vision in these sensitive sectors left a vacuum in the hearts of millions of Nigerians. Many have concluded that the Atiku quest for the Presidency of Nigeria is anchored on the crest of a swindle of Nigeria.
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Onmeje is a public relations consultant
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