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MAY 14, 2007 VOL. 21. NO 5

How the ‘Granite’ Crumbled

**Mohammadu Buhari**

The alliance of the opposition political parties, promoted by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), appear fated to fail ab initio
By Tony Egbulefu, Abuja and
Chidiebere Onyemaizu, Lagos
The popular aphorisms that in politics, there are no permanent enemies but permanent interests and that life is in a such constant state of flux that everything changes except change itself, it does appear, have found expression in what evidently is a major crack in the tribe of opposition parties who shortly after the just concluded controversial April 14 and 21 elections vowed to spare nothing in their push for the invalidation of the elections on the account of alleged manifest and large-scale electoral thievery.
But in a dramatic turn of events, the opposition parties’ tenacity of purpose and unity in their concerted determination to ensure the outcome of the polls did not stand, is evidently fast losing its elasticity as some of them apparently eager to secure certain political patronages from the incoming administration, have turned coat and openly endorsed the emergence of the Kastina State Governor, Umaru Yar’Adua, as the nation’s next leader. Notably, by extension, the parties’ sudden volte-face also means that they now accept the outcome of the entire polls.
The seeming split in the ranks of the opposition parties became apparent last week when some of the defeated presidential candidates paid surprise solidarity visits to the president-elect, Yar’Adua, thereby endorsing his victory at the polls. Among the opposition presidential candidates who threw their initial rejection of the emergence of Yar’Adua and the outcome of the entire polls overboard to pitch tent with the nation’s next democratically elected leader is Alhaji Habu Fari, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) polls.
Notably, Fari, whose party, the NDP, had prior to the elections gone to court to seek a halt to the entire elections on the grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had flouted some of the cardinal provisions of the 2007 electoral act, in a far-reaching departure from his pre and post-election posturings, is now seeing a nexus between Yar’Adua’s election and divine intervention. As far as the defeated NDP presidential candidate is concerned, Yar’Adua emerged winner because he (Yar’Adua) was ordained by God to inherit the high office of the presidency of the country from the out-going president, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Fari, therefore, is of the view that the cloud of despair still hanging on the nation occasioned the alleged blatant rigging of the elections notwithstanding, all Nigerians, himself inclusive, should rally round Yar’Adua to move the nation forward. It is instructive to note that Fari only joined the presidential fray after his party had tried, albeit unsuccessful, to drag former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, into the race on the platform of the party.
Also dramatically backing down from his hitherto Olympian height of strident opposition to the polls is presidential candidate of the National Action Congress (NAC), and the chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Dr. Olapade Agoro, who not only disassociated the CNPP, and by implication his own party, NAC, from the General Muhammadu Buhari-promoted mass action to press for the invalidation of the polls’ outcome, but also urged aggrieved persons and political parties to use dialogue to resolve issues rather than embark on a protest which according to him could result in violence.
It is, however, instructive to note that the mass action which was billed for May 1 to concide with Workers’ Day celebration suffered a still-birth as Nigerians largely shunned calls to take to the streets.
Remarkably, Fari and Agoro are not the only candidates in the presidential polls who had as it were eaten their words as regard their initial vow to pursue the rejection and invalidation of the polls to its logical conclusion. Dr Godswill Nanji, presidential candidate of the Better Nigeria People’s Party (BNPP), Mallam Aminu Abubakar, candidate of the National Unity Party (NUP), his counterpart in the Nigeria Masses Democratic Party (NMDP), Dr. Akpone Solomon, as well as the vice presidential candidate of the Africa Political Systems (APS), Ali Abacha, have all also followed the paths of Agoro and Fari.
Nnaji’s reason for electing to embrace the victorious Yar’Adua will undoubtedly sound acidic to the ears of die-hard anti-People’s Democratic Party (PDP) elements within the circles of core opposition parties. According to the defeated presidential candidate, his group having reviewed reports from local and international observers, was convinced that the flaws were not enough to cancel the elections.
For Abacha, the unity, peace and progress of the country weigh importantly in his mind and so, in throwing his party’s initial opposition to the outcome of the elections to the dogs, he averred that “inspite of the irregularities which were alleged to have been profound in the elections, peace unity and progress of the country should be paramount to all…”
It is instructive to recall that the vice presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), Inuwa Abdul-Kabir, had triggered off the rash of endorsements which Yar’Adau has since been receiving from candidates of fringe political parties that contested the presidency with him. Abdul-Kabir had, only three days after Yar’Adua was declared winner of the hotly disputed presidential polls, allegedly on behalf of the PPA, congratulated the Kastina State governor on his victory. Abdul-Kabir’s action was, however, later denounced by his party.
The rash of endorsements by the fringe parties of the PDP’s victory at the just concluded polls are also being replicated in some states across the federation. For example, in Anambra State the entire political parties which participated in the gubernatorial election in the state, shortly after Andy, a scion of the Uba family, was pronounced the governor-elect of the state by INEC, despite alleged manifest cases of electoral fraud and non-voting which according to the opposition characterised the April 14 electoral exercise in the state were resolute in their rejection of the outcome of the polls. They, in fact, had called on INEC to fix another date for the gubernatorial election, for according to them April 14 did not happen in the state not to talk of producing a winner in the mould of Uba.
In a sudden turn of event, however, 14 of the opposition parties have since endorsed Uba’s emergence and urged the rest to do likewise. In a series of newspaper adverts, the group which styles itself “The Coalition of Chairmen of All Political Parties in Anambra State” hinged its volte-face on the need to move the state forward. It however, admitted that “as a result of human factor, the conduct of April 14, election was not perfect and can never be perfect.”
In Balyesla State, some of the opposition parties have reportedly been co-opted into the transition committee set up by the state’s governor-elect, Timi Slyva – a move which implies that some of the opposition parties have endorsed the PDP’s victory in the state.
Instructively, however, the major opposition parties namely the Action Congress (AC), ANPP, and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), are not losing sleep over the dissenting moves of the fringe parties, especially as according to analysts, some of them are mere paper tigers.
Mike Ahamba, a top notcher of the ANPP and Buhari’s confidant thinks along this line. In a a telephone interview, he told The Source that whatever position the smaller opposition parties are having as regard the outcome of the April 14 and 21 polls would not in any way adversely affect his party’s determined push to have the election results invalidated. Ahamba: “Some of them did not score any significant vote… they are free do what they are doing because there is freedom of speech. We are fighting for the invalidation of the poll and not to be returned as winner.”
Notedly, the seeming dissent of the fringe parties in the collective drive by the actors in the April 14 and 21 electoral contests to upturn the PDP’s triumph at the polls somewhat recreates the now moribund granite opposition championed by the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, prior to the April polls.
As it were, Buhari had branded his pet project a “granite alliance”, which suggested a rock solid and unanimous resolve by the opposition parties and their leaders to take an unflinching cause of action against the consuming political machinery of the PDP in the run-up to the general elections. Conceived by General Buhari, the ‘granite alliance” of the opposition parties had come across to political pundits as a development that could vastly determine the colour and outcome of the April 14 and 21 elections.
Buhari , whose brain-child the alliance was, had pointed out that such a pool and unified cause of action was necessary and potent enough to stymie the winning and perhaps , the rigging ways of the PDP. To underscore his seriousness to bring the alliance to be, Buhari had sent out invitation letters , personally signed by him, to all the 23 presidential candidates of the opposition parties that contested the April 21 election against the ruling PDP, summoning them to a round table at the prestigious Transcorp Hilton , Abuja.
But to Buhari's chagrin, only about six of the presidential candidates turned up for the meeting .The rest were represented by proxy. More shocking was that Atiku Abubakar , the vice president and the presidential candidate of Action Congress (AC), who is perceived as the arrow-head of the opposition front did not show up. Also, neither he nor his party sent a representative or observer to the landmark meeting.
However, the meeting held and resolved that the parties would co-operate to ensure free , fair and credible elections. They also implored the national electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to be an unbiased umpire in the elections. But more important, they expressed their lack of confidence on INEC to conduct a free , fair and credible election and thus canvassed for the removal of its chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu.
Germane as these resolutions were, they didn’t strike a fresh cord with the perceptive public, which largely took them as weather-beaten refrains. The real interest, indeed, lay with the musing for a compromise candidate of the opposition parties. But as it were, the meeting only made a flimsy indication in this regard. It, however, raised hope that it would address the matter at its next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, April 17 – just four fleeting days to the presidential contest.
Atiku and the AC’s disregard for the initial meeting, indeed, had sign-posted a distrust that finally made the alliance a still-birth. And though the vice president and the AC did not openly state the reasons for their absence, the reasons filtered out through unauthorised sources. Apart from the fact that the eligibility of Atiku’s candidacy at that time was still a matter for judicial review,the vice president and the AC had read a selfish motive in the Buhari drive. Buhari, it was disclosed, had calculated that there was the possibility that Atiku might not get the nod of the Supreme Court to as the apex court justices , may uphold the ruling of the appellate court, which had affirmed INEC’s powers and authority to disqualify any candidate. In an event of this, Buhari who thought that the presidential race would once again be what it was in 2003, reasoned a straight fight between him and the PDP candidate. For a better outing this time, he had opted to gamble with the idea of galvanising the support of the fringe parties and candidates to himself and the ANPP.
But Atiku and the AC who were waiting on the court, were however, persuaded that they would get victory and thus smartly stayed away from the initial alliance meeting, where the major issue, as touted, was the fashioning of a compromise candidate for the opposition parties, which no doubt would have Buhari, being the candidate of the biggest opposition party among the feeble lot, as well as the most visible candidate of consequence in the cast. Atiku and the AC had, thus stayed away so as not to fall for a discreet plot that would have given Buhari an overnight political leverage by just a stroke. Again, if Atiku and the AC had attended the parley and dissented to a move to adopt Buhari, they would have run the risk of being seen as pursuing personal and partisan interest, over that of collective and national interest by Buhari, the ANPP and the opposition parties that may wish to support the move. According to a reliable AC supporter who spoke to The Source then, “the question from Buhari and other parties in the alliance if Atiku and the AC had come and opposed the adoption of Buhari, would have been: what is there for AC when at the moment it does not have a presidential candidate?”
The confirmation that Buhari was scheming for his adoption as a consensus candidate, with the alliance drive, manifested at the alliance’s first meeting, when it was observed that it was only he that laboured to promote the idea of an alliance candidate. He, however, could not add verve to it following the apparent indifference of the other participants on the matter.
Before the date of the next meeting, Atiku had incidentally received the green light to proceed in the presidential election from the Supreme Court, and expectedly he showed up at the meeting with AC chieftains, including the party’s National Chairman, Bisi Akande. The meeting this time proved long-drawn, starting off by 4 pm on Tuesday and dragged till 2am on Wednesday.
Though a closed session at the Transcorp Hilton, the meeting’s communiqué showed glaringly that the issue of a compromise candidate was shot down. The boycott, which formed its major decision, incidentally came with a proviso – a boycott, if INEC did not show commitment that it was going to organise a presidential election that was going to be more credible, free and fair and with better logistics arrangement than the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections of April 14. The alliance was, however, firm on a resolve to seek the postponement of the presidential poll.
A pointer that the AC was not going to abide by the resolutions of the alliance, irrespective of the conditions that may prevail in the conduct of the polls, came that Wednesday afternoon, April 18, at the Atiku campaign headquarters. In a world press conference that drew the who- is- who in the AC, Akande announced that Atiku was going to run. On the issue of the agreed drive for postponement, Akande said the party would make its position known if it changes its mind before the election day.
The following day, Thursday, April 19, Buhari and his party equally announced a resolve to run against all odds. Strangely, the Buhari decision to equally run drew the ire of the AC, which promptly accused Buhari and the ANPP of sabotage and backstabbing.
In a release made available to The Source by the AC, entitled “AC to participate in presidential/National Assembly polls after ANPP backslides,” dated April 19, Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the party, accused the ANPP of reneging on the earlier agreement of the 18 opposition political parties to seek a postponement of the April 21 elections, and therefore said the AC will in likewise participate. Mohammed: “ We have warned before that if any of the parties to the agreement reneges on it, the accord collapses, and we reserve the right to decide on the next course of action without consulting the group.” He further stated: “Unfortunately, the ANPP and General Muhammadu Buhari, who called the meeting where the agreement was reached, who presided over the meeting and also signed the agreement, have opted to jettison the resolutions so that they could participate in the elections. We regret this stab on the back.”
Mohammed disclosed that the AC as it were, only agreed to go ahead with other opposition parties “in the national interst,” which he said, the AC believe, “should supercede any individual interest,” but observed that “some of the signatories had their own individual designs and would not hesitate to trade national interest for their selfish and personal interest.” According to him, “now that the accord has been breached by the ANPP – the first of the 18 parties to do so – we hereby call on all the members of Action Congress and all Nigerians to vote for our presidential candidate, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who will definitely contest Saturday’s presidential election.”
The initial alliance, fashioned between the ANPP and AC wayback January this year also proved dead-on-arrival. The alliance following its memorandum of understanding, provided that the ANPP was the senior partner, by virtue of the six governors in the party’s kitty then, as well as having other elected political office holders in the states and the national assembly. For this reason, the privilege to produce the AC\ANPP alliance presidential candidate was ceded to the ANPP, while the AC, as the junior partner, would provide the alliance’s presidential running mate. As it were, the vice president refused to step down for Buhari, alleging that Buhari as a retired Army general ,was not going to to be any different from President Obasanjo in matters of rule of law and other tenets of democratic governance.
After the colossal loss recorded by both Buhari and Atiku on April 21, both rejected the results and the conduct of the presidential poll, saying it was fraught with irregularities.
But like President Obasanjo, the INEC chairman advised aggrieved candidates to go to court. And while Atiku has resolved to go to court, Buhari said he would not contemplate such,arguing that he has learnt his lesson from his legal battles over the 2003 presidential election against President Obasanjo, which lingered for almost three years.
Could Buhari’s decision not to boycott the presidential election, as well as his decision not to pursue a legal challenge of the outcome of the presidential election be in solidarity with the president-elect, Governor Umar Musa Yar’Adua, his kinsman and governor of his native Kastina State? Or probably moves to spite Atiku for checkmating every move that would have resulted in a consensus candidacy for Buhari? The posers are as tough as granite.