USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI VERSUS ATIKU IN NIGERIA'S 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

​Despite the fact that there are going to be seventy-three presidential candidates, according to INEC, in the forthcoming 16 February 2019 Federal elections in Nigeria, it appears the contest for Presidency will be between the PDP, represented by Atiku Abubakar and the APC, represented by Muhammadu Buhari. A perusal of nearly twenty years of democratic rule in Nigeria will show that PDP has governed for sixteen years while APC is about to complete its four years of governance. Thus, the debate between the two major political parties vying for power at the coming Presidential elections should be about what PDP did or did not do during its 16 years in power and what APC has done or has not done in its about to be completed four years in power. Incidentally, Atiku Abubakar was vice President in the first eight years of the 16 years of PDP government. Therefore, Nigerians have ample opportunity to compare Mohammadu Buhari with his challenger, Atiku Abubakar. for Presidential power.

When Buhari ascended the Presidency in 2015, about 50, 000 square kilometres of Nigeria's territory was under the control of Boko Haram, and declared a Caliphate with their flag raised there. The price of the single product which the economy of Nigeria rests on, crude oil export plummeted sharply from over $100 per barrel to as low as $25/barrel. Buhari met empty treasury as previous earnings from crude oil had been shared among the ruling PDP members and their cronies. The infrastructural decays throughout the country were enormous because in the sixteen years of PDP government contractors were used to collecting money for projects without executing them. As the late Pa Michael Imodu used to say, ''Them earmark mony for projects, I know eye-see projects.'' Stealing of funds appropriated for socio-economic development of Nigeria that was, and is still, called corruption was what APC under the leadership of Buhari promised Nigerians to tackle if elected president in 2015, beside security. APC did not win only the Presidential elections it won majority in the National Assembly a situation that should have made Buhari's task of getting the Lawmakers to enact laws that would help APC accomplish its election manifestoes, most especially, on corruption. Then on 8 June 2015, a parliamentary coup d'état occurred in Nigeria. Politics is not a dirty game, but dirty people sometimes play politics and affect politics with their dirt. For dirty politicians they don't care about the law or the constitution but how to get unexplained wealth. Let us see what happened during the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly and how the Senate President, his Deputy, the Speaker and deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives were chosen.

Beginning with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, Section 65, sub-section 2b states emphatically that a Nigerian is qualified to contest for elections into the National Assembly if he/she is a member of a political party and if he/she is sponsored by that political party. Thus, independent candidates cannot contest for elected offices in Nigeria in accordance with Section 65 (2b) of the Constitution which indirectly entrenches party supremacy. By that provision, if an elected member of the National Assembly is expelled from the political party on which platform he/she is elected, that member would lose his/her seat in the National Assembly, simply because it is the party which has been elected not an individual person. In other words an elected individual into the National Assembly is only holding his/her seat on behalf of the party. The supremacy of a political party over members is further strengthened in Section 68 (1g) of the Constitution where it is stated that : A member of the Senate or the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he/she is a member if being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he/she becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected. The Sections of the Constitution referred to above were blatantly violated during the inauguration of the 8th Assembly in 2015. Prior to the 2015 Presidential and National Assembly elections, some self-named New-PDP joined the APC and they were not only admitted unconditionally but were sponsored to contest elections on the platform of APC. After the elections, the National Working Committee of the APC decided who among the elected Senators should be President and Deputy President of the Senate respectively. Bukola Saraki opposed the decision of the APC and asserted that after elections, elected Senators are free, and regardless of political party affiliation, to elect among themselves whoever they want to be their President and Deputy President respectively. Before anyone could understand what was going on, Bukola Saraki had merged his New-PDP with the old PDP to emerge as President of the Senate while ceding the post of Deputy Senate President to the old PDP in the person of Ike Ekweremadu, who held the same position in the 7th Assembly when PDP had majority in the Senate and David Mark was Senate President. What more, Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu had forged Senate rule of inauguration to facilitate their elections. It is remarkable that Bukola Saraki became President of the Senate in the presence of forty-nine PDP and eight APC Senators after he had treacherously manoeuvred away fifty-one APC Senators from taking part in the election of Senate President and its deputy. From the moment the new PDP and the old PDP succeeded in stealing the control of the Senate given to it by the Nigerian electorates at the March 2015 Presidential elections, it became clear that the departure from 16 years of PDP corruption-run type of government which Buhari had promised Nigerians to change would be difficult. Buhari needed to update, review and amend the laws and regulations upon which the anti-graft agencies have been operating. He needed the National Assembly to be on the same page with him. The National Assembly, spear-headed by Bukola Saraki's Senate became opposition to every move by the Executive to bring succour to the Nigerian masses after the 16 locust years of PDP government. His opposition was not in defence of separation of powers vis á vis the Legislature and the Executive, rather it was a self-preservation measure by the corrupt new-PDP and old-PDP legislatures from prosecution. It worth recollecting that Buhari inherited hundreds of high profile corruption cases from the outvoted PDP government of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, cases that have been filed since July 2007, and ironically by the PDP government but have been stalled in various courts. In February 2016, President Buhari forwarded two Bills to the Senate for consideration and passing them into law. The first Bill was for the establishment of, Special Criminal Court to try corruption, narcotics and kidnapping cases and the second was Proceeds of Crime Bill which automatically puts suspects to prove legitimate source of assets and if not, the assets would be forfeited to the State. The Bills were not even read to the House by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, not to talk of passing them into law. Saraki's behaviour was not in accordance with separation of power but sovereignty of corruption. 

In December 2015, the chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and order Related offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, said that ICPC was prosecuting over 400 corruption cases in various courts across Nigeria and he blamed the Judiciary for the drawback it had suffered in the course of prosecuting the cases. The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu suggested a legislation that would fix a time frame within which corruption cases should be heard and determined by the courts.   
​Speaking at a town hall meeting with Nigerians in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, 31 January 2016, President Buhari said, "On the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the Judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now." On Wednesday, 10 February 2016, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) then, Mr. Augustine Alegeh, accused President Buhari of plotting to intimidate judiciary. He stated further, "Such generalisations and categorisations of the judiciary as being an obstacle to the anti-corruption crusade was aimed at intimidating the judiciary. The NBA condemns in its entirety the generalisation and/or categorisation of the Judiciary as being corrupt and an impediment to the zero corruption policy of the present administration." But what Buhari said in Ethiopia in January 2016 was a confirmation of what was first observed by one of Mr. Alegeh's predecessor in office, Mr. Joseph Daudu when the latter said on 27 September 2012 thus, "At the moment the machinery for justice delivery is ponderously slow, corrupt and inefficient. The Nigerian masses are worse for it. Corruption can be dealt with when there is a resolve to do so by the stakeholders." The unwillingness of the judiciary to adjudicate expeditiously on corruption cases was exactly what Buhari raised concern about. At an International workshop that took place at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja on Monday 18 July 2016, Buhari spoke on the role of the judiciary in the fight against corruption. He said, "The Judiciary should be in the forefront of efforts to develop rights based jurisprudence as an element in the multidisciplinary approach advocated in the fight against corruption. It does have a role to play in the fight against corruption by enforcing the applicable laws. Critically important also is the sacred duty of the judiciary to ensure that criminal justice administration is not delayed. I am worried that the expectation of the public is yet to be met by the judiciary with regard to the removal of delay and the toleration of delay tactics by lawyers. When cases are not concluded the negative impression is given that crime pays. So far, the corruption cases filed by the government are not progressing as speedily as they should in spite of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act 2015, essentially because the Courts allow some lawyers to frustrate the reforms introduced by law. …//… To this end the Judiciary is under a duty to keep its house in order and to ensure that the public, which it serves sees this. Thus, we cannot expect to make any gains in the war against corruption in our society when the judiciary is seen as being distant from the crusade. This will not augur well and its negative effect will impact on all sectors of society. The Judiciary must fight delay of cases in court as well as it fights corruption in its own ranks, perceived or otherwise. We expect to see less tolerance to delay tactics used by defence lawyers or even the prosecution in taking cases to conclusions." By 26 August 2016, the NBA had gotten a new President, Abubakar Mahmood, who said, "The NBA under my watch will fight judicial corruption. We shall make the legal profession unattractive for corrupt lawyers." The new NBA President would appear to agree with Buhari that there was corruption in the judiciary because if there was no corruption in the judiciary, why should the NBA boss aim at fighting something that did not exist. However, the appeal of Buhari to the Nigerian Judiciary and the legal profession to play their rightful roles in stamping out corruption in Nigeria had no effect since corruption is the major source of illicit wealth of lawyers and Judicial Officers. It is not without reason that hundreds of corruption cases which should not have taken more than six months from the High Court to the Supreme Court had been pending in courts for over twelve years. As Machiavelli once said, no action is ever effective as what the enemy does not expect one to do.

​Normally, houses of Judges do not belong to places one will expect police to search for hidden criminal products but in a surprise move on 7 October 2016, the DSS raided homes of seven Justices of the High Court, one Justice of the Court of Appeal and two Justices of the Supreme Court. Their names are as follows : Justice Adeniyi Ademola - Federal High Court Abuja; Justice I.A. Umezulike - Chief Judge of Enugu State; Justice Kabiru Auta - Kano State High Court; Justice Muazu Pindiga - Gombe State High Court; Justice Bashir Sukola - Kaduna State High Court; Justice Manir Ladan - Kaduna State High Court; Justice Nnamdi Dimgba - Federal High Court Abuja; Muhammed Ladan Tsamiya - Court of Appeal, Ilorin; Justice John Iyang Okoro - Supreme Court (Akwa Ibom State; and Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta. Millions of raw cash in naira and U.S. dollars were recovered from the homes of the Justices beside documents revealing very fat bank account deposits. For instance, in the house of Justice John Iyang Okoro of the Supreme Court, the sums of 38 thousand, 800 US dollars and 3 million, 500 thousand naira were recovered. In the house of Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta of the Supreme Court, the sums of 38 million,358 thousand naira; 319 thousand, 596 US dollar; and 25 thousand 915 pounds sterling were recovered. Also recovered was a document that he had spent over 500 million naira between January and October 2016 on a mansion he was building despite the fact that his annual legitimate earnings including allowances being 24 million naira. In the house of Justice Adeniyi Ademola, the sum of 500 thousand US dollar was recovered etc. One Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju of the USA Africa Dialogue Google Group queried the unbelievable  amount of raw cash recovered by the DSS in the houses of our honourable Justices thus, "If I had large sums of money, particularly if acquired illegally, and in a various context of various currencies, would I keep the money in my house? If I had papers indicating wealth of ownership of illegally acquired real estate, would I keep such papers in my house?" As if the DSS raids were limited to only Judges from Southern Nigeria, he concluded, "I remain amazed at what I see as the naivete of imagination some Southern Nigerians demonstrate when faced by high stakes politics." As a result of the DSS raids the Nigerian Bar Association declared a State of Emergency on what it called the assault on, and the desecration of, the legal profession as well as intimidation of the Judiciary by the Executive arm of the government. Such diversionary craps were touted by doubting Thomases until Justice Ngwuta wrote to NJC that the huge amount of money found in his house was earned through the sales of rice and palm oil!! On his part Justice Okoro only claimed that the money recovered from his home was duly earned but he did not specify from where the money was duly earned. As for Justice I.A. Umezulike, he was the presiding Judge over Suits Nos. E/6/2013 and E/88/2016 filed by a crude oil block owner, Prince Arthur Eze, against two defendants. While the two cases were still pending in his Lordship's Court, Umezulike had a book launch and among the attendees was Prince Arthur Eze who donated ten million naira (N10 million) to Justice Umezulike for his book launch. In April 2015, Rickey Tarfa (a high profile SAN) was a Chief launcher of a book in honour of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Ibrahim Auta. Tarfa was accompanied to the launching by Gabriel Igbinedion. At the event, Tarfa introduced Mr.Igbinedion to judges and senior lawyers in attendance. Gabriel Igbinedion made a donation of eight million naira (N 8 million) for the book launch but behind that donation was the fact that his son, Michael Igbinedion, who had been convicted but awaiting sentence in the court of Justice Ibrahim Auta in criminal proceedings was yet to be pronounced. After the book launch and the donation of N8 million by Gabriel Igbinedion, his son, Michael Igbinedion was sentenced to one year imprisonment or a fine of one million naira. And, of course, the one million naira fine in lieu of serving one year in prison was paid in a jiffy. The socio- economic backwardness of Nigeria is caused by public officials and politicians who steal funds which could have made Nigeria a Dubai ten folds and the judiciary with their armies of SANs who block all legal means of punishing kleptomaniacs in Nigeria. Nigeria's public looters are Siamese triplets with the Nigerian Judiciary and the Nigerian Bar Association. Let me illustrate with an example.

In his declaration of assets dated 3 June 2011, which Bukola Saraki submitted at the end of his second term as Governor of Kwara State, he declared that he acquired Ikoyi properties in 2006 - as well as five others in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996 and 2000 - with funds he obtained from selling rice and sugar. But in his asset declaration, at the beginning of his second tenure, dated 11 July 2007 Bukola Saraki stated that he acquired the Ikoyi properties and others through Bank loans of 497 million naira. In other words Saraki's bank loan in 2007 had turned to funds realized from sales of rice and sugar in 2011. It is noteworthy, that Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta of the Supreme Court also claimed that the huge sum of money the DSS recovered in his residence was earned from selling rice and palm oil. However, the CCB case of false declaration of assets by Saraki was finally decided by the Supreme Court which did not see any falsehood in first claiming that properties were acquired with loans of 497 million naira in 2007 and the same properties being acquired with funds obtained from selling rice and sugar in 2011. The Supreme Court that acquitted Saraki from the charge of false declaration of assets is headed by Chief Justice Onnoghen who himself is now charged with false declaration assets. Maybe the huge amount of undeclared money in various accounts operated by Chief Justice Onnoghen were earned by selling pounded yam and goat-head soup. The spate at which public treasuries are looted in Nigeria is directly related to the huge bank accounts run by judicial officers in the country which are extremely out of proportion to what they earn as salaries and allowances. While inaugurating Corruption and other Financial Cases Trial Monitoring Committee set up by the National Judicial Council on 1 November 2017, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, said that he had received one-thousand, one-hundred and twenty-four (1,124) pending corruption cases from heads of courts of various jurisdictions across the country. The kleptomaniacs have been granted bails and gotten their cases adjourned sine die by the courts and some even got court injunctions prohibiting law enforcement agencies from arresting, detaining, questioning and prosecuting suspected treasury looters. When the rule of law has been turned to the ruin of law and the judiciary has turned due process to delay process of justice, we need a person like Muhammadu Buhari who can apply necessary process to bring kleptomaniacs to quick justice.

​As we say in pidgin English, horse de look for wife, goat come begin make eyes. Nigeria wants a President, Atiku Abubakar is showing his face to contest. As we all know, Atiku Abubakar was vice President to President Obasanjo between 29 May 1999 and 29 May 2007. According to his own story, he was a firewood hawker in the street of Adamawa having lost his father before puberty. The government of that time picked him up from the street to study in the school free of charge until he was enlisted in the Nigerian Customs where he rose to the rank of Deputy Director of Customs. Recently, he was grilled about his corruption records at the Custom by Kadaria Ahmed who raised the issue of conflict of interest when Atiku as a Custom officer at the Apapa Ports, Lagos, set up a logistics company to do clearing and forwarding. Atiku said that he only bought shares which was permitted at that time and he attributed his venture to indigenisation decree. When Kadaria reminded him that the company was set up with an Italian shareholder with focus on clearing and logistics, Atiku denied it and said that the company was registered to undertake logistics in oil and gas. Kadaria pointed out that the company metamorphosed in 2006, and was given extended 25-year concession in some key ports in Nigeria and granted monopoly when Atiku was Vice President of Nigeria. While not denying the 25-year concession granted to the company in which he had interest when he was Vice President, Atiku denied that it was monopoly, even though there was no other company granted a 25-year concession as the company in which he had shares. Debunking Atiku's rigmarole, Kadaria asserted, "This information is on your company's website, by the way." Atiku replied, "You should have also crosschecked to see whether what the company is saying is correct or not. Kadaria queried, "Your company made a mistake on whether you have a monopoly?" Atiku replied, "It is possible (that his company made mistake in stating in its website that it had monopoly)" Atiku Abubakar is the first Deputy Director of Customs to become a millionaire in Nigeria because he had the qualm to combine his shares in a private company with his official role as Custom's DG. Can anyone guarantee that the shares of Atiku in the oil and gas logistics company were not paid for with his power as a Custom officer to allow elephant legs to pass through the eye of the needle for the company in the Custom?

​In 2014, Olusegun Obasanjo released a three-volume memoir titled , MY Watch. In chapter 36 &37 of volume two, Obasanjo dealt extensively on his Vice President, Atiku Abubakar between  1999 and 2007. Chapter 36, p.141 of the memoir is titled : Atiku and US Justice Entanglement. On page 147, Obasanjo wrote, "The US Attorney's Office on 22 June 2006 requested EFCC to investigate twenty-two Nigerians and their companies in connection with corruption, fraud and money laundering allegations. The letter with attachments going into well over thirty pages." The letter which was addressed to the then Chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu was headlined, RE: REQUEST TO NIGERIA FOR ASSISTANCE IN THE PROSECUTION OF US: CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM JEFFERSON. Parts of the letter written to Ribadu was cited in Obasanjo's book as follows, "In exchange for his official acts supporting the proposed business ventures, Congressman Jefferson and his nominees have already received approximately $400,000 in payments from iGate and 30% equity stake in a Nigerian company that had contracted to use iGate's technology and equipment to support a telecommunication's venture in Nigeria (p.149)." In addition, the investigation indicates that Congressman Jefferson has also discussed possible payment of bribes to high ranking foreign government officials, including Vice President Abubakar to promote the business venture in Nigeria. …//… Congressman Jefferson discussed with a cooperating witness a possible bribe payment of $500,000 to Vice President Abubakar before the commencement of business operation in Nigeria. On July 30, 2005, Congressman Jefferson obtained from the cooperating witness $100,000 in US currency for the stated purpose of giving it to Vice President Abubakar in exchange for his assistance in securing the appropriate approvals to ensure the success of the Nigerian business venture (p. 149-150)." On page 180, Obasanjo noted that Atiku Abubakar was one of the persons the US authority requested the Nigerian authority to locate and provide documents and information in relation to the Congressman William Jefferson. Further on page 185, Obasanjo wrote that he received a police report headlined : POLICE INTERIM REPORT OF INVESTIGATION INTO A CASE OF CONSPIRACY, FRAUDULENT DIVERSION AND CONVERSION OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS. In item 4(i) and 4(ii) of the police report under the subtitle, POLICE INVESTIGATIVE ACTION, it was narrated how, on 10 April 2003, President Obasanjo received a letter of request of US$125 million to fund Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) projects for the fiscal year 2003 from Rilwanu Lukman, Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and energy (4i, p.186). On 14 October 2003, another letter of release of US$20 million to fund PTDF Operations was addressed to the Vice President by Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar, Executive Secretary of the PTDF (4ii, p.186). While the request of US$125 million was deliberated upon and approved by the Federal Executive Council, the second request of US$20 million was not only singlehandedly approved by Vice President Abubakar, but he also advised the Accountant General to transfer the US$20 million to an account with Standard Chartered Bank, New Jersey, USA. The police report stated further in item 6 that instead of disbursing the US$125 million in accordance with the letter of request as approved by the Federal Executive Council, the then Executive Secretary of PTDF, Yusuf H. Abubakar sent a memo to the Vice President Atiku Abubakar on 29 April 2003 requesting for the diversion of the funds. Approval was given on the same day by Atiku Abubakar for remittance of the funds to the Equitorial Trust Bank and Trans International Bank to be invested as follows : (i) US$115 million transferred in two tranches of US$100 million and US$15 million from First Bank Plc to Equitorial Bank Limited. (ii) Another US$10 million was transferred from First Bank Plc to Trans International Bank Plc to be invested as Term Deposit. It turned out that from the US$10 million PTDF's Term Deposit at Trans International Bank Plc, the sum of US$6.5 million was transferred to iGate to fund Netlink Digital Television  jointly owned by Otunba Fasawe, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Ahmed Vanderpuije and Dumebi Kachikwu (p.187).

​Nuhu Ribadu, the then Chairman of the EFCC, carried out investigation on Atiku and forwarded it to the US, Obasanjo wrote in Chapter 37, page 191, under the headline (on p. 189) : SUCCESSION, TRANSITION AND EXIT. Obasanjo continued, "The report was a bit uncomfortable and unsavoury for Atiku and his associates. I thought it was bad enough that the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was under investigation, when my Administration had made fighting corruption one of its cardinal objectives. As it turned out, the investigation in Nigeria and in the US led to Atiku's house being searched by the US Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the arrest and detention of his newly married wife Jennifer. She was also declared wanted at one time. It was so embarrassing  for our Administration and Embassy in Washington under Ambassador Geoge Obiozor. By then I have come to know Atiku for his connivance in covering up  and not being straightforward on matters requiring truth and candour (p. 191-192)." It is remarkable that the underlined assertion by Obasanjo on Atiku Abubakar was actually confirmed when viewed in connection with Atiku's responses to Kadaria's questions about his role as a Custom Officer and owner of a registered forwarding and clearing company.

​In the​ fourth quarter of 2004, Obasanjo wrote that a man had narrated to him what Atiku had said at a closed meeting in his official residence. According to the narrator, Atiku had boasted that for him to become President of Nigeria, 2007 elections were only a formality. The seven ingredients he needed for his enthronement were already in his hands. He controlled the National Assembly because both the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives were in his pocket. He controlled twenty-eight out of thirty-six Governors. He had control of the media. His influence over the Judiciary was overwhelming. What he needed was foreign endorsement and for that he had employed two lobby groups in the US and one in UK. And finally, the money for elections was in his purse (p. 191-193). Can one recognize the same pattern of beliefs and behaviours in Atiku in 2019. He has visited UK and even the US, where he was wanted for involvement in bribery scandal affecting Congressman Jefferson, for endorsement in respect of 16 February 2019 Presidential elections. What more, the Judiciary is already helping him to disqualify APC in certain parts of the country from fielding candidates in the election.

​However, Obasanjo blocked Atiku's chance of contesting in the 2007 PDP Presidential primary elections. On this Obasanjo was triumphal when he wrote thus, "I believe that he (Atiku) saw the handwriting on the wall and while he remained the Vice President on the platform of the PDP, he moved to join another political party to contest for the Presidency. Some people challenged him in Court and maybe due to his influence on the Judiciary, which he had earlier claimed, he got a verdict in his favour (p.211)." As written by Obasanjo, Atiku became the Presidential candidate of Action Congress (AC) in the 2007 presidential elections while remaining Vice President of Nigeria on the platform of PDP. Nigeria is the only country in the world where such political harlotry could be approved by the corrupt Judiciary where Judicial Officers receive bribes not only in naira but in dollars and euros. Atiku came distant third in the 2007 Presidential elections which was worn by Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

​The Presidential election of 2007 which Obasanjo described as 'do or die' to him was considered highly rigged and even the benefactor of the rigging himself, Yar'Adua admitted that the election was flawed, adding that he could still have won without the excessive riggings. In volume II of My Watch, Obasanjo wrote, "All the resources INEC requested for the elections were given. The 2007 elections only showed a little deviation from the pattern of 1999, 2003 and the subsequent 2011 elections. I would not swear that there were people who would endeavour if opportunities presented themselves to carry out malpractices in favour of one political party or the other. That has always been the general trend in all elections in Nigeria. That should not be blamed on the government (p. 218)." The same Obasanjo has now re-united with Atiku Abubakar in the PDP to accuse Buhari of the APC of planning to rig the forthcoming Presidential elections in Nigeria. Buhari and the APC government, they suspect would do the same thing the PDP was doing to win elections except in 2015 when disputes among the PDP election rogues prevented them from subverting the will of Nigerian electorate.

In spite of everything Olusegun Obasanjo has written about Atiku Abubakar's corruption and swearing publicly as recent as August 11, 2018, that God will never forgive him, Obasanjo, if he should support Atiku Abubakar in his bid to become President of Nigeria; the same Obasanjo who had torn his PDP membership card in 2014, and proclaiming that he had finished with PDP, attended PDP Presidential primary in Port Harcourt where Atiku Abubakar was elected the flag bearer of PDP in the 16 February 2019 Presidential elections. This same Obasanjo who in his epistle in January 2018 had called for the third force to wrestle down APC and PDP from political power in Nigeria is back in full force in the PDP. What kind of person is Obasanjo? The answer seems striking from what Professor Oha Obododinma wrote sometimes ago, the exact year I cannot remember now. The learned Professor said that the Obasanjo is derived from the Igbo - O basaa njo- meaning he has massively produced and spread evil, or he has massively produced and spread ugliness. And in Yoruba A-TÍ-KÚ will translate to 'we are dead.' One should not forget that after eight years of ruling Nigeria together as President and Vice President, Obasanjo and Atiku underfunded Nigerian Universities and left our highest institution of learning dilapidated. At the end of their tenure each of them built a private University which ordinary Nigerians can never afford to pay tuition. How could Atiku emerge as the Presidential candidate of the PDP in spite of his record as a political prostitute? For those who might probably have forgotten, Atiku Abubakar while remaining the Vice President of Nigeria under the platform of PDP in 2007 contested the Presidential elections of 21 April 2007 on the platform of Action Congress. He secured only one-third of Buhari's vote in that election. While in the AC party the health of President Yar'Adua deteriorated and Atiku Abubakar sensed that he might die. Even though the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan would succeed Yar'Adua, Atiku Abubakar had coldly calculated  that Jonathan would only complete the remaining years left by Yar'Adua and another Northerner, according to the PDP rotational policy of the Presidency between North and South, would ascend the Presidency in 2011. He therefore absconded from AC to re-join PDP for the second time. He contested against Goodluck Jonathan at the PDP Presidential primary in 2010 but failed. Thereafter, Atiku was hanging in the balance until APC was formed and he was one of the PDP members who joined the APC in which he contested Presidential primary against Buhari in 2014 but lost woefully. After the victory of Buhari in 2015 and his health problem surfaced, Atiku hoped that even if Buhari survived the health challenge he would not contest for re-election in 2019. Atiku was bidding his time and when it became obvious to him that Buhari was going to seek second term tenure, Atiku Abubakar crawled back into PDP for the third time. The PDP acronym had become Peoples' Dishonest Party and Atiku could easily buy PDP presidential primary election ticket without problem. When he contested Presidential election in 2007, his running mate was Ben Obi but in 2019 his running mate is another Obi with first name Peter. Peter Obi was the Governor of Anambra on the platform of APGA but after leaving office he joined PDP in 2014. Atiku and his PDP know quiet well that Nigerians are not going to vote for them, therefore they turn themselves into a bunch of peripatetic gypsies, stargazers, and necromanzers, foretelling their own resurrections and election victory which, according to their supersticious belief, can only be prevented through APC rigging. Their strategy is to discredit the election before it is held. Therefore PDP and their international backers are targeting the police and, most especially, the INEC for blackmails. Of course the record is still in the public domain on how the PDP compromised the entire INEC officials in the South-South in the 2015 presidential elections when PDP and Jonathan got more votes cast than registered number of voters. It is on record that Eight-hundred and sixty-five point 076 million naira (N865.076 million) was expended to bribe INEC Officials in the South-South in 2015 which is as follows : INEC Commissioner in Cross River State, Mrs. Gesil Khan received N185,842,000; Fidelia Omoile, Electoral officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State received N112,480,000; Uluochi Obi Brown, INEC's Administrative Secretary in Delta State collected N111,500,000; former Deputy Director of INEC in Cross River State, Edem Okon Effanga, collectedN241,127,000; and INEC's Head of Voter Education in Akwa Ibom, Immaculata Asuquo collected N214,127,000. A total sum of N408.7 million was recovered by the EFCC from the accounts of the election bribe takers even though their cases are, as usual, still pending in the courts since 2016. Recently Atiku Abubakar promised not only to privatise the oil resources of Nigeria but also to enrich his friends. https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/01/18/video-watch-as-atiku-promises-to-enrich-all-his-friends/   

Video: Watch as Atiku promises to enrich all his friends | P.M. News The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has promised to enrich all his friends if elected as president of Nigeria, come Saturday February 16. In a Channels Television interview, the former vice president said he will not enrich members of his family but ... www.pmnewsnigeria.com

​That is how those who crippled Nigeria economically will make Nigeria to walk again. Nigerians are wise enough not to accept cover under the spread umbrella of Poverty Distributing Party, especially, when it is sunset without rain. Nigerian masses have seen in Muhammadu Buhari a man who will give them a fair share of amenities, of rights and of opportunities. Nigerians have seen him as a man who is not possessed by the primitive passion of greedy acquisition of Nigeria's patrimony for himself, his family, his friends and his tribe only. That is why Nigerians are going to vote for Buhari so that within the next four years, he would have bravely beheaded the vipers and making Nigeria secure for younger generation of politicians e.g Sowore, Moghalu etc., to trek the political field free of dangerous and poisonous vipers. 

S. Kadiri