2015 Presidential Series: Atiku It may never really matter now what has become of him – as a rolling stone that may end up not gathering moss. But as is always said in politics, anything can happen; especially when placed against the backdrop of a shambling and shambolic presidency, made worse by sycophants who have held President Goodluck Jonathan hostage to his own ambition. Yet, the odds are stacked against the man, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, in his fresh bid to become Nigeria’s President. That he is a rolling stone can never be in doubt: Two-time member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; former member, ACD; and now member of the All Progressive Congress, APC; all between 1999 and 2014. For the man Atiku Abubakar, he remains one of the very few Nigerians whose first name can never be confused with any other individual – there is a tiny tribe of Nigerians whose first name rings a bell: Fela (Anikulapo Ransome-Kuti), Murtala (Ramat Muhammad), Gani (Fawehinmi), Muda (Lawal), Beko (Ransom-Kuti). However, in the realm of presidential politics, especially the murky, insensate and perhaps kill-me-I-kill-you chess game which held Nigeria in a vice-grip of embarrassment from December 2002 to February 2007, the man Atiku stands out. It is generally acknowledged that but for his mobilization, Nigeria may have been reeling under a life presidency. At every turn of the way in the now infamous struggle and contestation for power, Atiku always headed for the courts. For, whatever anyone would say, the many judgments he got against his rampaging boss helped bring some semblance of sanity. Unlike the embarrassment being caused the PDP and the nation in Ekiti State today, with the indecorous Gov-elect Fayose’s sense of propriety or lack of it, Nigerians must be encouraged to seek judicial assistance and not recourse to self-help. Atiku may not be liked. He may, more appropriately, be loathed, a reflection of the perception that he was a disloyal Vice President to his boss, then President Olusegun Obasanjo But this is one rolling stone that appears to have gathered some moss. Let us make some clarifications upfront. When you place the thinking in the presidency beside some of the solutions proffered and being proffered by Atiku, side by side, you would simply empathize with the former. This is more so, in the face of a seemingly ‘clueless’ presidency that allows almost every Tom, Dick and Harry to poke fun at it. As was the case in 2011, President Jonathan would do well for his aspiration and his well-being not to appear for any national debate with an Atiku. Having become serially impatient as to move from party to party, the former Vice President may have unwittingly estranged not a few supporters. Yet, the template for garrison politicking, a practice that Obasanjo introduced, was just a make-over of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, the embryonic entity in the then Social Democratic Party, SDP, which was effectively used during the SDP presidential primaries of 1993 and which produced MKO Abiola. Today, it is because of the way Obasanjo elevated brute politicking to an art that forced Atiku out of PDP; the same paradigm was employed by Jonathan’s supporters to force out five of its own state governors just so Jonathan would have a smooth sail for a second term. No matter. Atiku continues to enjoy the type of spread no other politician in Nigeria enjoys. But whether that spread would be enough to oust a President running on the sentiment of constitutional guarantee for a second term on the platform of the major political party in the country is another thing. Yes, there are two dominant parties today. But it would be sheer foolhardiness to try to match the numerical strength of the All Progressive Congress, APC, with that of the PDP. However, in politics, being what it is, anything can happen. Atiku continues to insist that if he becomes President, he would deliver for Nigeria and Nigerians. To do that, he must first scale the primary in his party before confronting Jonathan next February. Read: The story of the struggle of my life, by Atiku Abubakar -