The onerous task before IBB is daunting. The June 12 annulment is an albatross that keeps wiping away his patina of greatness in the political consciousness of progressive-minded Nigerians. The chances of ruling this nation evanesced the very moment his undemocratic instinct took charge of his intellect and forced him to truncate a momentous event in Nigeria’s history. It is a human tragedy that the arrogance of his intellect has denied him the competing chance to equal OBJ’s landmark of ruling Nigeria twice, if disastrously! IBB is a masterful, if ignoble player of the dark art of political machinations. This crude political manipulation, a throwback to his ‘Maradonic’ era, finds fulfillment in his diabolical attempt to smuggle in factionalisation in the polity and satisfy his whimsical disposition as a manufacturer of political mayhem. He formed a confederacy against President Jonathan to weakened and undermine his presidential bid.
IBB over hyped, over-heated and over-dramatised the vexed issue of zoning in the PDP fold to underscore his desire to cause internal division and erect a formidable Northern opposition to Jonathan’s aspiration. As I write, there are still nocturnal meetings among the die hard ‘Arewans’ in their bid to perfect a sinister strategy to stop Jonathan at all cost from his legitimate aspiration to continue beyond 2011. It will be recalled that in September, General Gowon was court martialled by Adamu Ciroma and his co-travelers to chair a meeting that later snowballed into a propaganda machine on zoning. Now that the propaganda war was not strong enough to change public perception on zoning, IBB is sharpening his teeth and shining his eyes on other strategies.
What may disinter the tripod personalities of Gusau, Atiku and IBB is the eventual adoption of a consensus candidate that may eventually create a setback for IBB’s projected hope. My punditing projection is that if IBB looses the ticket to President Jonathan, the dark genius may cause a stir and decamp to ANPP where, with his huge and limitless cash, he will get a ticket. The aim is shrouded in fantasy but has the potential of sabotaging the collective fortune of PDP and the chances of Jonathan. I have to introduce General Andrew Onoye Azazi (rtd) into the equation. His appointment as Jonathan’s National Security Adviser was a deft move. It mimicked the traditional Northern ethos of installing a Hausa/Fulani scion as NSA when the North rules. Given all the bickering buffeting our nascent democratic renewal and the importation of North/South dichotomy by IBB, Ciroma, Gusau and Atiku, Azazi should be this nation’s busiest NSA given the entire knotty conundrum ahead of 2011.
Azazi should concentrate and begin to decode minds, speeches, symbols, body language, movement and foreign supporters of the Northern elite who are opposed to his boss. It is alleged that two of the presidential candidates within the fold of the PDP have collected money from one of the leaders of the Maghreb Arab nations. The leader of the Arab nation is a tent-dwelling Bedouin with unorthodox style of governance and one who possesses fatalistic interest in Nigeria and the promotion of Islamic fundamentalism in the North.
Also the political defenestration of IBB through PDP primary may provoke him to turn water into wine in the backyard of a very rich telecommunication mogul. IBB’s business affinity with this global communication tycoon include holding in telecomm and oil blocks. IBB action travesties, but he will use this mogul to fund his campaign. It is also alleged that IBB may use fund through his investment in a Japanese automobile manufacturer. For IBB, there is also an alleged cash call from a huge investment in oil and gas in two African countries one of which had just walked out of a bitter civil war. An IBB well lubricated with money and its conferment of power on the holder will have every chance to buy delegates who will do his biddings either through intimidation or coercion. In all, IBB’s desire to project his bruised personal vanity and in the process take Jonathan as hostage in a bruising battle of political profligacy that had never happened before in this nation. Such contraption as failure will not sway IBB’s longsuffering fatalism because in Nigeria, every rogue chancer wants to be president. IBB’s Africanism is a painful reminder or remembrance of our military-era thralldom and except the General find rest he will be restless forever. His presidential ambition is like the desire of the moth for a star – celestially impossible and daringly risky.
