AC to quiz Atiku today - For romancing OBJ - Presidency weighs options on OBJ, Atiku
Bola Badmus and Taiwo Adisa, Abuja - 22.01.2009

LAST Monday’s courtesy call by the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC) and former vice president, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, to his former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, is said to be causing ripples within its fold as the party holds its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting today in Abuja.


National chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, is expected to preside over the NEC meeting.


Sources told the Nigerian Tribune that the issue of the visit by Alhaji Abubakar to the Abeokuta home of Obasanjo, had been slated for discussion at the meeting.


Nigerian Tribune learnt that the former vice- president had earlier been invited for the NEC meeting long before the visit he made to Abeokuta and his presence at the NEC meeting was said to have been more desirable following that surprise visit.


Specifically, the party is said to have expressed surprise over the visit as the former vice president was said to have visited Obasanjo without the knowledge of the AC leadership.


“The party is highly surprised that the former vice president visited former President Obasanjo without having the courtesy of letting the party know about it. The party is highly worried and that is why the party has refrained from making any comment on the matter,” a source told the Nigerian Tribune.


Nigeran Tribune gathered that the party had, however, resolved to interrogate Abubakar at the meeting today with a view to taking necessary step.


Another source, who also spoke with Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, said the party was not concluding that Abubakar planned to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as being speculated in some quarters, saying he might have his reasons for choosing to visit Obasanjo.


“That is why the party expects that his attendance at Thursday’s meeting in Abuja will afford the party the opportunity to know his stand with the AC,” the source stated.


It will be recalled that Abubakar visited Chief Obasanjo in Abeokuta where the duo declared they had no personal animosity against each other.


The meeting, according to Obasanjo, was facilitated by the Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, with analysts saying that the former vice president was charting his way back into PDP, which he dumped following his disagreement with former boss, Chief Obasanjo.


It is also being speculated that Atiku is interested in contesting the 2011 presidential poll on the platform of the PDP.


Already, the national chairman of AC, Chief Akande, was said to have been in Abuja since Tuesday for the meeting with other chieftains of the party from across the federation.


However, the presidency is said to be weighing options on the way forward for its politics, following the rapprochement between the two leaders.


Although sources said that the presidency was not unaware of the rapprochement between the two, it was gathered that the unfolding events between the duo were being watched closely.


Sources told the Nigerian Tribune that President Yar’Adua was aware of the moves to reconcile Abubakar and Obasanjo, it was also gathered that the President had maintained a not-too-distant touch with the former vice president since he assumed office as president.


Although President Yar’Adua was said to be well-disposed to Atiku returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his camp was still trying to figure out what role the former vice president would want to play after joining the party.


Sources said that the thinking in the presidency was that Abubakar would join the party and collaborate with the president to “move the country forward,” rather than renew his presidential ambition.


A source said that the president’s close advisers were analysing the development.


A source said: “If the agenda is to bring him to the party for him to strengthen the PDP, we have no problems with that. The president sees Abubakar as his brother and he has maintained relations with him since he assumed office in 2007.


“But some have been saying that the former vice president will not just pocket his ambition if he comes back, we will watch as things unfold.”


[b]Another source told the Nigerian Tribune that President Yar’Adua would not sit by and watch anyone take the seat from him.


According to the source, “We are talking of a president who has two years to map the way forward, we are talking of a president who will preside over the execution of projects worth trillions and affect lives in many ways, he cannot just be swept aside.”


When reminded that former President Obasanjo appeared unhappy with Yar’Adua and could support Abubakar ambition to run for presidency in 2011, the source said that the president was watching closely.


“Don’t forget that the Jefferson case came up in the US recently, this government has two years to prosecute anyone who is indicted in that matter,” a source said.


Sources said that Abubakar could face prosecution if it became apparent that the alliance between him and the former president would work against Yar’Adua.


Another source said that the presidency was also closely watching the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, in all this.[/b]
According to the source, President Yar’Adua had so far not been able to win the confidence of the former leaders, notwithstanding attempts at reaching out to them.


It was gathered that members of the Action Congress had kept a close eye on Abubakar in the last one month and that a group of AC leaders had written to him to plead with him not to leave the party.


Sources said that the alliance between the AC and the PDP would have been consummated a year ago but for the disagreement over the modus operandi between the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, and Abubakar.


It was gathered that Abubakar was unhappy that Tinubu met with Yar’Adua directly rather than allowing the discussion to be done by the former vice president.


“Atiku was the party’s presidential candidate and leader of the party, so he believed that he should be the one to lead the charge if there is going to be a return to the PDP, but it didn’t go down well when it came to the open that some negotiations took place behind the former VP,” a source said.


In a related development, the media office of Abubakar has said that the need to join hands together and address crucial national matters informed the rapprochement between former President Obasanjo and the former and vice president.


In a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, his office said that the decision to join the former president in charting a new course was in the national interest.


“Worried that unresolved political feuds and petty elite bickering will continue to undermine Nigeria’s political and economic progress, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo, resolved this week to work with other patriots and statesmen to address critical national challenges.”


The statement by the media office continued: “The meeting was not about the 2011 presidential election as some people have misinterpreted it. The two leaders decided to bury the hatchet and focus their attention, redirect their energies and harness their collective experiences for the benefit of the country,” the statement said.


“It was not about the two of them. It is about the future of our beloved country. At a critical moment, such as this, in the life of a nation, great men and women must put aside political differences and work for the progress of the country. This is the context in which the Abeokuta meeting should be seen by all well-meaning Nigerians,” the statement added.

- Culled from Nigerian Tribune

If this news is true then what the bit in bold means is.

If Atiku has Presidential ambition then he is corrupt as a result of Jefferson case, if he does not have Presidential ambition then Atiku is not corrupt.

Are we a Nation of laws or is this all about Yar'adua must remain in power by force.

Political expediency and private ambitions of the President now trumps everything.

Guys what do you think?

Nobody has the concrete reason why Atiku went to visit Obasanjo. So why the insinuation that Atiku is already lobbying to be president? Because Atiku and Obasanjo are in different political parties does not mean that they should be enemies to each other. This is one of the greatest problems of Nigeria. Everybody has been brainwashed that once somebody is not in your party(including religion), the person is as an arc-enemy. Surely, Nigeria can not develop with this type of mentality. How can Nigeria develop when no one agrees with the next man? For any meaningful developmwent to take place, we must take national issues seriously without biaise based on ethnic, religious and party affiliations. I know that every human being is a political animal. But must we play it dirty to the detriment of national interest? We seriously need to wake up to national consciousness instead of petty antagonism. Until then, Nigeria will remain a wasteland and an abode of wishful thinkers for a better Nigeria.

Well Atiku holds no political post at the moment where he can directly affect policy, neither does Obasanjo

So if they claim the meeting was for National Interest, why is it wrong to think it has got something to do with our political future.

However that is not the crux of this thread.

I am only querrying whether it makes sense that Atiku will have a corruption case to answer to if he has Presidential ambition and none if he does not.