The Atiku Men
Despite not currently holding any political office, Atiku still has a loyal support base and members of that base are widely spread. His support base has its origin in the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) inherited from his political benefactor, Late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. He however built on it during his eight-year in office as vice president, with a majority of PDP governors between 1999 and 2007 belonging to that fold. Even though some of his supporters now aptly fit the description of “yesterday’s men”, this does not in any way discountenance the fact that he still maintains a coterie of solid supporters across the political, religious, and ethnic divides and practically all of them are as loyal as Alhassan.
A quick look at some of these supporters would suffice, even though a majority of them would not like to be mentioned given the sensitivity of their current posting or the political import of such a move at this time.
Aisha Alhassan
The first female Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Taraba State before retiring as the Registrar of Federal High Court, Abuja, Senator Aisha Alhassan is a strong political gladiator in Taraba. Her political sagacity is evident in the many battles she had fought in the state, a majority of which she won.
From Senator Anthony Manzo, to the late governor of Taraba State, Danbaba Suntai, another former governor of the state, Jolly Nyame, Alhassan battled many political heavyweights and emerged a tested political war veteran. She is a core Atiku loyalist and unapologetic about it.
Adamu Ciroma
A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Adamu Ciroma is currently a member of the PDP and a prominent northern leader with impressive record of public service. In 1979, Ciroma was one of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) presidential aspirants, who contested the party’s presidential primary, believed to have been sponsored by the Kaduna Mafia, a group of northern intellectuals, serving officers and bureaucrats stationed around Kaduna.
He however came third in the primary, behind Alhaji Shehu Shagari and the late Maitama Sule. Ciroma was briefly the secretary of the NPN and later served at various times as Minister for Industries, Agriculture and Finance in the Olusegun Obasanjo government.
He however played a major role in the political life of Atiku, when as the leader of the northern elite group that presented a consensus candidate in the 2011 presidential election made it possible for Atiku to emerge the northern candidate ahead of former military president Ibrahim Babangida, former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau and the then governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, the current Senate President. Although Atiku eventually lost to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Ciroma remains his ally.
Lawal Kaita
Born on October 4, 1932, Alhaji Lawal Kaita was elected on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform as governor of Kaduna State and was in office between October and December 1983, when the Nigerian Second Republic ended with the coup that brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power.
But he continued to be an active and influential politician in the Nigerian Fourth Republic, and was one of the founders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) party in 2006. And sometime in 2010, he said the north was determined to bring up a president and that if Jonathan forced his way on Nigerians, then the north was determined to make the country ungovernable for him.
That statement was generally believed to have been made in defence of Atiku’s interest, especially that the North then was fighting Jonathan’s eligibility to contest the 2011 election. He is very close to Atiku.
Yahaya Kwande
A former Nigerian Ambassador to Switzerland and member, Board of Trustees of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Yahaya Shagayya Kwande is another staunch supporter of the former vice-president. The about 87-year-old northern leader, has always
said at every given opportunity that he is a number one fan of Abubakar.
In a recent interview, he said “I am a die-hard supporter of Atiku yesterday, today and tomorrow…I was very disappointed with political hypocrites in Nigeria. I was disappointed in the sense that the people that cheated and misled other people to project Atiku as an evil, are those now benefitting and they know very well that it is Nigeria that is being cheated…”. With this, you need no further education on where he stands.
Tunde Adeniran
A Political Scientist and product of the first University in Nigeria, the University of Ibadan, Prof Tunde Adeniran saw himself becoming a staff of the United Nations in the mid-seventies and also taught in some American Universities before he took up appointment at the University of Ibadan, where he worked for 20 years before he retired to go into politics in 1998.
He had served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany and was the first Minister of Education (June 1999 – January 2001) in the Fourth Republic, where he made success of the Universal Basic Education Scheme. He came out with a policy banning satellite campuses and abolished the discretional list in the admission pattern of universities.
It is therefore interesting that a man with such enviable record, political and academic is yet another loyalist of Abubakar. An aspiring National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Ekiti State, the professor comes to the table with a lot of credibility and has remained with Abubakar over the years.
Dapo Sarumi
Chief Dapo Sarumi is a one-time powerful politician from Lagos State. In 1991, he contested the Social Democratic Party (SDP) gubernatorial primary but was dis-qualified at the end of the day.
Sarumi was the minister for Information during Obasanjo’s first term in office. However, in the late 2000, he was involved in an auto accident, during which two of his personal aides and a couple died. That development turned the tide into an ugly one for his political career and he never recovered therefrom.
Yet, he has remained an ardent supporter of Atiku and had used his political group then in Lagos, Primrose to foster the Atiku project. Sarumi remains one of the die-hard fans of Atiku.
Funke Adedoyin
Hon. Funke Adedoyin was initially the running mate to former Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State and now Senate President. But her appointment as Minister of Women Affairs and later, the Minister of Youth by former President Olusegun Obasanjo took her to the federal level.
A native of Igbomina in Kwara South Senatorial District,Adedoyin, a known ally of Abubakar in Kwara State, is currently in the House of Representatives. She was believed to have been made minister by Abubakar, who was very influential as vice president during Obasanjo’s first term in office. She is particularly said to have been setting up structures for Atiku ahead of the 2019 elections in Kwara.
Timi Frank
The National Deputy Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Timi Frank, is another outspoken Abubakar supporter, who has used every opportunity at his disposal to challenge the tide in the APC. He had at different times faced disciplinary committees for anti-party activities, because of the way and manner he has challenged the running of the party. He has spoken at different occasions about the way Atiku was being treated in the party.
Bimbo Daramola
A former member of the House of Representatives from Ekiti State, Hon. Bimbo Daramola is another silent but strong supporter of Atiku except he has just switched camp as you read this. The governorship hopeful was one of the silent mobilisers for Atiku in the lead up to the presidential primaries of the party in 2014. It is believed that Daramola is projecting his governorship ambition in Ekiti side-by-side with Atiku’s presidential bid and might have been doing his bidding like he did some three years ago. He is a huge Atiku fan.
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