OPINION: ATIKU DESERVES OUR MANDATE... Emmanuel Zakka

In the heat of my sentimentalism, I hated Atiku based on the reasons some people gave against him and not based on my own rational analysis of the man.


But just as some people decided to reconsider their harsh stance on Buhari based on what they read about him and so gave him a chance in 2015 - a chance he has since blown away with his gross incompetence, I also sat down recently to consider for myself why Atiku thinks so confidently that he can be President. And here is what i have come up with.

Atiku has never been Governor in the real sense of the word. He was duly elected in 1999 in Adamawa State but never got to serve. Obj wanted him as Running Mate and he left, thus his Deputy-elect became the Governor.

Atiku has never been President either, he was only a Vice President and this nation has never - and I dare say may never - have one like him. Yet people keep saying Atiku is corrupt, Atiku is corrupt. He is corrupt as what? State Governor? President?

How can a man who was a Vice to someone be called corrupt while the same man who was his boss is not called corrupt? Where are the institutions whose mandate it is to prosecute corruption? Why have they been unable to charge Atiku for corruption?

All these are strategies by those who know the capacity and ability of Atiku to stop him from ever becoming President. They are playing God over the destiny of Mr Competence. They know he will outshine them and leave legacies that will outlive theirs. Such a thought as Atiku becoming President haunts and hunts them dearly.

We all know that Atiku is the only Presidential candidate in our history to have ever been prepared for the office.

The rest became presidents not by demonstration of capacity or by obvious competence based on what they have been contributing to the economy and national prosperity but due to accidents and luck.

Obasanjo was a prisoner before 1999 and all he wanted was his freedom yet he was not only freed but also made president. He never prepared for that.

The late Yar'Adua never asked for that task but he was made President by the Kingmakers.

The story of GEJ is even more spectacular and we are all familiar with it. What about Buhari? He was merely a pretender. All the years he was vying for office he was never prepared for anything, he was only hoping that somehow sentiments would one day favour him.

We need not argue about this, the state of the nation leaves no room for doubts on the matter. President Buhari was only a beneficiary of the people's conspiratorial and misdirected angst against the government of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Now they know better.

If Buhari who was never prepared for office finally got the benefit of the doubt at the fourth attempt, why not a man who has prepared himself for it? Let us give Atiku a chance and be forever the happier for it.


Emmanuel Zakka writes from Kaduna and is a member of the Turaki Vanguard Youth and Women Mobilization Group