By EMMANUEL AZIKEN
The circumstances surrounding Vice President Kashim Shettima over his prospects in the 2027 presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC are not surprising in Nigeria.
Almost all sitting vice-presidents since the advent of the Fourth Republic with the notable exception of Namadi Sambo faced scrutiny on retaining their slots in the election for a second term.
However, remarkably, none has so far been jettisoned by the incumbent president.
When in April 2002, President Olusegun Obasanjo declared his aspiration for a second term, no mention was made of Atiku being retained as his running mate. Indeed, Atiku was abroad when Chief Tony Anenih was planning the declaration. On learning of the plan, Atiku had to rush back to Nigeria and arrived the country just on the eve of the declaration. He was a guest at the ceremony and no mention was made of him.
Remarkably, just before the declaration, a media hype on President Obasanjo taking the Mandela Option, a political phraseology for Obasanjo to take the statesman route and serve one term, and hand over the baton to Atiku had circulated in the polity. It was at that time largely believed that the Mandela Option media blitz was sponsored by Atiku with some governors then beholden to him. Obasanjo with the prompting of Anenih at that time began to see Atiku as power greedy and it was no surprise that he began to seek an independent political pathway.
About that time Anenih had taken Obasanjo one night to the offices of the National Democratic Project, NDP, an NGO sponsored by Atiku and at that time headed by Dr Usman Bugaje that was focused on producing blueprints on virtually every sector of Nigeria’s socio-economy.
Your correspondent remembers visiting there sometime around that time and going away with the conviction that there was perhaps no one better prepared with a vision to be president of Nigeria than Atiku.
Remarkably, the NDP office was almost opposite Anenih’s residence in the Asokoro area of Abuja. It was alleged at that time that Anenih had claimed that the NDP was the tentative headquarters of Atiku’s presidential campaign. Whether President Obasanjo believed it or not is not known. But whatever, when Obasanjo made his declaration for a second term, Atiku was completely ignored setting the stage for the political differences between the two men.
Under the threat of PDP governors loyal to Atiku abandoning him at the presidential convention, Obasanjo eventually picked Atiku but the romance between the two was subsequently never the same.