Atiku at 67: What makes him tick?

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is many things to different people. in fact, he is probably the most misunderstood politician in Nigeria.

His political opponents cast him in the image of a “corrupt” politician and the uncritical public readily swallows this cheap political blackmail. Living with this uncharitable image, created by his political enemies, is easily the toughest political challenge the former Vice President has ever faced. And the perception of politics as a sleazy profession has not helped Atiku’s perception problems either. But perception in itself cannot change certain realities. In fact, the former Vice President is so badly painted by his political opponents that a few Nigerians took the interest to assess this Adamawa State born politician, more fairly and objectively. Are these allegations valid or proven?
According to the English playwright, Nicholas Rowe, “fault-finding is the easiest task of knowledge.” It is easier to throw allegations of corruption than defending it with valid proof. It is on record that Atiku is the most investigated politician in this country. The former Obasanjo administration went as far as setting up an administrative panel to indict him on corruption; the FBI investigated him over the Congressman William Jefferson affair and then the Senate conducted investigations into the activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. When they put the Congressman on trial, all charges against him succeeded except those in which his alleged links to Atiku were cited. He was a mere name-dropper. Prior to these investigations, the EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu also raided the head offices of the former Bank PHB in search of Atiku’s “stolen billions”. Until he was forced out of office, Ribadu didn’t tell Nigerians how much of Atiku’s “stolen billions” were recovered.
The Senate investigation over the BPE was another opportunity for Atiku’s political opponents to prove their allegations that he used his position as the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization to enrich himself or sell public enterprises to himself. They never came forward to prove all the dirty allegations of corruption against Atiku. His opponents took advantage of the credulity of the average Nigerian to consume rumours uncritically.
Throughout his career in the Nigerian Customs Service, Atiku had no record of being indicted for corruption. Instead, he got promoted always for exceeding set revenue targets. And even before becoming a Vice President in 1999, he was already a successful businessman; he didn’t come into government as a desperate politician who perceives public office as a gravy train. He was not a beggar before coming into government.
One of the problems with the average Nigerian is the assumption that the individual cannot change his circumstances through personal initiative and honest labour. According to the philanthropist, Bill Gates, “if you are born poor, is not your fault, but if you die poor, is your fault.” The message here is simple: every individual has the potential ability to succeed in life and change his fortunes. Everything is about ideas and grasping opportunities for investments in the right places at the right time.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar became an orphan at a very vulnerable early age. Yet, he didn’t resign himself to fatalistic helplessness. Going to school, despite his father’s opposition to it, was the first major vista into Atiku’s future. Without education, he couldn’t have had the basic skills to do odd jobs during holidays for survival. He was doing part time jobs even as he was a student during holidays to survive and support his mother. How many hawkers of goods transformed into full-time shop owners or successful businessmen? When he left the Customs, he went into real estate business with a bank loan. A man with business acumen can succeed with modest working capital.
If it was possible for others to succeed through personal initiatives, hard work and business acumen, why not with Atiku? Atiku didn’t start his life as a politician. Even before he met and became the political associate of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Atiku was already running his own thriving businesses. Who said people cannot succeed from humble beginnings?
Gen. Yar’Adua’s main attraction to people was their zeal to excel or succeed; he loved men of ideas and initiative. He didn’t surround himself with men whose dictionaries were dominated with the word “impossible.” For such a man to have trusted Atiku to that extent was instructive enough. Just like the late General Yar’Adua, Atiku’s main attraction to politics is the desire to offer service rather than money-making. If Atiku’s interest in politics is about money, then he wouldn’t have wasted his time involving himself in it.
His political opponents are flaunting moral credentials, they never have by poisoning the public mind against him because they cannot question or beat his experience or qualification to contest for the nation’s highest public office. You often hear Atiku’s opponents accuse him of being “over-ambitious,” which is ridiculous. If their own ambitions are legitimate, why should Atiku’s be criminalized?
One of the qualities of leadership is compassion. Even Atiku’s worst political opponents cannot deny his level of compassion towards the weak, the helpless and the poor. Unlike others, he doesn’t make noise about his many philanthropic activities. He has been quietly helping many to settle hospital bills, including of major operations and other social causes. The late Abiola became phenomenally popular because of his compassion for the ordinary people.
Above all, however, you must commend Atiku’s tenacity of purpose and focus on his objectives and his amazing capacity to handle every challenge with equanimity. The former Vice President is also an interesting politician because he has a short memory space for vengeance against those who vilified him. He has no difficulty forgiving those who offended him.