Before Tambuwal came into the venue last night, an indistinguishable man was announced and I knew immediately that The Generals had decided and he was here to oversee.
His name, Aliu Gusau
Lieutenant General (retired) Aliyu Mohammed Gusau (born May 18 1943) is a retired Nigerian army officer who served in many senior level security, defence, and military roles. He was most recently Minister of Defence, served as National Security Adviser to two different presidents, Chief of Army Staff, headed different intelligence agencies, and was Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
In 1999, Atiku was presiding over a PDM meeting to endorse Ekwueme as PDP presidential flagbearer when Gusau came and informed him that Obasanjo was the preferred candidate of The Generals.
Atiku postponed that meeting for two days and when they reconvened, dynamics had changed.
A debt was paid last night with the change in permutations but Otta is not a power base that shifts easily.
It took a call from the West to shift the stand of Otta, where the god that resides there had as far back as 3 months ago vowed to support whoever emerged from PDP.
The route to victory in Nigeria (as elsewhere) revolves around many things – international subtle hints, the military base I call The Generals, the political class and most importantly with this phase – party delegates.
Atiku is on course to become Nigeria’s next President.
As Democracy evolves in Nigeria, the will of the people is becoming most paramount and with #PDPConventionPHC – Atiku did his homework, he did the legwork and he preached two most convincing messages – Restructuring and a Single-Term Tenure.
Fidelity to these is very crucial.
Being Nigeria’s next President may be an attractive prospect but the Next President also has to be the Best President in order to reverse the effects of the Worst President.
Atiku still has a distance to go but he wouldn’t be walking alone from now:
The PDP will walk with him.
