By Osa Director 

AS a journalist during the military dictatorship and the period thereafter, I had the rare and distinct honour, exposure and privilege to interview and interact, singly or collectively, with the four leading presidential candidates in the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. They are Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP; and Peter Obi of Labour Party, LP.

Therefore, my professional interaction with them gave me certain knowledge to be able to approximate their intellectual capacity, presence of mind, public and private demeanours, if you like call it body language. Of course, I have kept a file on all of them which consists of both pleasant and not-too-pleasant dossiers. 

As a journalist who prides himself on the investigative hue, armed with a Law degree, I am very deliberate in my relationship and assessment of politicians and public office holders. As we gradually approach the 2023 presidential election, this is a critical juncture to evaluate and showcase the underbelly of these candidates as Nigeria is at crossroads, a very momentous stage of its life, indeed, at a cliff hanger. 

Any slip, it could tip off, and badly so. Hence, we are duty-bound to say what we know about the leading presidential candidates in order for the electorate to make informed choices. But such disclosures must be done within the professional ambit of law and journalism.

I was a very young journalist 30 years ago at the Jos Township Stadium, when Atiku ran for the presidency on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, SDP.  He came third, behind Chief M.K.O. Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, in spite of being backed by the most formidable political machine at that time, led by late Maj.-Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.  All his scheming to be nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate to Abiola was resisted by the SDP governors, led by Chief Odigie John Oyegun, Alhaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim and Chief Segun Osoba of Edo, Yobe and Ogun states, respectively.  These governors have always been too powerful! 

Sadly, 30 long years after that fateful day, Atiku is still running for President of the country. What does he really want? Is it that the oxygen of his life is being in government? When he got the opportunity to serve as the Vice-President, was he sterling and exemplary? That Nigerians have constantly rejected him thereafter provides an answer to such inquiries. 

As the Chairman of the National Economic Council, which supervised the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, how did that project fare under him? Certainly, Nigerians can still remember what happened to NITEL. Why was Aluminum Smelter Company, Ikot Abasi, in Akwa Ibom State, sold for peanuts and to whom? What happened to Delta Steel Company, Aladja? What about Transcorp Hotel, in Abuja? And, also Daily Times and numerous others? 

How many of these privatised companies are viable ongoing concerns today? If indeed, the privatisation programme under the supervision of Atiku as Vice-President was a sham, can we honestly entrust the nation’s economy and politics to a man who sold off our national assets to cronies and vested interests? The former Vice-President is wont to always say he is the most investigated man but never found wanting. But the question is: why is he always a subject of investigation for corruption all the time? What does he do that warrants such searchlights? As for his not being found wanting, the revelation by his former close aide sums it up – usage of Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV. Little wonder, that others always took the fall. Congress man Jefferson comes to mind.

The US described Atiku as a man living on free government money. The conduct of one of his wives in the U.S. left much to be desired. When I was the Editor-in-Chief of INSIDER WEEKLY, we did a story on oil theft where Atiku and the then National Security Adviser, NSA, Major-General Aliyu Gusau, were fingered. The story titled: “Aso Rock”s Oil Bunkering Scandal, Akitu, Gusau linked” was published on edition 47, dated November 24, 2003.

That led to my arrest along with two of my professional colleagues. We were all detained at the notorious Panti Police Station, Yaba, Lagos, for two days before we were charged at the Magistrate Court. 

We committed to defending ourselves and veracity of the story; therefore, we attended the court’s sessions diligently. Unfortunately, Atiku and his goons failed to prosecute their case until it was struck out for lack of diligent prosecution. Can such a man be trusted to combat oil theft and revitalise the oil industry in Nigeria?

Now, the picture is getting clearer: General Gusau today is probably the biggest backer of Atiku’s current political adventure. If anyone noticed, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State came late to the venue of PDP primaries last year. 

That was because he was held hostage by Gusau, who made him to commit to not only stepping down for Atiku but also directing his supporters to vote for him. That Tambuwal did gleefully. I will be subjectively objective in Tinubu’s assessment. Of all the presidential candidates under review, Tinubu is the only one I can call a friend. We had a history together. As one of the prominent members of National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, abroad, I visited him often in his house in New Cavendish, London, and also in Bowie, Maryland, U.S.A., for interviews and comparing of notes on the state of the struggle against the booming military tyranny of the late General Sani Abacha.  

Consequently, I will not be able to embark on full disclosures because what can  be described as  his inadequacies and limitations would have been made known to me, either because the man confided in me, or that he left himself open to me to observe from close quarters because he trusted me. Either ways, it would be callous and irresponsible of me to divulge such information simply because I don’t agree or support his present political ambition. 

Trust is a valuable and unvarnished commodity of human relationship that must be preserved in war and peace times. Fortunately, everything about Tinubu is already in the public domain and the electorate should be a better judge.

I freely describe myself as a Kano man. I spent a greater part of my youthful years, if not all, in Kano City.  The city was nice to me, and I am emotionally attached to Kano State with several of my brothers and sisters there. That was the city that gave me three prominent fathers: the late Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule (Danmasanin Kano), the late Lawan Dambazau, and my Baba, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai. 

My closest brother, Nasir Zahradeen, my great friends, Abdulkarim Daiyabu, the late Dr. Junaid Muhammed, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Abdulkadir Ahmed Ibrahim  and a host of others are what Kano gifted me. 

*Director, a journalist and lawyer, lives in Lagos.