By Tony Eluemunor

Hey, what has happened to the panel which President Muhammadu Buhari set up in 2016 to uncover the assassins that cut down Chief Aminasoari Kala (A.K) Dikibo and Chief Bola Ige? This Saturday February 4th marks exactly 19 years since Dikibo, the then Vice-Chairman, South-South of the then ruling party (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was assassinated but the killers have not been found. Bola Ige was killed in December 2001, 22 years ago, yet those who murdered him have not been brought to book. And Bola Ige was Justice minister when he was cut down, right in his own bed room.

Really, I’m not blaming the Mohammadu Buhari administration for failing to solve the two murders, the persisting petrol and aviation fuel scarcity, its failure to get any of Nigeria’s petroleum refineries humming, the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) queues and the newest one, the shameful queues at the ATMs as folks struggle to withdraw money from their own bank accounts. Often, there is no money in the ATM machines and when money is available therein, the telephony inter-switching among the banks is not functional. And nobody has offered any apologies or resigned. By now, some precious lives would have been lost as some families would be unable to provide food and medicament for their children. There is a devil situation in Nigeria and it is getting worse!

Chief Dikibo succeeded the late Chief Harry Marshal as PDP Deputy National Chairman (South South). And he succeeded him too as a victim of an unknown assassin.

Towards the end of 2002, a bitterly fought PDP presidential primaries was just starting though only a few Nigerians knew it. And it was masterfully plotted. The adroitly planned attack was two-pronged.

While Atiku was on one side, fighting to be retained as Vice President, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the Second Republic Vice-President to late President Shehu Shagari was campaigning too, to deny former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the chance to contest for a second term. Ekwueme had hidden his desire to contest for the presidency until just before his December 2002 world press conference where he made the announcement. The presidential ambition was so well hidden that not many believed me when I wrote exclusively on 1st October 2002 (as Daily Independent went really daily and stopped being a weekly) that Ekwueme would challenge Obasanjo for the Presidency.

Thus, when Ekwueme openly jumped into contention, it was just less than 10 days to the January 6th, 2003 PDP presidential primaries.

When the fact stared Obasanjo in the face, that a majority of the governors were keeping the support of their delegates from him, the primaries were less than 48 hours away. Obasanjo had planned to dump Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his deputy. Seeing he was on the verge of losing his fight to be re-nominated as PDP presidential candidate for the April 2003 elections, he returned to Atiku. It was a

political masterstroke. Ekwueme had kept the position of Vice President open for Atiku, and if he refused, he would ask the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba to team up with him to save Nigeria.

Fifteen PDP state Governors, including Delta’s Chief James Ibori, Abia’s Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Adamawa’s Boni Haruna, and Edo’s Lucky Igbinedion, were in the forefront of the governors who wanted President Obasanjo dumped. The masterly campaign had been pursued most discretely and strategically; so strategically that Obasanjo had no chance of fighting back.

Then, suddenly, the PDP settled the matter amicably. The battle was over. With Atiku back on the ticket with Obasanjo, it looked plausible that Atiku would be a natural successor to Obasanjo in 2007.

Often, that is the story that has been told about that 2003 PDP presidential primaries, but one great man has often been left out in that intriguing story; A. K. Dikibo!

Until he moved, the situation had remained fluid. And when he moved. He decided the matter. As Obasanjo went around that Friday evening, visiting the top delegates, there was a great man by his side; Dikibo. But before Dikibo joined Obasanjo’s corner, he had told him point blank: “President Obasanjo, I will work for you this time. But this is the last time I will support you. Next time, I will support Atiku”. It was not Akitu that won over most of the Governors to Obasanjo’s side; Dikibo did.

Hey, why would Dikibo have told Obasanjo that next time he would not work for Obasanjo but for Atiku? After all, Obasanjo was contesting for his second and final term as a President as the constitution did not envisage a third term. That implied that the Third Term was on and Dikibo knew about it and did not dance around it. He opposed it.

By then, Dikibo had a campaign of his own; to be PDP National Chairman. If a Southerner became National Chairman, then the presidency would swing up North and that would have meant no third term for Obasanjo.  I wonder if the Police Force has ever looked into that angle.